John 11 journal

John 11 journal

Proverbs of the Day – Proverbs 8:13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

The opposite of Proverbs 8:13 is found in the story from John 11. After Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees became terrified that the people would believe in Jesus. The result would be that they would lose their temple and nation. It’s sad that they derived their self worth and identity from the temple and the power from ruling their nation. It’s fascinating to me that because they did not believe in Jesus, they lost the temple and their nation 40 years after Jesus was crucified.

The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead gives me a tremendous amount of hope.  Jesus waits 4 days after Lazarus was put in the tomb. There was no doubt that Lazarus was dead. I’m trying to imagine what the facial expressions of the crowd were, when Lazarus walked out of the tomb. WOW! What a moment that must have been. Jesus makes a powerful statement “I am the resurrection.” If something is dead in your life, go to Jesus with Martha’s attitude “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God. . .” I believe Jesus can resurrect someone’s finances, marriage, estranged family members or any grave situation. My prayer today is that I will completely reject the prideful attitudes of the Pharisees and the doubtful depressing attitude of Thomas. Instead I pray that I can fully adopt Martha’s attitude of belief and faith that Jesus is the resurrection and brings life.