Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is John 1:14-28.  I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

John 1:14 (NIV)
14  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

On verse 14:  Verses 14-18 conclude what is known as the Prologue in John 1.  The Prologue summarizes some of the central truths about Jesus from the Gospel of John.  Just from verse 14 alone we learn that:

–        Jesus (the Word) “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (v14a).  In other words, God became a man when Jesus entered this world and lived among people.  This is known as the Incarnation.

–        Jesus is the Son of God who came from the Father (v14b). 

–        Jesus is “full of grace and truth” (v14b).  Jesus is not just all grace, nor is he all truth.  He is full of both. 

–        For all these reasons, Jesus is unique and unlike anyone else.  That is why John calls Jesus “the One and Only”.

Hi GAMErs,

The Gospel of John is one of the most beloved books ever written.  While of course people like to debate everything, the best and most reasonable conclusion based on internal and external evidence is that John, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, wrote the Gospel of John.  While it’s unclear when exactly he wrote it, scholars I respect tend to date the Gospel of John between approximately 65 A.D. and 85 A.D.

Today’s passage is John 1:1-13.  These first 13 verses, along with verses 14-18, are known as “The Prologue” by scholars.  It serves as an introduction to, and in some ways, a summary of the entire story that John is going to tell about Jesus in this gospel.  According to many scholars, these verses contain “some of the most tightly reasoned patterns of theological reflection in the New Testament”[1].  Profound simplicity, as others have called it.  Let’s go!

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Jonah 4:1-11.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

Jonah 4:1-3 (NIV) 
1  But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 
2  He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 
3  Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
 
On verses 1-3:  God has just shown great mercy to the Ninevites by not bringing the destruction He had warned about (see Jonah 3:10).  What is Jonah’s response to God’s act of mercy?  Displeasure and anger.  Why?  It’s for the same reason that Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh to preach in the first place: Jonah despised the Ninevites.  Jonah had probably learned from the prophets Hosea and Amos that one day Assyria (of which Nineveh was or would be the capital city) would one day attack Jonah’s country of Israel.  So Jonah did not want God to spare the Ninevites.