Jesus - His Life and Message: The Feast of Tabernacles - part 2

When we left off in the previous article, Jesus had just made the point that the Jewish listeners who were claiming Abraham as their father were not truly his children.

“If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.”1

“You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.”2

He then asked:

Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.3

Jesus asked and then answered His own question. They didn’t spiritually comprehend what He was teaching because they had no understanding of who He was or what He stood for. As He had told them earlier in this chapter:

You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.4

They claimed that God was their Father, but Jesus told them, If God were your Father, you would love me.5 Since they didn’t truly know God, they couldn’t understand Jesus.

Jesus then forcefully stated who their true father is.

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.6

In direct contradiction to their statement that we have one Father—even God, Jesus explicitly stated that they took their origin from their father the devil. He went on to say that their desire was to carry out their father’s desires. They voluntarily chose to do Satan’s will. Jesus contrasted that relationship with the relationship that He had with His Father—as stated earlier in the chapter, the Father who sent me,7 who bears witness about me,8 and who taught me.9

By contrast, the Pharisees’ desires and actions were in alignment with the devil’s. He was a murderer from the beginning. Jesus may have been referring to the murder of Abel in Genesis chapter four, but more likely He was referring to Satan’s role in tempting Adam to disobey God—which resulted in all of humanity becoming mortal and therefore suffering death. He continued speaking of their father the devil, stating that he has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. Truth is associated with God and with Jesus. Satan isn’t interested in God or the truth. He is the father of lies.

Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.10

Jesus spoke strongly to these Jewish “believers,” stating that they were not God’s children, they didn’t love God’s messenger (v. 42), they didn’t understand Him, and weren’t able to hear His word (v. 43). He explicitly stated that they were unbelievers. And as the devil’s children, they were inclined to believe his lies instead of God’s truth.

Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.11

Jesus asked His accusers two questions. The first was in reference to sin. In this instance He wasn’t referring to sin in general, but to the events that had just transpired. He had already claimed to speak the truth (v. 45), so in not believing in Him, they were in effect calling Him a liar. Jesus challenged them to prove it by asking who could convict Him of sin, knowing that none of them could do so.

Jesus asked and then answered the second question: If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He explicitly stated the reason they didn't believe Him: They were not of God. This statement echoed what was said elsewhere in the Gospel of John: they were not “born again,”12 or “born of God,”13 or entitled to call God “Father.”14 They weren’t from God, therefore they were unable to hear His word, meaning that they could not recognize Jesus’ words as God’s words.

Jesus’ opponents then proceeded to accuse Him falsely, like their father the devil.

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”15

They were not right in saying Jesus was a Samaritan. Earlier in this Gospel it was quite clear to the Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus at the well that He was a Jew.

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)16 

Jesus’ accusers only called Him a Samaritan to slander Him, as in general the Jews looked down on the Samaritans because of their centuries-old reputation of worshiping many gods.17 Jesus Himself had said of them, You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.18

Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.”19

Jesus repudiated their false accusation of His having a demon, and then turned the tables on them by pointing out that while He honored His Father, they dishonored Him. Earlier in this Gospel, Jesus stated that whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.20 In dishonoring Him, they were dishonoring God, who they claimed as their “one Father.”21

I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.22

In clarifying that He wasn’t seeking glory, Jesus implied that His accusers were, which He had also said to some of His opponents earlier in this Gospel.

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?23 

Jesus only sought the Father’s glory. He had also said: The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.24

Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.25

Jesus emphatically stated that those who keep His word, meaning the whole of Jesus’ message, will not die. He was not saying that those who believe will not experience physical death, but rather that they will not experience spiritual death, eternal condemnation. He made this clear later in this Gospel when He said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.26

Those listening to Him took His words literally.

