Reading: John 6:56-69
If you abide by religious tradition, your faith is immature. This doctrine is a teaching of Jesus to his disciples. In John 15:5, Jesus said that whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he who bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. This doctrine is not a religious tradition; rather, it is an instruction from Jesus to prepare his disciples for his departure. He instructed them to understand more about their calling and mission, which each disciple may emphasize in their ministry.
The last part of John Chapter 6 focuses on how eternal life may be attained. This is hard because all the disciples have abandoned the belief that Jesus is the way to eternal life. Even though he instructed them to apply his teaching, particularly to those new believers and unbelievers, they were hesitant to carry out the task. In carrying out this task, the first thing to do is to believe, because those who do not believe are the ones who betray Jesus (verse 65). As a result, the disciples find it challenging to pursue this type of mission that Jesus has set before them. And among the twelve, Jesus knew that one of them would betray him due to a lack of faith in him.
Two tending concepts are needed for us to understand: one is to believe, and the other is to abide. Believing is easy for us because once we believe in the conduit with acceptance that Jesus is the Lord and Savior (Romans 5:1), we have the ultimate assurance that our relationship with God will be restored (John 14:6). But maintaining it is difficult for us as believers.
Erick Reed suggested three keys to abiding in Christ as follows: walk by faith, spend focused time, and engage in intentional actions. These are sustaining actions for us to be able to become mature believers. Walking in faith is the first thing you need to do. We need to practice what we learn from the gospel. As the Apostle James reminded us, faith without any form of action is dead (James 2:26). Therefore, we connect our faith and put it into action.
In addition, spending focused time refers to our everyday planning on how to abide by Jesus’ teaching. In this sense, we need to determine what is spiritually right or wrong. We practice religiously once we’re committed. Developing this practice must be consistently challenging for us. And these practices may help us grow up as individuals to become aware of whatever is happening to our environment and to determine the right personal action and choice in our lives. This time, we develop our compassion and mission toward us, our neighbors, our environment, and others, following the example of the Exemplary Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37).
Our intentional actions refer to how to live in accordance with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Based on the Book of Galatians, it consists of nine qualities, such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (5:23–24). To simplify this intentional action, we need to become prayerful daily. Being prayerful, we are also required to read the Holy Scripture to have deeper knowledge and practice what we learn from it. Also, understanding our faith may be processed through our daily reflection to determine the meaning of life according to those qualities. Thus, the Holy Spirit may enrich our spiritual perspective and bring us much closer to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19.)
Finally, our gospel reiterated to us that those who do not believe betray Christ. It means they pretend to choose an effortless life and look most of the time for material things. However, there are few of them. Many believers are tending their lives in faith, spending time doing charitable deeds, and intending to work for spiritual enrichment. To live with Christ means to have a new life and better standing. Please make the right decision to live with God, because God has never forgotten us. Through Jesus Christ, God fills us with mercy and grace and provides us what we need—salvation and eternal life (John 3:16).
Prayer
Loving God, open our ears to hear your word and draw us closer to you so that the whole world may be one with you as you are one with us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Vanderbilt Library, August 2024)
References:
- com (2024), https://www.biblegateway.com/resources
- Bible Study (2024), https://www.biblestudy.org/bible-study-by-topic/bread-in-the-bible.html
- Vanderbilt Library (2024). The Revised Common Lectionary, https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/prayer/
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Prof. Ruel D. Garcia is a theology professor at La Consolacion University Philippines as well as the former editor-in-chief of the International Journal on Culture, History, and Religion (IJCHR.paschr.ph).
