,It's interesting to hear that people say they "found Jesus". It may be a matter of perspective or they may have heard it said before and just repeated it. Then you have those who sarcastically say "I didn't know Jesus was lost". Either way these comments are made out of ignorance. If we want to know how a person is saved we must read God's word. It plainly says, "There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God;" Romans 3:11
That we find Jesus or that He is lost is one thing but today's reading says that Jesus, "departed and hid himself from them". This was not a cruel act to keep people from Him. It wasn't as if all these people just needed a little more time and they would come to believe. Jesus said very clearly that His works speak for themselves and that the Father authenticates who He is and what He is saying by them. The comments of the different students are interesting. Vanessa says...How could they not believe in him after seeing everything he’d done? The Bible teaches us that, "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." 1 Corinthians 4:4 Vanessa also says... That’s me too. But I guess I ’m just starting to understand what Jesus and God is all about as I go through this. So maybe things will change . This is the very purpose of the book of John. He writes... "but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." John 20:31 This can be a bit misleading because we read today that some believed but were afraid to confess there belief because of fear. This leads up to Taylor's comment... Can you be a secret believer in Jesus? They answer is yes and no. Yes, people can secretly believe in Jesus, there are many living as the underground church around the world because of fear of death but they have confessed Jesus as Lord. The ones we read of today have not so they do not have the right to be called children of God as the Apostle John wrote, "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name," John 1:11,12 Believing and receiving must come together if someone is going to be saved. The way we receive once we believe is to confess Jesus Christ as Lord which is the very thing the people in today's reading were unwilling to do. It is a scary thing to read that God hardens hearts or blinds eyes, Taylor comments, "It’s hard to think about God blinding their eyes and hardening their hearts. I wish he’d soften my dad’s heart. " In the end, we must not wish but rather pray for those who do not know Jesus as Lord because only God can soften their heart, take off the blinders and draw them to Himself. We all know people like this, let us never give up hope but pray until God decides to do what we cannot.
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