John 10-12 (June 4th)

One of the first things that stuck out to me reading the first chapter (10) is that Jesus was a crafty little ninja. In verse 39 it literally says " 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp." Obviously this is a little funny (heck its hilarious) but the thing that really gets me is how anti-religious Jesus was. He didn't stop to pray and ask God "Lord help these people to not kill me" or "Father put conviction in their hearts so they know I'm the messiah". He simply gets away from them. I think a lot of the time we as christians (me a lot, don't worry) get religious about situations and think  things like "God my day is going bad and I'm so sad help me to be happy" or "God do you have me in this situation for a purpose" but it is not always the case. While these things aren't bad by any means, we need to have discernment and wisdom with every situation. If I'm not happy or having a bad day think about positive things and learn to be thankful for what you have instead of what you don't, or maybe im in this situation because im a human being and I can get into sticky situations all on my own. We need to live lives of prayer but also use the things God already gave us (like our mind) and use both in our day to day lives. 

Ok this next chapter is one of my top 10 stories in the bible, so lets dive in. This next chapter tells of a man lazarus who was said to be a follower of Jesus and brother to Mary and Martha. So Jesus is going around healing people and Mary and Martha sent word for Jesus and said "Jesus our brother, the one you love, is sick" and Jesus tells the disciples that he is dead and then he stays where he was for two more days. After the two days, Jesus and the disciples head over to Lazarus' side of town. They get there and they're told Lazarus has passed away and has been in the tomb for 4 days: here is where one of my favorite verses in the bible are. It simply says "35 Jesus wept." Now why is this verse so cool? Its so amazing to me that even though Jesus knew He was gonna raise lazarus up he spent time grieving with Mary and Martha. Firstly that says to me how important it is to spend time grieving but most importantly Jesus cares how we feel and even though he knows the outcome of your story/situation of the struggles you're going through, He will be there with you experiencing the emotions with you the way a best friend would. That is so huge to me. It really shows how much Jesus really does care for every little thing that happens in your life. He cares more than we could ever know. 

Once again in chapter 12 you see another example of Jesus being un-religious. Mary took a pint of expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus' feet and Judas tells him why did you let her do that? It was worth a years wages and we could've sold it given it to the poor. Jesus tells them there will always be poor but you won't always have me. This is another pointer about being religious. We have to learn to use the Holy Spirit and then use our natural discernment for every situation. 

Keagan