“So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’” (John 4:28,29).
LIFE IS FULL OF DECISIONS, AND OUR RELIGIOUS LIVES ARE ESPECIALLY SO. If we are serious about wanting to have a right relationship with God, we will have to sort through the many options presented by the world around us and determine what His will for mankind really is. But first, let’s go back two thousand years.
When the Samaritan woman in our text hurried back into town, having just talked with Jesus, she said to the people, “Can this be the Christ?” Her question illustrates two things: (1) people were in a state of expectation that the Messiah might soon appear, and (2) deciding whether a certain person actually was the Messiah was a matter that needed to be weighed carefully. If you were looking for the Messiah, Jesus wasn’t the only one making that claim. You would have to consider the different claims and choose rightly.
If you were a Jew in the Roman age, there was also another choice to make: which synagogue to attend. By some estimates, there may have been several hundred synagogues in Jerusalem, and perhaps even more in big cities like Alexandria and Rome. No two synagogues were alike in demographics, doctrine, or practice. Would you go to a liberal Hellenistic synagogue or a conservative Hebraic one? Would it be simpler to just go wherever your friends went, those who shared your traditions, your likes and dislikes?
Today, if you begin to live as a Christian, you will have to decide what relationship you will have with other Christians. Just as in the first century when many synagogues claimed to follow Moses and many persons claimed to be the Messiah, there may be many churches near you claiming to follow Christ. The question of “church” is important. If you’re serious about pleasing God, you’ll want to worship where the Scriptures are followed most closely.
Complexity turns some people into cynics; they just give up. I hope you won’t do that. Instead, I hope you’ll pray and ponder the Scriptures diligently. If you truly want to do what is right, you’ll get the information you need to make your choices. But be careful. Not all paths lead to God — and making wise choices can be hard work.
“The choices of time are binding in eternity” (Jack MacArthur).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
