John only shares 7 of the many miracles of Jesus (before the resurrection) in his gospel. I believe that he does that for a purpose.
His purpose: to show us the true power and authority of Jesus as God! We often need to be reminded that we have a lot of distractions from what is really important - our real focus: "just Jesus"!
As a result, we spent seven weeks seeing that Jesus has power over:
- creation (he turned water to wine instantaneously)
- space and distance (he healed a kid from 15 miles away)
- time (he healed an invalid after 38 years)
- our resources (he fed over 15-20,000 people with 2 loaves of bread and 5 fish)
- the elements and our fears (he walked on water and he assured the disciples of his presence)
- any human limitation (he healed a man who was born blind)
- death - both physical and spiritual (he raised a man that was dead for 4 days)
Yesterday, one of our elders, Kevin Schreck, challenged us to live this journey of our spiritual lives being completely aware that Jesus wants to transform us and expects to transform us but we have a role in this - what do you want the fruit of your life to look like? What do you want to be known for?
In order for this to happen - Jesus expects you to begin NOW planting the right seeds of truth in your heart and mind in order for you to be transformed in you heart and thinking.
Do you want to be more loving? You start by beginning to understand the love that Jesus had for you and that God the Father had for you in sending his only Son to pay for your sins. Read and memorize Scripture that helps you understand this. John 3:16, Philippians 2:1-11, Romans 5:8. This explains some of the depth of the love of God and can lead you to further passages - then begin praying about how this should affect your heart.
As you pray - ask God to show you how to love Him more and then how to love those around you more. And then listen to His prompting and don't ignore the opportunities to love like Jesus would have loved - by serving others from a pure and loving heart!You can do this with any area in which you want to produce better and healthier fruit! But as Kevin said - we have to have a soft heart - one that is willing to receive advice and instruction from others and from the Word of God!
- If you want more wisdom - then read Proverbs and listen to those who have been there before you. Maybe read James 1:2-8.
- If you want patience - Look at examples of patience in the Bible - do a word search and find where to learn more about the patience and plan of God.
- If you want to manage your money better - then read through Proverbs and mark all the "money" verses. Work on your understanding of whose it all is anyway and study what Jesus said about your money and things!
Check out the Fruit of the Spirit (what we should look like) in Galatians 5:22-23 and see how you stack up - then start working on what to plant TODAY to improve the fruit LATER!
Remember - it is ALL about Jesus and just Jesus in our lives!!