The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”27

His Jewish listeners were convinced that their earlier statements about Jesus were now proven, for in their eyes only someone who had a demon could say such things. Abraham, the father of the Jewish people and the father of faith, had died, as had all the prophets who were sent from God to Israel. Jesus’ listeners understood Him to be promising eternal life, while only someone with superhuman powers—namely God—was able to deliver someone from death. They asked who Jesus was making Himself out to be—though they knew the answer to this question.

Throughout this Gospel, the religious leaders understood that Jesus spoke in a manner that indicated He was claiming to be God’s Son.

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.28

The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”29

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”30

Returning to John 8:

Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.”31

Jesus made the point that He was not glorifying Himself. But that did not mean He didn’t receive glory. He reminded them that His Father is God, and that it was God who glorified Jesus. Since this is the same God that His accusers claimed as their own, and because their “Father” glorified the Son, it would logically follow that they should also glorify the Son. However, since they didn’t, Jesus said you have not known him. This was the third time Jesus had stated that these Jewish leaders didn’t know the Father.

He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.32

You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.33

Unlike them, He does know the Father. He then made another important claim: I keep his word. Because Jesus kept His Father’s word, it is necessary for us to keep Jesus’ word—as Jesus’ word, which gives eternal life, is the Father’s word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.34

Jesus then returned to speaking of Abraham, whom they claimed was their spiritual father.

“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”35 

Rather than being opposed to Jesus, Abraham rejoiced at His “day.” And if he rejoiced and was glad, they should have done likewise. Bible commentators point out that this verse raises some difficult questions. First, what precisely does Jesus mean by “my day”? Second, when did Abraham “rejoice” at the promise of seeing Jesus’ day? Third, when and how did it finally come about that “he saw and was glad”? Rather than going into a variety of interpretations, none of which are certain, I will simply quote what one commentator wrote:

We cannot, however, feel confidence in any of the proposed occasions [the possible event in Abraham’s life which this could be referring to] and it may be significant that Jesus does not refer to any. In other words, he may well mean that Abraham’s general attitude to this day was one of exultation, rather than referring to any one specific occasion in the life of the patriarch.36

So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”37

Jesus was likely in His thirties, and Abraham had died almost two millennia prior. Those listening to Jesus knew that it was impossible that He could have seen Abraham, therefore they understood this to mean that Jesus was making a claim to pre-existence. Jesus wasn’t making that claim. Rather He was saying that Abraham saw the future (Jesus’ own “day”), and He implied that Abraham still lives (not physically, but in the afterlife). Jesus was not the one who brought up the topic of pre-existence, but since they had, He then addressed it in reference to Himself.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”38 

Other Bible translations add in the word born so that it reads “before Abraham was born, I am!”39 This was an explicit statement of Jesus’ pre-existence. The “truly truly” is an expression that adds weight to the veracity of the statement.

Jesus’ use of the phrase I Am was significant. Throughout the Old Testament, God Himself made a number of “I Am” statements.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”40

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”41

“Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.”42

“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.”43

“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.”44

When Jesus stated that “before Abraham was born, I am!” those listening knew exactly the point He was making—it was a claim of Deity. Because they considered His claims to be blasphemy, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.45

When Jesus first went to the Feast of Tabernacles, He went up, not publicly but in private.46 After speaking publicly in the temple throughout the feast, and being faced with stoning because He made a claim to Deity by stating I Am, we are told that in order to avoid being stoned to death for blasphemy, He took defensive measures by hiding and leaving the temple. This brought an end to Jesus’ interactions with the Jewish religious leadership during the Feast of Tabernacles.

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Note

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

1 John 8:39–40.

2 John 8:41–42.

3 John 8:43.

4 John 8:23.

5 John 8:42.

6 John 8:44.

7 John 8:16.

8 John 8:18.

9 John 8:28.

10 John 8:45.

11 John 8:46–47.

12 John 3:3.

13 John 1:13.

14 John 8:42.

15 John 8:48.

16 John 4:9.

17 2 Kings 17:24–41.

