Hearing Bible Stories Again, for the First Time!

I am currently teaching through the Gospel of John. I teach an elective class so we do not have to be concerned about any particular schedule or covering any certain amount of material during each class. This is reflected by the fact that I started Chapter 11 this past Sunday and it is already our 26th lesson thus far in this great text. Doing a verse by verse study in a drill down fashion gives us an opportunity to stay as long as needed in order to dwell on what God intended when He inspired and then preserved these precious words.

One of the exciting things for me as a teacher is to see how the word presented impacts the lives of those who attend our class. Over the years one of the remarkable things is to see the before and after of those who come to know Christ at an older age. A number of years ago we saw a lady named Sunshine find the true SON-light and at age eighty her name became in reality the story of her new testimony as she brought a huge smile and allowed her light to shine wherever she went.

We visited our son’s Church to witness one of our granddaughters being baptized as a testimony of her new found faith in Christ. That same night they also baptized a very elderly lady in a wheelchair who was so excited to identify herself with the Savior who had died, been buried, and rose again to bring salvation to her. Yes, when it comes down to it, it is very personal. I can think of no greater testimony of God’s power to change a life than to see it demonstrated in those who have either waited or postponed coming to Him for so many years.

Last Sunday as I taught through the passage where Jesus raises His friend Lazarus from the dead I could see the reality of this account in the facial expression and response of a man who is in his mid-sixties. He has only been a believer for a handful of years and everything is still fresh, new, and exciting to him. While many of us yawn our way through the presentation of truth because we’ve heard it so many times, we could learn something from these to whom it is so thrilling.

In fact, I often invite myself and my class to read it again for the first time. Why was this man so moved by this passage? He perceived in his heart the truths set forth. Jesus cares. He loves. He weeps with those who weep. Jesus announced that He is the resurrection and the life and then He proved it by calling Lazarus to come forth after he had been dead for four days. This brother who is still a young Christian connected the dots. Jesus said that one day we also will be raised and then we will be with Him forever. The account of Lazarus is an example of what all believers will one day experience!

My thought is that it would do us all good to wake up and smell the coffee! We should all pray that God would give us the grace to receive the simplicity of the truth like a little child, like this dear brother, and having received the truth to then put our encouraged heart and our excitement to work in order that we might honor the One who died for us! Amen. More later……………..