by A. A. Neale

Places mean much to us. Where we were born. Where we got married. The first house we lived in as newlyweds. Where we were baptized. Where we had our first job.

Places of memories, of special moments, of important connections between people.

When the Jews sought to seize Jesus, he escaped from them to a special place.

"And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed" (John 10:40, NKJV).

This rugged, isolated place would have made it harder for the authorities to grab our Lord. And in these difficult moments, the place would have brought solace to a tired, harrassed man.

"Then many came to Him and said, 'John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true'" (v. 41).

The masses followed Jesus out across the Jordan River. There, they recalled John's testimony about Jesus. "Behold! the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).

The One whose shoes he was not worthy to stoop down and unlatch.

The One on whom had descended the Spirit of God.

The One God had approved by his voice from above.

John was no miracle worker, performed no great signs, but was a Truth Speaker par excellence. He told things like they were. Never minced words. Never flinched from telling every person what he needed to do. Fiery. Passionate. Zealous. Straight as an arrow.

And he was right about Jesus.

"And many believed in Him there" (John 10:42).

There, where John had preached and baptized. All the rich associations of the Baptizer's message came into focus upon the Man who was everything, who did everything, John said he was and would.

I want to go back there, too, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Back to John's preaching. Back to simple sermons and clear messages. Back to rich associations, lots of Bible texts, plenty of explanation rising from the pages of Scripture.

I want to go back to fiery, zealous men of God proclaiming a straight-shooting gospel meant to convince and convert.

I want to go back to tears in the eye over the lost of the world, to urgent exhortations welling up from love of those condemned because of their sins, to passionate pleas to heed the promise of salvation procured at awful cost to the God of heaven.

I don't want to go back, necessarily, to little country churches with pot-bellied stoves in the winter and funeral fans in the summer. I'm no old fool who, late in life, reminisces over what was lost and how the world just isn't like it was in the old days. I like my conveniences, my 'puter, my modern life, such as it is.

Repine I do, however, over the loss of zeal for God, for the Son of God, for the Word of God.

So I think I'll go back beyond the Jordan where Jesus stayed. Where I can believe in Him there, with the echoes of God's saints in the hills, rocks, and trees.

Would you go with me?

by Don Ruhl

Read Matthew 9:18--38

Knowing the Lord's Capabilities

A man approaches Jesus, saying,

18 My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live (Mat. 9:18b).

Interestingly, the man did not question, Can you heal my daughter? knowing that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth. Of course, He can heal her. The same is true of the Father of Jesus. Therefore, examine the words you use in approaching God through prayer. Do your words reflect a belief that God has the power or do your words show that you are not sure if He has the power to deal with your life?

Don Ruhl Church of Christ 220 NE Savage Street Grants Pass, Oregon 97526-1310 541-476-3100

Read Genesis 31 and 32

Money and Possessions

Money and possessions do weird things to people, even when family is involved. Genesis 31:1 says,

1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has acquired all this wealth (Gen. 31:1).

If you have been following the story, you know that the sons of Laban are not reporting the events accurately. Yet, Jacob has become wealthy and it was by working hard with his father's-in-law flocks. Laban is also Jacob's uncle, thus, the sons referred to in the verse above are Jacob's cousins. Now, money has come between the members of this important family in the Bible.

Greed has destroyed whole families. Look over your own attitude with an open mind and see what value you put on money, especially whether you put it above relationships.

Don Ruhl Church of Christ 220 NE Savage Street Grants Pass, Oregon 97526-1310 541-476-3100

by Don Ruhl

Read Matthew 9:1--12

Do I Accept People?

What do people see in Jesus? Think on the following narrative.

10 And so it was, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples (Mat. 9:10).

There is something about Jesus and His twelve disciples that the tax collectors and sinners (both despised by others), know that He accepts them. What is it?

Think on these questions today:

1. Why has Jesus accepted you?
2. Do the people around me know that I accept them in the same way Jesus accepts them?
3. If they do not, why is that?
4. What can I change about myself that tax collectors, sinners and others may know that I will treat them the same way that Jesus and His disciples treated people?

Don Ruhl Church of Christ 220 NE Savage Street Grants Pass, Oregon 97526-1310 541-476-3100

by Don Ruhl

Read Genesis 29 and 30

Enduring Long Periods of Time

Jacob desires to marry Rachel and he proposes to her father of working for him seven years that Jacob may have her as a wife. The Bible says,

20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed but a few days to him because of the love he had for her (Gen. 29:20).

Seven years is a long time to wait to marry the one whom you love, yet that was the very thing that enables Jacob to wait, his love for her. If we have love for God and for others shall not the years seem only as a few days in passing? When we love ourselves above God and others, then a few days will seem as years, because self-love makes us impatient.

What kind of love lives in my heart?

Don Ruhl Church of Christ 220 NE Savage Street Grants Pass, Oregon 97526-1310 541-476-3100