Forgiveness last week challenged me. What stuck the most was the
parable of the King and the servant that Jesus told. Remember when the King
forgave the servant of a huge, unpayable debt, the same servant immediately
went out and acted unforgiving to another for a much smaller debt. The King in
the story is like God and we are the servant that He undeservingly forgave. I
imagine God saying to me, just like the King said, “I forgave you of that
tremendous debt (all of your sins) because You came to me and asked. Shouldn’t
you have mercy on your friend, parents, spouse, fill-in-the-blank, just as I
had mercy on you?” Jesus’ stories may come off as abstract sometimes, but they
are very personal analogies to give us a better understanding of what He’s saying
to us.
Some topics, however, He explained in a pretty clear-cut way.
Unfortunately, these might also be the ones we try to complicate the most. This
week, we’ll focus on what Jesus said about Heaven. Heaven…the place He left to
come down to Earth, the place He returned to when He rose again, and the place
He promised could be for us as well. This week we’ll be able to read the very words
Jesus spoke about Heaven, how we get there, and what HOPE there is in that! Use
this week as an opportunity to solidify or renew what you personally believe. Confess
this statement of belief to God, for the first time or the fiftieth, and then
share the joy of your hope with someone else! I’m so glad someone told me :) Now what Jesus said...
WEEK FOUR
Our Hope of Heaven
-Jesus
said this in prayer to God soon before being arrested. I’m so thankful He
prayed it out loud for his disciples to hear and for me to read right now. It
makes the complexity of Heaven seem more like a simple equation:
Eternal
Life = to know _____________+ _____________
What’s the difference between “to
know” vs. “to know of/about”? (Do you know our President or do you know of
him/about him?) Which did Jesus use?
-Look at
the text…what actions are required of us to have eternal life?
(Here’s a hint and a hallelujah…there’s
only two verbs.)
-I’m sure when the disciples first
heard this they were confused, possibly grossed out, yet since we know how the
story “ends” with the Last Supper and Jesus on the cross, how does this analogy
make a lot of sense to us?
-Go back in your Bible to Exodus 16
to gain more background on manna. This is where Moses is leading the Israelites
out of slavery in Egypt and God sends down special food to sustain them.
-What a
great conclusion verse to this four-week study! With the context of all
Jesus has told us, we do know the way. Write your own prayer of thanks.
Tuck it in your Bible or tape it to your mirror, refer to it or pray it out
loud when you need some hope!
Please comment below with
your favorite verse from the last few weeks – feel free to share anonymously.
Thanks for joining me in this… hope it stuck in your mind & blessed your
heart.
