This John, II

1Jn.1:¹ “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.” (emphasis added).

At the end of his life, John could confidently write that Jesus is not a figment of his imagination. He knew Jesus experientially; John said, “this is the Word of life whom I have seen, I have touched and I myself have handled”. The Word can become life to you. The essence of church, of teaching, and of Bible study is for the Word to become life in such a way that you can say like John, I have seen, I have heard, and I have handled the Word of life. I pray that the Word will come alive to you. I pray that the Word of God will not just be fiction to you. But that the Word of God will come alive to you and I pray that so shall it be in Jesus Name (say Amen). The truth is that the Word of God coming alive is the essence of our walk with God. It is not about how many scriptures you can quote, rather it is about that Word becoming life to you.

How you know the Word has become life to you is it would bring forth fruit. Take soul-winning for instance, how do we know the Word concerning soul winning has become life? Simple, show me your fruit. How many people have come to Jesus on your account this month or since the beginning of this year? If you are stuttering or you do not know, relax. Since the Word will become life to you [say Amen], fruit will abound in your life. However, we must all wrestle with this question, has the Word become life [flesh] to you?

Who is John? John was in the fishing business with his father Zebedee, his brother James, and their friends Andrew and Simon the sons of Jonah. In that culture, young men get into the family business with their father at a very young age, so that they can learn the family business. Jesus was in the carpentering business with Joseph. John was from a well-to-do family; people that ran a business in those days would usually use their sons because they are free labour, and least they are eating free food in your house. But if a business had hired servants [Mark 1:20 please read], the business is booming. John was from a well-to-do family, business oriented.

John’s mother, Salome, was one of the financial supporters of Jesus’ ministry [please read Mark 15:40-41 (NRSV)]. For Bible study, we use both the interpreted text and the literal translated text. We use the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) for literal and the New Living Translation (NLT) for the interpreted text. Salome must have had money to be able to give Jesus money and support His ministry. People who do not have money cannot give you money to support your ministry. They can pray for you, become your prayer warriors. But they cannot give you any money because you cannot give what you do not have. Salome is a name that you should be conversant with in the Bible; she was always with the ‘Marys’ – the women in Jesus’ life – powerful people. Salome was the mother of John the teenage disciple of Jesus.

Prayer:  Father, I pray that the Word will become life to me and I will bear much fruit for God’s Kingdom, in Jesus Name. Amen!