18 John 4:22.

19 John 8:49.

20 John 5:23.

21 John 8:41.

22 John 8:50.

23 John 5:44.

24 John 7:18.

25 John 8:51.

26 John 11:25–26.

27 John 8:52–53.

28 John 5:18.

29 John 10:33.

30 John 19:7.

31 John 8:54–55.

32 John 7:28.

33 John 8:19.

34 John 1:1.

35 John 8:56.

36 Morris, The Gospel According to John, 419.

37 John 8:57.

38 John 8:58.

39 John 8:58 NIV.

40 Exodus 3:14.

41 Deuteronomy 32:39.

42 Isaiah 41:4.

43 Isaiah 43:10–11.

44 Isaiah 48:12.

45 John 8:59.

46 John 7:10.

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Alcance o seu Potencial—1ª Parte

Da série Roadmap

Cada pessoa é única e singular. Cada um de nós foi dotado de diferentes dons e talentos e tem diferentes ministérios. Você é uma criação com características individuais. O Senhor, na Sua sabedoria, sabia o que estava fazendo quando o criou exatamente como você é! Ele quer usar a sua individualidade e ajudá-lo a desenvolver os talentos que lhe deu para que possa ir além e usar a sua situação o máximo possível.

Deus deseja que você alcance o seu potencial e se empenhe em fazer o melhor que pode. Isso envolve usar seus dons, talentos e experiência de vida para realizar algo, investir e tirar o máximo proveito, não se contentando com pouco, quase ou mais ou menos, mas explorando a sua vida ao máximo e da melhor maneira.

Por que se contentar com o mínimo? Por que não ser a melhor pessoa que você pode ser? Existe um certo grau de felicidade e sentimento de realização naqueles que se esforçam para serem mais, que se dedicam no compromisso a um objetivo maior. Muitas vezes realizações impressionantes são resultado de centenas e até milhares de pequenos sacrifícios e decisões corrretas. Tudo de valor na vida tem um custo que frequentemente envolve muita perseverança dia após dia, independentemente das circunstâncias e sentimentos.

Toda pessoa grandiosa, detentora de grandes feitos, labutou durante anos com dedicação, visão, determinação e fidelidade. Se aprendermos isso encontraremos o segredo do sucesso em qualquer situação, pois faremos o melhor uso possível de nossas circunstâncias, estaremos disponíveis em qualquer ocasião, seremos tudo o que podemos ser e, pela graça de Deus, alcançaremos o nosso potencial.

Você é capaz, pois o Senhor lhe deu personalidade, dons e características específicos que, se colocar nas Suas mãos, Ele poderá usar, juntamente com tudo o que você aprendeu e realizou, para enriquecer a sua vida e a de muitas outras pessoas. Ele tem grandes planos para você.

Muitos superaram dificuldades

Segue-se um trecho do livro Desenvolvendo o Líder dentro de Você,de John C. Maxwell.

Muitos dos Salmos são fruto de dificuldade; muitas das epístolas foram escritas quando os autores estavam presos; a maioria dos melhores pensamentos dos grandes pensadores vieram de provações. Bunyan escreveu O Peregrino quando estava preso. Florence Nightingale, reorganizou o sistema hospitalar da Inglaterra durante uma enfermidade que a deixou entrevada em uma cama. Pasteur, parcialmente paralizado e sob a constante ameaça de apoplexia trabalhou incansavalmente na pesquisa da cura para diferentes doenças. O historiador americano Francis Parkman passou grande parte de sua  vida com dores tão agudas que não conseguia trabalhar mais de cinco minutos de cada vez. Sua visão era tão fraca que ele só conseguia rabiscar palavras de tamanho gigantesco em um manuscrito, mas mesmo assim foi autor de vinte magníficos livros de História.

