For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life.
John 3:16
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How He Loves
Church Music
David Crowder Band – 2009
Dialogue
In Bible, Jesus, Scripture, believe, communication, healing on October 14, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I’ve never fully understood the phrase, “ears to hear” until today. As a writer, I must have “ears to hear” if I am writing dialogue in order to keep each voice unique.
But today as I was reading chapter nine of the Gospel of John in my Bible I laughed out loud. Almost the entire chapter was dialogue and as I read it, other phrases popped in my head, like: “Duh!” “deer in the headlights” “What, are you deaf?” and a few more. You’ll see what I mean when you read this dialogue:
DISCIPLES: Who sinned, this man or his parents?
JESUS: Neither. (turning to MAN) Go wash in the pool.
(MAN washes clay off eyes in pool and gains his sight.)
BYSTANDERS: Is this he who was blind?
OTHERS: He is like him.
MAN: I am he.
OTHERS: How were your eyes opened?
MAN: A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me to wash in the pool.
OTHERS: Where is He?
MAN: I don’t know.
(OTHERS take MAN to church – it was Sunday)
PRIESTS: Tell us again how you received your sight?
MAN: I told you already, He put clay on my eyes and I washed and I see!
PRIESTS: (amongst themselves) How can a sinner do such signs?
(MAN shrugs)
PRIESTS: What was it you called Him again?
MAN: He is a Prophet.
PRIESTS: Go call the man’s parents.
(MAN’s PARENTS come to the front of the church)
PRIESTS: Is this your son?
PARENTS: Yes.
PRIESTS: Was he born blind?
PARENTS: Yes.
PRIESTS: So, how come now he can see?
PARENTS: We don’t know, ask him, he’s an adult and can answer for himself!
PRIESTS: Are you sure he was born blind?
PARENTS: We’re sure.
PRIESTS: So, how did he get his sight?
PARENTS: Ask him! He can answer for himself – don’t involve us!
(PRIESTS call MAN back – MAN returns)
PRIESTS: Listen carefully, you are to give glory to God for healing you – not this Man you call a Prophet, He is a sinner!
MAN: Whether He is a sinner or not, this I know: I once was blind, but now I see.
PRIESTS: What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?
MAN: (very irritated) I told you already and you didn’t listen! Why do you want to hear it again – so you can become His disciples?
(dialogue continues back and forth in this fashion for a few more verses. Finally, MAN is kicked out of church after PRIESTS claim MAN is insulting their intelligence and knowledge of Scripture – JESUS sees MAN walking out of church)
JESUS: Do you believe in the Son of God?
MAN: Who is He? I want to know so that I can believe.
JESUS: It’s Me, the one talking to you.
MAN: Lord! I believe! (MAN falls down and worships)
JESUS: I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.
(MAN was blind PRIESTS were deaf. MAN sees, PRIESTS still deaf.)
THE END
MORAL: “ears to hear” are attached to the heart, not the head.
Window Shopping
In Bible, Christ, God, Jesus, Scripture, believe, choices, faith, growth on October 3, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Over the past few months I’ve been reading through the Gospels in my Bible. Starting with Matthew, I’ve read a chapter a day with a deliberate desire for God to reveal His Word to me in a fresh, new way.
By the time I reached the last verse of Luke 19, it dawned on me that God’s Word was so much more relevant and alive than all the times I had read the Gospels.
When this revelation fully manifested in my slow brain, I saw clearly that I had been ‘window-shopping’ through the most significant sections of my Bible.
“Oh, that’s neat,” I would say when reading how Jesus fed 5000+ people with a boy’s lunch.
“Huh, that’s cool,” I would mutter when I’d read that Peter got out of a boat and walked on water to Jesus.
I casually passed over these phenomenal acts of God’s Son with little more than a yawn and headed back to the Psalms where I could better relate to the ‘woe is me’, ‘please change my circumstances, Lord’ and ’save me from my enemies!’ passages.
Don’t get me wrong, the Psalms are timeless writings of precious, heart-wrenching intimate moments of doomed souls crying out to God for salvation, deliverance, hope and healing. So why breeze through the four written accounts of God’s Answer to all those ancient pleas?
I am ashamed that I have merely glanced at the Gospels’ priceless treasure. In them is the path, the door, the key, the hope, the fruition of God’s promise to Abraham and all who would believe – by faith alone.
Now, I’m tearing apart my house like a crazed, madwoman who lost a valuable coin. I’m selling everything I have to buy a field where I found a priceless pearl.
I finally get it. The kingdom of heaven should be pursued. It’s not history. It’s not a shopping expedition for what fits best into our lives.
It’s real. It’s here.
It’s mine.
