Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Christ alone


"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63)


"The flesh profiteth nothing." When Jesus spoke about partaking of his flesh and blood, he obviously did not intend it to be done in a literal way. In contrast to the flesh, we have the spirit. In this verse it is the spirit that quickeneth (or makes alive). The words that Jesus speaks is necessary for our spiritual life. This simply means that Christ is sufficient to meet our needs. There is a familiar chorus entitled: "Christ is all I need." I like that chorus because it affirms what I believe about the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Seemingly today people want everything BUT Christ. Not that 'trying' Christ is any better. In this passage Jesus did not give into the demands of many of his 'disciples' to be a mob ruler. As a result many of his followers defected (in vs.66). They have exchanged light for darkness, and spiritual bread from Heaven for spiritual starvation and eventually death. Why would they do that? Didn't Christ make it plain enough? And what can be said to folks today who desire the "nicities" of Christianity, perhaps even the 'form of godliness' - well, "the flesh profiteth nothing."

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