Pense em alguém soterrado na neve em Valley Forge e terá um George Washington. Crie uma pessoa em extrema pobreza e terá um Abraham Lincoln. Pegue uma pessoa com paralisia infantil e ela se tornará um Franklin D. Roosevelt; uma outra pessoa com queimaduras graves e o prognóstico de jamais voltar a andar e terá um Glenn Cunningham, que alcançou o recorde de corrida de uma milha em 1934. Pegue uma pessoa nascida em uma sociedade dominada por discriminação racial e terá um Booker T. Washington, um George Washington Carver, ou um Martin Luther King Jr. Diga à criança que ela é lenta e retardada e a descarte como incapaz de aprender, e terá um Albert Einstein.

Um estudo de 300 pessoas extremamente bem-sucedidas como Franklin D. Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Albert Schweitzer, Mahatma Gandhi e Albert Einstein, revela que 25% delas tinha alguma deficiência, quer na sua capacidade visual, quer na auditiva ou física. 75% delas nasceram na pobreza ou foram criadas em lares desfeitos, ou, pelo menos, em situações extremamente tensas ou conflituosas.

Por que essas pessoas superaram problemas enquanto milhares de outras são dominadas por eles? Elas se recusaram a aceitar as justificativas comuns para o fracasso e transformaram as pedras de tropeço em degraus. Entenderam que não tinham voto em toda circunstância em suas vidas, mas podiam decidir sua atitude em relação a cada circunstância.

Segue-se um trecho do livro Desenvolvendo Líderes em sua Equipe de Trabalho, também de John. C. Maxwell.

Segundo especialistas, ninguém seria capaz de correr uma milha em menos de quatro minutos. Então, em 1954, Roger Bannister, um jovem estudante de medicina, realizou o impossível e derrubou essa barreira. Hoje, todo velocista de alto nível é capaz de correr uma milha em menos de quatro minutos. Por quê? Porque um homem decidiu se aprimorar; um homem decidiu pagar o preço pelo crescimento pessoal; um homem decidiu liderar. E, como resultado, criou o ambiente ideal para os que vieram depois dele.

Superar obstáculos

Você pode estar desanimado e as coisas talvez não estejam dando certo. Segue-se outra história de alguém que pegou os maiores obstáculos e dificuldades que a vida lhe apresentou e os usou como degraus para o sucesso.

Em 1938, quando o Sr. Honda era estudante, usou tudo o que possuía para criar um pistão especial que poderia vender para a empresa Toyota. Trabalhou no seu projeto dia e noite, muitas vezes dormindo na oficina. Ele chegou a penhorar as joias da esposa para manter seu negócio.

Quando finalmente desenvolveu a peça e apresentou à Toyota, ouviu que não estava à altura dos padrões de qualidade da empresa. Voltou a estudar por mais dois anos para aprimorar seu projeto e posteriormente conseguiu um contrato com a Toyota.

Então veio a Segunda Guerra Mundial e ele não conseguia o concreto para construir uma fábrica onde pudesse fabricar seu produto em massa. Junto com sua equipe, criou um novo tipo de concreto para essa finalidade.

A fábrica da Honda foi bombardeada duas vezes e teve que ser reconstruída. Quando as bombas caíram na fábrica, Honda e sua equipe recolheram as partes de metal espalhadas pela propriedade e as denominaram “presentes do presidente Truman”, pois lhe forneceram a matéria-prima para seu processo industrial.

Posteriormente um terremoto arrasou a fábrica e ele teve que vender sua linha de produção para a Toyota.

A escassez de gasolina depois da guerra impossibilitou Honda de dirigir seu carro para conseguir alimentos para sua família. Então ele decidiu acoplar um pequeno motor à sua bicicleta.

Recebeu tantos pedidos para uma “bicicleta motorizada” que quis abrir uma fábrica, mas faltava-lhe capital. Escreveu uma carta para as 18 mil lojas de bicicletas no Japão na época, informando-as da sua invenção. Convenceu 5 mil delas a participarem com capital para a construção da fábrica.

