Thursday, November 2
I choose Jesus
Scripture: John 10
John 10:7–10 So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep.8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture.10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
Observation
Jesus repeatedly in this chapter makes spectacular claims about Himself.
- I am the door (2X). Anyone who enters through me will be saved. v. 7, 9
- I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. v. 10
- I am the good shepherd (2X). I lay down my life for the sheep. (4X) v. 11-18
- I give them eternal life and they will never perish. v. 28
- I and the Father are one. v. 30
- I am the Son of God. v. 36
No wonder the Jewish leaders wanted to stone Him “because you, a man, are claiming to be God.” (v. 33) If anyone else said this, we’d think they were crazy, and that’s exactly what happened. Others thought Jesus was out of His mind or demonized (v. 20). And still others believed in Him because of His words and the miracles He did (v. 21, 42).
This chapter presents “the trilemma” that C.S. Lewis wrote about so eloquently.
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (Mere Christianity, Ch. 3, pg. 56)
Application
I choose Jesus. I choose to fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. I choose to believe that Jesus is who He said, and follow Him. And in the process, I have found Life…with a capital L. Life to full. Eternal life.
One observation: Life to the full doesn’t mean that life is easy or always good. Sometimes it’s hard. Yesterday was…and I’m still feeling the aftereffects. But Jesus is the good shepherd and leads me to Life. He frees me and heals me and helps me.
I choose Jesus…over and over…and today.
Prayer: Lord, I love You and I believe in You and choose to follow You today. Help me in every situation to turn to you for the wisdom and strength and life that I need.
More: Ezra 3-4, Luke 2