Blog
It didn’t matter whether we were in math class, history class, English class, or Home Ec classes, we ALWAYS asked for extra credit.
The end of the term was coming, which meant semester tests. A lot was riding on these tests and we were nervous! Without extra credit, we knew final grades were going to be lacking. We would beg and plead for anything we could do to boost our grade.
Their answer: “I’ve given you everything you’ve needed to succeed and to make a good grade. Have you not listened to anything I’ve said in this class?”
The truth was, we didn’t need anything extra. We just needed to remember what they had taught us.
John 14:8-10
“Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”
Jesus had just declared to His disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will knowfn my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip is the bold student who speaks up for the group – “we just need something a little more. Then we can know for sure.”
Jesus response reminded them they had everything they needed. Had they not been listening at all these past 3 years? Had they learned nothing?
The disciples didn’t need anything extra to know that Jesus was the Son of God, the tangible image of God. They just needed to believe what they had already heard and knew. And so do we.
Still doubt that Jesus is real? Still say that there is no God? Have we not learned a thing? We don’t need anything extra – no signs, no more miracles, no more “extra” prophecies, books of the Bible or revelations. Everything we need is recorded in God’s Word. He has given us all that we need to not only believe, but to be His disciple. To carry on His mission. To love, to forgive, to share His name with others and teach them to do the same.
2 Peter 1:3
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
We don’t need extra credit in this life. Jesus has given us His all.
Hear it. See it. Believe it. Live it. Share it.
Copyright © 2024 Lifeword.org. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org