Uma pequena modificação no motor transformou a bicicleta em um sucesso imediato, e ele recebeu a condecoração mais alta do Imperador do Japão. Hoje a Honda tem mais de cem mil funcionários no mundo todo, resultado do compromisso do Sr. Honda em tomar decisões firmes e não desistir de sua meta.

Ele disse certa vez: “Muitos sonham com o sucesso. Na minha opinião o sucesso é resultado de repetidos fracassos e autoanálise. O sucesso é apenas 1% do seu trabalho, o resto é audácia para superar os obstáculos. Se não tiver medo de errar, você alcançará sucesso”. A prosperidade da empresa Honda comprova a verdade da convicção de seu fundador.[1]

“Existe um espaço entre estímulo e resposta. Nesse espaço se encontra nosso crescimento e liberdade.”—Viktor Frankl

Que decisões você vai tomar hoje para alcançar o seu potencial?

Roadmap foi uma série de vídeos produzida pela AFI para jovens adultos. Publicado originalmente em 2010. Adaptado e republicado no Âncora em janeiro de 2020.

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[1] O lendário empresário japonês Soichiro Honda faleceu no dia 5 de agosto de 1991, depois de mais de 470 invenções e 150 patentes, títulos honorários de doutor na Universidade Michigan Technical e Universidade Ohio State, além da maior condecoração no seu país, a Medalha com Corda Azul. Suas realizações foram abundantes. Iniciou um negócio com três mil e duzentos dólares e criou uma empresa com faturamento anual de mais de US $30 bilhões. (https://astrumpeople.com/soichiro-honda-biography-a-great-history-of-japanese-car-manufacturer.)

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Be All That You Can Be! Part 1

From the Roadmap 

Each person is different. Each person is unique. We each have different gifts, callings, and ministries. You are an individual creation, and the Lord in His wisdom knew what He was doing when He made you the way you are! He wants to use your individuality and the talents He has given you and help you to develop them so that you can go further and make the most of your situation.

He wants you to be all that you can be. He wants you to strive for your personal best.—That is, taking your particular gifts, talents, life experience, and really doing something with it, investing in it, and making the most of it possible; not being content with halfway or almost or kinda, but wanting to do the most and the best with your life.

Why be content with going only so far? Why not be the best you can be? There’s a certain happiness and fulfillment that comes as a reward to those that push themselves to be more, those that give their all in a commitment to a higher goal. Really awesome accomplishments often come as a result of hundreds, even thousands of small sacrifices and right decisions. Anything great in life costs, and that cost often comes to you through lots and lots of plodding along, day by day, come rain or shine, no matter how you feel.

Every great man who has gone far and accomplished amazing things did so through years of hard work, sacrifice, vision, determination, and faithfulness. If we’re willing to learn that, then we will have hit on the secret to success in any situation that we find ourselves in, because we will have learned what it means to make the most of our circumstances, to rise to the occasion, to be all that we can be, and to reach our personal best, by God’s grace.

You have what it takes. The Lord gave you the personality, the unique gifts and characteristics that you have, because He knew that through your yielding all of that to Him, He could use all that you are and all that you have learned and accomplished to benefit and enrich not only your life, but the lives of many others. He has great plans for you.

Many have overcome difficulties

Here’s an excerpt of a book called Developing the Leader within You by John C. Maxwell.

Many of the Psalms were born in difficulty. Most of the Epistles were written in prison. Most of the greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers of all time had to pass through the fire. Bunyan wrote Pilgrim’s Progress from jail. Florence Nightingale, too ill to move from her bed, reorganized the hospitals of England. Semi-paralyzed and under constant menace of apoplexy, Pasteur was tireless in his attack on disease. During the greater part of his life, American historian Francis Parkman suffered so acutely that he could not work for more than five minutes at a time. His eyesight was so wretched that he could scrawl only a few gigantic words on a manuscript, but he wrote twenty magnificent volumes of history.

