The Word

October 4, 2020

1 In the beginning, the Word already existed.

    The Word was with God,

    and the Word was God.

2 He existed at the beginning with God.

3 God created everything through him,

    and nothing was made except through him.

4 The Word gave life to everything that was created

    and his life brought light to everyone.

5 The light shines in the darkness,

    and the darkness can never extinguish it.

The book of John is an excellent place to start studying the Word. The purpose of John’s writing this book is to prove to everyone that Jesus is the son of God and that whoever believes that Jesus is the son of God will have eternal life. We are going to start with the first five verses of the first chapter of John.

Jesus is fully human and God. As we go through John’s book, you will see and learn how Jesus is both human and God. The foundation of Jesus starts in the book of John. You have to believe that Jesus is the son of God. If you don’t, there is no eternal life. He is the way and the truth. If you have a friend you trust from the very beginning you met, you believe that they tell the fundamental truth. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the truth and how we have to accept this truth. John wrote this to build confidence in anyone who doesn’t believe or understand the truth. The Word was a term used by theologians and philosophers in different ways. Hebrews use the Word as a creation. In Greek philosophy, the Word reminded people of the world. In other words, it is a thought in people’s minds. Hebrews thought the Word best described God. Jewish people do not believe the Word of God. The Greeks thought it was unthinkable. There are mixtures of thoughts. The audience here is non-Christians and Christians. The boldness of Christians trying to prove that Jesus is God’s son is a task, not an easy one at that.

We are all created equal in God’s eyes. So trying to be arrogant, prideful, ignorant should not be in the creation. Yet, the world made it an outcome. The one thing I love to do is create systems in Microsoft Excel. One of the things I create is what I call a prediction records game. My brother and I would sit down and give predictions on who we believe will win each NFL game for each week. The way I create it, each formula must work for the entire system to work. If it doesn’t work, it won’t function. I have to give the correct procedure for the whole of the system to use. That is what God is doing with us. He provides us with the system (the Word or the Bible,) and we must be able to apply each aspect of our lives correctly, or otherwise, we will not function right. Building a system from scratch is too hard for me. But I manage to hang on and work and work at it until it does. God wants us to continue working on every part of our lives, depending on him and going with our hearts in the right direction. Each step can be a stepping stone or a painful lesson. Even if it is too complicated, God is here to get us through each part of our lives.

Father, I pray that we can be bold in our steps with you. It can be telling other non-Christian people about you or going out and doing things out of our comfort zone. I pray that I can use my platform to continue sharing about racial injustice. Isaiah 1:17 says, “learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.” I pray for someone that needs to step out of their comfort zone. Let them be bold, courageous, wise, and educated. Thank you for all you do. We give you praise. In Jesus’ name. Amen!