The Challenge of the Word

JOHN 1:1-14

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.”

(John 1:1)

KNOW HIM AS THE WORD

To actually be a part of the Church we must believe in the Word. In the story at the beginning of this article the man’s son could not trust what he could not see with his eyes. He didn’t believe this strange looking man to be his daddy because it didn’t look like him. It took hearing his voice to convince the boy the truth. We must hear the voice of the Word through our spirit.

In the first few verses of John 1, we read that God’s Word had life.  It was with God from the beginning and it was utilized to create all that God made. Then in verse 14 the Bible tells us that this Word became flesh and lived with men. This is, of course, referring to Jesus Christ.

A strange but wonderful sequence of events took place in the coming of Christ. He has always been the bodily form of the triune God. Now it was time for Him to make a profound appearance to men. God had dealt with man for several thousand years slowly showing him how he could never hope to be like God or even good enough to be close to God like he had been. Man was unworthy.  Because he had brought sin into this world he couldn’t help but sin.  He would try and try to be holy, to be worthy, of this perfect God but could never come close. Regardless his efforts, there would come a time when he’d lose his temper and seem out of control in his rage. During that time he would commit destructive acts to others, property or himself, and then afterwards, realize he had blown it with God. Our emotions and feelings always get in the way. But we can’t help it. We were made with emotions and feelings, it’s just that they are more controlling of us since that day Adam and Eve turned against God in Eden.

It was time for the penalty for man’s sin to be paid. Man would now be able to grasp what God was going to do for him, even if only a few understood at first. So God, through His angel, Gabriel, appeared and spoke life into a teenage girl who was soon to be married. He told her that she was to be the one to give birth to the long awaited Messiah. He told her that she would be with child without ever having sexual relations with a man, and His word came alive. Does it sound so wild? Must it be only a fairy tale?

It’s not so strange, if we really contemplate it. Man’s own living existence began with God’s word and breath. In Genesis we read that after God formed man’s body from the dust of the Earth, He breathed His breath into man and man became a living soul. Why must we think it so strange that God could speak and a woman would instantly be with child?

People would like for us to think that it is a fabricated story to influence the weak minds of the masses, but that’s only because we can’t do that. In man’s fallen state he still wants to be greater than God so if we can’t do something then we believe that it is impossible, improbable, and only a tale thought up in the recesses of an idle mind.

But whether we choose to believe the truth or not, it does not detract from the truth. Just because we don’t believe in something doesn’t make it unreal. We want to be right so if we aren’t then we make ourselves right by teaching and believing lies. It happens every day in this world.

Jesus Christ came into this world by the word of God and so He was the Word. He was the living, talking, breathing, Word of God in flesh. He echoed this throughout the Gospel of John by saying things like, “I’m only saying what my Father told me to say,” and “I’m only acting on what I’ve seen my Father do.” Even though He was “God in the flesh” His words indicate that He was merely mimicking what God had instructed and what He had seen from His Father.

We must believe in Jesus as the Word. If He is not the Word that tells us the Good News then His life was in vain. If His life does not speak of truth, freedom from sin and death, and salvation from a doomed existence then all is for naught.

This belief must be imbedded deep inside of us. If we don’t believe then how can we ever hope to hear Him? We will doubt from time to time frankly because the enemy – The devil will whisper words of doubt in our ear. When things go wrong he will grab every opportunity to sway us away from our belief. During these times always turn to what you know in your heart.

There will be times you don’t feel it inside. These can be doubtful times too. Know that we cannot always trust our feelings. God has placed our emotions in our lives but we must never forget that they are affected by our flesh and how the flesh perceives things that go on around us. Sometimes the emotions go wild. They can’t always be trusted because they are being affected by the sin-state of man in this world. But you can always trust what God has taught you in your heart. When times of doubt occur, we must learn to turn to what we know in our hearts. No one can ever take that away from us. It is there like a love note carved in stone.

(To be continued)

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.