This morning I am home for the second day in a row due to rain yesterday and the work sites needing to dry up today. Hopefully tomorrow I can get back to work.
I am writing to share a verse of Scripture with you which I read in my devotions this morning. In the ESV, John 16.1 says, "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away". The NASB says, "that you may be kept from stumbling", while the KJV reads, "that you should not be offended", and NIV "that you will not fall away". The Greek verb is scandalizo from which we get our English word scandalized. It means to cause a person to fall away. In the New Testament the meaning ranges from a temporary falling away like Peter's denial of Christ (Matthew 26.33) to complete turning away from Christ (Matthew 13.21).
What struck me as I first read this verse and up to verse 4, was that Jesus keeps the disciples from falling away by the teaching he gives them and the promise of the coming Holy Spirit who will dwell in them and will testify to all that Jesus has said to them. What came to mind was the promise of John 10.28-30, how the good Shepherd will keep his sheep and no one can take them out of his hand and the Father's hand. I had considered God's keeping process as the work of His sovereign grace but had not much considered that means of His keeping until reading and meditating on this verse this morning. The process of God keeping us faithful to the end as He has promised to do involves not only His external keeping power but also the keeping power of His words mediated to us through the Holy Spirit. How vital it is for us to keep God's Word constantly before us and in our minds, especially as all the world around us seeks to scandalize us, to cause us to fall away from God's fullness in Christ.
May God enrich your day with the growing knowledge of all that He has given you in Christ. I know my day shall be full as I continue to savor the truths in these verses today.
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