This past weekend our family had the good fortune to be able to camp along side the Broad River in the mountains of North Carolina. On Sunday morning I got up, grabbed Joshua's Bible, and set up my chair on a rock so as to view the scene pictured above. The sight was phenomenally beautiful and I loved listening to the water rushing down the river.
I opened up to the Gospel of John to chapter one and read: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him
was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
The words and meaning of the above scripture are stunning. Jesus already existed 'in the beginning'. He was with God and He is God. Through Jesus, everything was made that exists. Jesus created the beauty that I had enjoyed this weekend. He created the Broad River, the green trees, and the powerful thunderstorms that we heard on the first day.
John goes on to say that in Jesus is life. We can have abundant and eternal life if we give our lives to Him. Matthew records these words of Jesus.....
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (Matthew 16: 24 - 25) By giving up our own lives we can have a relationship with Jesus. We can enjoy that abundant life and know that we
will spend eternity in heaven with Christ. Death is not the end for those who have surrendered to Christ. "In Him is life!"
John was placed on earth to testify about Jesus so that 'all men might believe' and enter into that relationship with Christ. If we give our lives to Christ we can have that relationship with Him. The Bible says ....
'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name.' (John 1:12)
The same God who created the awesome natural beauty that I enjoyed this past weekend desires to have a relationship with you and me so that we might become 'sons of God'.
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