John 3:16 (NASB)
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
CONSIDER THIS
Good morning and welcome back to the Second Half Challenge Day 5.
I got to thinking about it and it occurred to me that as good as 2 Corinthians 5:17-ff is, it assumes an awful lot of the reader. Those statements about old and new and “in Christ” and reconciliation and all that—it assumes someone already knows the BIG STORY. And, though many Daily Text readers do know the BIG STORY, most people in the world do not. If we are honest, we are more familiar with the highlight reel of the BIG STORY than we are the story itself. Then there is the super cliff-notes version which most of us know by heart.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NASB)
And even as I write, it occurs to me that there is an even BIGGER STORY than the BIG STORY I’m referring to. It makes me wish we had like a whole year together to just walk through all of this. And then it hits me—that’s what the Daily Text is. The BIGGER STORY = Genesis to Revelation. The BIG STORY = Jesus of Nazareth himself.
If we are going to be walking through the first half of the gospel and the second half of the gospel (and yes, now, the third half of the gospel) it would behoove us to get clear on what the gospel even is. To “get” the gospel we must begin with the Gospels—and our four best Gospel Friends: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are the best. We want to become so immersed in these four eye witness accounts that we could begin to tell the story ourselves frontwards and backwards.
Obviously we can’t do that all today, so I have something special cooked up for you to at least get us started and on the same page with this big story.
You can watch an eight minute version here (recommended). You can listen to it here. And you can read it here.
THE PRAYER
Lord Jesus, All of this is from you. Would you wake me up to the infinite more ness of who you are, what you have done, what you are doing and what you have yet to do. Come Holy Spirit and open the eyes of my heart. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
THE QUESTION
What is your experience of being reconciled to God? Is it a truth you “accept” or is it a real living experience? (More on this tomorrow)
For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt