Week 2, Day 10 - Proclaiming the Word of Life

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:1-3

REFLECT

It wasn't all just words. At the beginning of his earthly ministry, Jesus stood in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4) and read from the Isaiah scroll. He read about the One who would come and "preach good news to the poor," "proclaim freedom for the prisoners," and "proclaim the year of the Lord's favor," which was the fulfillment of the year of Jubilee. In the quiet air of that modest hall, the words of Jesus at first impressed the people. But when he predicted that he would not be accepted as the Expected One here in his hometown, the people rejected the proclamation and turned on him. I guess they disliked being compared to the faithless and corrupt generation of the days of Elijah and Elisha: A dark time indeed in Israel's history.

It wasn't just words. Many years later one of Jesus' closest disciples, John, wrote a letter as an older man to followers of Jesus past and present: "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life."

This we proclaim. First, Jesus made the proclamation, and then his disciples did, and so on to this day. John went out on a limb by saying that the Jesus he heard with his ears, touched with his hands, saw with his eyes was the Son of God and Word of Life. But by the time John wrote his epistle, there already were thousands of followers of Jesus in Israel, Asia, Europe, and Africa. The proclamation was being fulfilled.

We live twenty centuries after these events. We know that faith in Christ has spread around the world to hundreds of millions of people. But each person needs to ask him or herself: "Have I accepted the proclamation of Christ? Do I really believe his coming has made everything different? Do I really believe this same Jesus is coming again? And am I ready to proclaim him wherever I can, however I can?"

MAKE IT REAL

If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, then make your proclamation today: at work (let only positive words come out of your mouth), at the gym (invite someone to church), or at school (pray at lunchtime). By your words and actions, others will know you are a follower of Jesus Christ. If you have not yet made this proclamation, reflect on what you can do to make this real in your life. "They will know we are Christians by our love".

Day 11