Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Holy God, please give me the courage and the confidence to live the life you have given me to its fullest, not holding anything back because I know that life cannot be taken from me. In Jesus' name, and by his power and grace, I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

Some Jews began to complain about Jesus. They complained because Jesus said, "I am the bread that comes down from heaven." The Jews said, "This is Jesus. We know his father and mother. Jesus is only Joseph's son. How can he say, 'I came down from heaven'?" But Jesus said, "Stop complaining to each other. The Father is the One who sent me. And the Father is the One who brings people to me. I will raise up those people on the last day. If the Father does not bring a person to me, then that person cannot come to me. It is written in the prophets : 'God will teach all the people.' People listen to the Father and learn from him. Those people come to me. I don't mean that anyone has seen the Father. The only person that has ever seen the Father is the One that came from God. That person has seen the Father. I tell you the truth. If a person believes, then that person has life forever. I am the bread that gives life. Your ancestors ate the manna (food) God gave them in the desert. But it didn't keep them from dying. Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. If a person eats this bread, he will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If a person eats this bread, then that person will live forever. This bread is my body. I will give my body so that the people in the world can have life." Then the Jews began to argue among themselves. They said, "How can this man give us his body to eat?" Jesus said, "I tell you the truth. You must eat the body of the Son of Man. And you must drink his blood. If you don't do this, then you don't have real life in you. The person that eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life. I will raise up that person on the last day. My body is true food. My blood is true drink. If a person eats my body and drinks my blood, then that person lives in me, and I live in that person. The Father sent me. The Father lives, and I live because of the Father. So the person that eats me will live because of me. I am not like thebread that our ancestors ate {in the desert}. They ate that bread. But, {like all people}, they died. I am the bread that came down from heaven. The person that eats this bread will live forever." Jesus said all these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in the city of Capernaum.

Related Scripture Readings

But Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth. The Son can do nothing alone. The Son does only what he sees his Father doing. The Son does the same things that the Father does. The Father loves the Son, and the Father shows the Son all the things he does. {This man was healed.} But the Father will show the Son greater things than this to do. Then you will all be amazed. The Father raises dead people and gives them life. In the same way, the Son gives life to the people he wants to. Also, the Father judges no one. But the Father has given the Son power to do all the judging. God did this so that all people will respect the Son the same as they respect the Father. If a person does not respect the Son, then that person does not respect the Father. The Father is the One who sent the Son. "I tell you the truth. If a person hears what I say and believes in the One (God) who sent me, that person has life forever. That person will not be judged guilty. He has already left death and has entered into life.

Martha heard that Jesus was coming. She went out to greet Jesus. But Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask." Jesus said, "Your brother will rise and be alive again." Martha answered, "I know that he will rise to live again when people are resurrected (raised from death) on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection. I am life. The person that believes in me will have life {again} after he dies. And the person that lives and believes in me will never really die. Martha, do you believe this?"

This is what God told us: God has given us eternal life. And this eternal life is in his Son (Jesus). The person who has the Son has {true} life. But the person who does not have the Son of God does not have life.