“Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” John 17:17 (King James Version)

Picture it. It was night. Jesus was with his apostles. He knew they were about to face a severe test of faith. With this in mind, Jesus raises his eyes toward heaven and pours his heart out to his heavenly Father in prayer.  This was an extremely important prayer.  It took place the night before Jesus would give his life as a sacrifice for our sins.  You can read his heartfelt prayer at John chapter 17.

It is in verse 17, that we find the words quoted above.  In this verse Jesus says that the truth would sanctify his disciples.  What truth is Jesus talking about?  Speaking to his heavenly Father, Jesus says, “Your word is truth.”(New American Standard Bible)  Jesus is speaking about God’s word the Bible.

Previously Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman at a well and said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in TRUTH.” (John 4:24 –King James Version) Yes, our ability to serve God, our relationship with him and our very salvation depend on the truth of God’s word.

Jesus often referred to God’s word. He used it to refute the devil when he was tempted (Compare Mathew 4:4 and Deuteronomy 8:3, Mathew 4:7 and Deuteronomy 6:16, Mathew 4:10 and Genesis 2:24). He rebuffed the hypocritical religious leaders with it (Compare Mathew 19:3-7 and Deuteronomy 17:6). He also used it to share core principles that every Christian should apply in their life (Compare Mark 12:28-31 and Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18).

Hebrews 4:12 (New Living Translation) says, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” To really benefit from God’s word we need to read it daily. We need to pray for God’s spirit to help us understand.

As you consider these scriptural emails, I would encourage you to be as the Christians in Be·roe′a who the apostle Paul praised as “more noble.” Why did he say this? Because they did not just receive his words with great eagerness, and they carefully “searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” Acts 17:11 (New King James)

Jesus stuck with the teachings of God and did not speak of his own originality (John 7:16, 17). Please take the time to read the scriptures cited these daily emails so you can see for yourself that I am not seeking my own Glory (John 7:18), but rather following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:21).

In the next post  we will take a closer look at the book we rely on for our salvation and answer questions like, what proof is there that the Bible is inspired of God? 

“Mary has chosen what is better” Luke 10:42 (New International Readers Version)

Each post in this blog will examine a statement made by Jesus. By carefully considering the words of our Lord, we will build our faith in him, gain a greater understanding of the world we live in and the good news about which Jesus spoke. Together we will look to the scriptures to find answers to some of the worlds most perplexing questions like: What proof is there that the Bible is God’s word and not man’s?  Why is there so much suffering in the world? What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? What is God’s kingdom? What will happen in the future … and much more.

To begin with let’s just briefly consider the words Jesus spoke to Martha, Mary’s sister. You can read the account at Like 10:38-42. Here Martha invited Jesus as a guest to her house. While Martha was busy preparing things her sister took the opportunity to listen to Jesus teach. Martha wanted Jesus to tell Mary to help her get things ready. How did Jesus respond?

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered. "You are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better. And it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42

Mary knew what was truly important and wanted to focus here attention on the teachings of Jesus rather than to be distracted attending to everything Martha thought needed to be done. Jesus did not require anything extravagant and was pleased that Mary chose to listen to his teachings instead.

Today we live in a very busy world, but we can learn a lot from this. If we follow Mary’s example and take the time to focus on Jesus teachings instead of worrying about all the things “that need to be done,” we will have also chosen what is better.

To get the most out of this, I would like to encourage you to keep your Bible near your computer so when you read these emails you can refer to the scriptures that are listed. By doing this you will be following the instruction given to us at 1 Thessalonians 5:21 where it says, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (King James Version)

In the next post we will consider the words Jesus spoke to his father in Prayer the night before he gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins. These words are so precious that just one sentence gives us an important key to our salvation.