Bury a person in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have a George Washington. Raise him in abject poverty, and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Strike him down with infantile paralysis, and he becomes a Franklin D. Roosevelt. Burn him so severely that the doctors say he will never walk again, and you have a Glenn Cunningham, who set the world’s one-mile record in 1934. Have him or her born in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you have a Booker T. Washington, a George Washington Carver, or a Martin Luther King Jr. Call him a slow learner and retarded—writing him off as uneducable—and you have an Albert Einstein.

A study of 300 highly successful people, people like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Albert Schweitzer, Mahatma Gandhi, and Albert Einstein, reveals that one-fourth had handicaps, such as blindness, deafness, or crippled limbs. Three-fourths had either been born in poverty, came from broken homes, or at least came from exceedingly tense or disturbed situations.

Why did the achievers overcome problems while thousands are overwhelmed by theirs? They refused to hold on to the common excuses for failure. They turned their stumbling blocks into stepping stones. They realized they could not determine every circumstance in life, but they could determine their choice of attitude toward every circumstance.

Here’s an excerpt from the book Developing the Leaders around You, also by John. C. Maxwell.

No one, the experts said, would ever be able to run the mile in less than four minutes. Then, in 1954, a young medical student named Roger Bannister did the impossible by breaking that barrier. Today, every world-class runner can run the mile in less than four minutes. Why? Because one man decided to keep improving. One man decided to pay the price of personal growth. He was willing to lead. As a result, he created a climate for those achievers who followed him.

Overcoming obstacles

Maybe you’re discouraged; things aren’t working out for you. Here’s another story of someone who took the major obstacles and difficulties that life threw at him and turned around and used them as stepping stones to success.

In 1938 when Mr. Honda was at school, he took everything that he owned and began working on a special piston ring that he could sell to Toyota.

He labored day and night to create this—often sleeping in his workshop. He even pawned off his wife’s jewelry so that he could stay in business.

When he finally developed the piston ring, he presented it to Toyota and was told that it did not reach their standards. He was sent back to school for two years to improve the design. After this, Toyota gave him a contract.

Then, the Second World War began and he couldn’t get the concrete to build a factory and mass-produce his new design. He and his team created a new type of concrete to build the factory.

Honda’s factory was bombed twice, and he had to rebuild it.When bombs dropped, he and his team picked up the empty shells and called them “gifts from President Truman” because they provided him with the raw materials for his manufacturing process.

Finally, an earthquake leveled his factory and he had to sell his piston operation to Toyota.

After the war, a terrible gasoline shortage hit Japan, and Honda couldn’t even drive his car to get food for his family. So, he then attached a small motor to his bike to help him get around.

Many people asked him to make one for them so they could also have a “motorized bike.” So many asked him that he wanted to open up a factory and make them—but he didn’t have the capital. So he wrote a personal letter to all 18,000 bicycle shops in Japan and told them of his new invention. He convinced 5,000 of them to give him the capital he needed to build his factory.

After modifying the motor, it became an “overnight success,” earning him the Emperor’s Award. Honda today employs over 100,000 people all over the world, all because of Mr. Honda’s commitment to making powerful decisions and not giving up on his goal.

Mr. Honda once said: “Many people dream of success. I believe that success can be achieved only through repeated failure and self-analysis. Success is only one percent of your work, and the rest is bold overcoming of obstacles. If you are not afraid of them, success will come to you itself.” Today’s prosperity of Honda Motor Co. proves the truth of its founder. 1

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”—Viktor Frankl

What choices will you make today to be all you can be?

Roadmap was a video series created by TFI for young adults. Originally published in 2010. Adapted and republished on Anchor January 2020. 

