LightGrams
January 26, 2017
Volume 21, Number 4
Sam Snow drives a taxi in Washington, D.C. Last Friday, the day of the Presidential Inauguration, he picked up three riders. Since Snow was wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers jacket and cap, the conversation turned to professional football.
“Who’s the best all-time quarterback?” Snow was asked. He responded with three names that many would agree with: Ben Rothlisberger of the Steelers, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, and John Elway of the Denver Broncos. Of those three, Snow named Elway as the greatest quarterback of all time.
One of the men in the back of the cab then asked Snow to look behind him. Seated in the back seat was – John Elway! Snow had no idea that the man he had just praised as the greatest QB ever was right behind him. Elway’s friend had filmed the conversation, and that has since been posted on YouTube. Elway thanked Snow for the compliment by having their photo made together.
I’ve never had anything like that happen. Most of us haven’t. We may regard various individuals as the greatest ever at what they do, but we never expect to be in close contact with those individuals. They live in a different stratosphere.
The apostles of Jesus were gathered in a room in Jerusalem. John wrote of an earlier gathering that the doors were shut “for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). And why wouldn’t they be afraid? Just days earlier their Master, Jesus, had been executed. Would they also be victims?
Eight days had passed and extraordinary things had happened. Jesus had appeared to most of His apostles – He was alive! Now all of the apostles were gathered, including “doubting Thomas”. John wrote: “Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!'” (John 20:26).
We can only guess at the apostles’ conversation just before Jesus appeared again. It’s not hard to imagine them praising Him as the greatest of all time, the very Son of God He had claimed to be. Now the One they had praised was right there with them.
Is it any different for us today? Yes, we praise Jesus as the greatest of all, the Lord. But have we forgotten His promise? “… and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Did Jesus really mean that? Will He be with us?
In his last letter Paul noted that “all forsook me”; he was left alone in prison. But keep reading: “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me” (1 Timothy 4:16,17). That’s the Lord we serve. He is the greatest ever; and He will be with us (see Hebrews 13:5,6)!
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2017, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “[email protected]” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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