John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” 13 The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.”
It is still amazing to me how little Creedence the religious leaders of "the day" gave to our Savior. I mean "they were so clueless" as to the one who was speaking to them and so clueless that they missed Him at a time when they need Him the most. In the above scripture, you can see how much they doubted the Word of God, or Jesus, by what they said to Him. They said His testimony is not valid. C'mon! Not valid? But in reality, many Christians have bought into that same way of thinking and do not trust Jesus alone for salvation, abundant life, or a plethora of other things that are vital to our spiritual health.
Jesus' words ARE valid. So there. I got that out early and that is done!! We cannot live without Jesus being our light and letting that light shine "through us." If His Words weren't valid then our words aren't either, and so on, and so on. If the religious leaders couldn't minimize Jesus, then we surely cannot either. Why? Because He IS a valid testimony!! Here is who Jesus called Himself in John 15:1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. In John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. And as the above scripture says “I am the light of the world. His testimony is valid and when He goes before the Father on our behalf we get redeemed. He goes before us. God has always been about going before His children and He spoke these words through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 45:“2 I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.
When I was in High School at West Plains High School in West Plains, Missouri our PE classes were the best. In my Junior year, we played a game called Battle Ball (or I think that was what it was called) which was just another name for Redneck Rugby. We would have about 20 on each team and our goal was to carry the ball and not get tackled or cough it up when getting hit and take the ball to a goal about 50 yards away. Some of the hardest hits I ever took in my life were doing that game. One day we received a fairly big challenge from some underclassmen and we accepted their challenge and took the field. Of course, everyone knew the calls of "73" was the best class to come through WPHS and our reputation was on the line. We scored two goals and the other team matched our score. After some hard-hitting, I was really wanting the game to end but my pride was driving me back into the game. One of my classmates by the name of Ronnie Edwards was a very tough player and basically "carried" our team to this tie. We took the ball from our own area and proceeded to move it down one hit after another and about 20 yards from the goal Ronnie hit one of the opposing players so hard it jarred the ball loose and Ronnie scooped it up. I had been trailing the play to keep out of the hitting part when Ronnie suddenly turned around and tossed the ball to me and said "Run Dave. I will make a path!" I didn't have anything else I could do but RUN! Ronnie cleared a big path for me and I scored a goal and we won the match. We hugged each other and I suddenly realized what it meant to play as a team. Ronnie cleared a path and I ran through it to victory.
Keep in mind that God tossed us the ball when He called us to serve Him and He clears a path for each of His children. We will have some hard knocks and we may even not be deep in the game because we are a little timid. Then He sends another brother to join hands with us to get us to victory! Jesus is that brother and His death on the cross cleared the path to victory for each of us. He has tossed the ball to each of us when He calls us and we must run the race as He clears the path. Hebews 12:1 And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Paul wrote these words to the believers at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 9:24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! I am ready to do some more winning. How about you?
Follow the path that Jesus has cleared for us and run the race. You can believe the Valid Testimony of the one clearing the path and His name is Jesus.
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren
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