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1 The legendary businessman Soichiro Honda died on August 5, 1991. By the end of his life he came up with a large store of achievements, which were 470 inventions and 150 patents, honorary doctorates at Michigan Technical University and Ohio State University, the highest honor of his country—Japan’s Blue Ribbon—and many other achievements. Starting a business having $3,200, he created a company with an annual revenue of more than $30 billion. (https://astrumpeople.com/soichiro-honda-biography-a-great-history-of-japanese-car-manufacturer.)

Posted in: audio, discipleship, encouragement, failure, learning, other author, perseverance

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Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

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Forças para um novo ano!

J. R. Miller

Cada ano na nossa vida deve contar. Cada novo ano deveria ser como subir um novo degrau na escada, levantando nossos pés um pouco mais. Não devemos viver dois anos no mesmo plano.

Muitos cristãos ficam fracos e cansados em suas tarefas e deveres. A rotina é intensamente cansativa. As tarefas são extensas e extenuantes; a vida é triste em sua monotonia, e o trabalho muitas vezes parece vão. Semeamos e não colhemos. Enfrentamos e desânimo em muitos pontos. As esperanças promissoras de hoje tornam-se as flores murchas de amanhã.

Mas nós podemos ser fortes. Deus tem força para nós. A Sua força chega até nós de várias maneiras. Tiago nos diz que toda dádiva boa e perfeita desce do Pai das luzes. Não importa, então, como a força chega até nós, ela realmente vem de Deus. Podemos encontrá-la durante a leitura de um livro, cujas palavras aquecem o coração e renovam nossa inspiração de lutar ou servir. Podemos encontrá-la em uma amizade que, através de alegria, companheirismo e solicitude nos enche de coragem e esperança. Deus nos fortalece e nos abençoa através do amor humano, muito mais do que entendemos. Ele Se esconde na vida daqueles que nos tocam com sua afeição. Ele olha nos nossos olhos através dos olhos humanos, e fala nos nossos ouvidos através dos lábios humanos. Ele nos empodera quando estamos fracos, e nos dá esperança em nosso desânimo por meio dos amigos que nos trazem amor e alegria.

A Bíblia diz muito sobre o ministério dos anjos nos tempos antigos. Eles vieram para encorajar os cansados ou em dificuldades. Após a tentação do nosso Senhor, os anjos vieram e ministraram a Ele em Sua fraqueza. Durante a agonia que Ele sofria no Getsêmane, um anjo apareceu a Jesus e o fortaleceu. Sem dúvida, os anjos ainda vêm para ministrar a nós e nos fortalecer, mas geralmente vêm através do amor humano.

Mas a força de Deus é transmitida de outras maneiras. Ela vem através de Suas palavras nas Escrituras. Estamos tristes e, ao abrirmos a Bíblia, lemos a certeza do amor divino, a promessa da ajuda e do consolo divinos—que Deus é nosso Pai, que nossa tristeza é cheia de bênçãos, que todas as coisas concorrem juntamente para o bem do filho de Deus. Quando lemos e cremos no que lemos, e aceitamos como sendo tudo para nós, surge na alma uma nova força, uma estranha calma, uma paz sagrada, e somos imediatamente consolados.

Alguns dias estamos desencorajados, exaustos, atormentados por preocupações, atribulados com as inúmeras distrações da vida, cansados e desfalecendo por conta dos muitos fardos que levamos. Sentamos com nossa Bíblia e Deus nos fala de alegria em suas palavras:

“Não se turbe o seu coração.”

“Não temas, Eu estou contigo.”

“Lança os teus cuidados sobre o Senhor.”

“Deixo-vos a minha paz.”

“A minha graça te basta.”

E enquanto refletimos nessas palavras, o cansaço some; sentimos que estamos ficando fortes; a esperança revive; a coragem retorna. Quem lê a Bíblia a considerando a Palavra do próprio Deus, e ouve a voz de Deus nessas promessas, garantias, mandamentos e conselhos é continuamente fortalecido por ela.

Mas há algo melhor do que isso. O próprio Deus... entra em nossas vidas com todo o Seu amor e graça. O profeta nos diz o seguinte: “Ele dá esforço ao cansado, e renova as forças a quem não tem nenhum vigor”. Isso significa nada menos de que há uma importação direta da força divina para os filhos de Deus na terra que estão cansados e desfalecendo. É uma revelação maravilhosa. Diz-nos que recebemos o poder do próprio Cristo em nossa fraqueza, vindo da a Sua plenitude para preencher a nossa falta.

Alguém pode permanecer ao nosso lado em nossos problemas e nos tornar um pouco mais fortes por meio de empatia e amor, de encorajamento e alegria, mas não pode transferir nem um pouquinho da sua própria força ou alegria ao nosso coração. Cristo, no entanto, nos dá força e transmite a Sua própria vida. O que a videira é para o ramo, Cristo é para nós. Se o galho é ferido de alguma maneira, machucado, quebrado, sua vida abalada, a videira transfere da sua vida à parte ferida para suprir sua perda e curá-la. É isso que Cristo faz. Ele dá força aos fracos. Sua força é aperfeiçoada em nossa fraqueza. Quanto maior a nossa necessidade, mais a graça de Cristo vem a nós. Portanto, há bênçãos que nunca receberemos até que experimentemos provações. Nunca conheceremos o consolo de Deus até passarmos pela tristeza. E, à medida que aprendermos o que é dor, aprenderemos também como Deus dá força e consolo.

Como podemos ter certeza de receber essa força prometida? “Os que esperam no Senhor renovarão as suas forças.” O que é esperar no Senhor? Significa confiar em Deus pacientemente, acreditar no amor de Deus, aceitar a orientação de Deus, manter-se próximo ao coração de Deus, viver em comunhão constante com Deus, apoiando-se em Seu braço, extraindo ajuda dEle. A oração faz parte de esperar em Deus. Quando O buscamos em oração, instantaneamente recebemos um novo suprimento de graça.

Quando esperamos em Deus, permanecemos em Cristo, mantemos nossa comunhão com Ele ininterruptamente, flui dEle para nós, para nossas vidas, um fluxo ininterrupto de força de acordo com nossas necessidades. ... Tal qual as águas do mar que escoam a todas as baías e canais, e para cada pequeno recuo ao longo da costa, a força de Deus preenche todos os corações.

Observe também a palavra “renovar” na promessa. “Os que esperam no Senhor renovarão suas forças.” Tão rápido quanto as forças se esgotam elas são reabastecidas. Tão rápido quanto damos Deus nos dá de novo. É como a tigela de farinha e o óleo da viúva, que nunca acabavam, mas eram enchidos vez após vez à medida que os suprimentos eram retirados. Devemos continuar com o nosso trabalho, com a nossa luta, com o que fazemos e no nosso serviço... na certeza de que, se esperarmos em Deus, sempre renovaremos nossas forças. Estamos em comunicação viva com Aquele que fez as estrelas e as chama por seus nomes, e que mantém o universo em existência; que não Se cansa nem Se esgota. Ele nos apoia o tempo todo—toda a Sua plenitude de vida, toda a Sua força tão importante—e sempre que algo é tirado da nossa vida é instantaneamente renovado, porque Ele dá força aos cansado.

Assim, quando damos a outros em nome de Cristo, Ele preenche o vazio. “Dê, e será dado a você”, é a palavra do Mestre.

Deus lança Sua luz em todo o ano que ainda desconhecemos. Não pode haver experiência alguma ao longo do ano para a qual não haja força. Deus nunca nos dá um dever, sem antes também nos dar a força necessária para cumpri-lo. Ele nunca nos impõe um fardo, sem nos apoiar. Ele nunca envia uma tristeza sem nos enviar o consolo para enfrentá-la. Ele nunca nos chama a um serviço, sem nos prover condições de fazê-lo. Só precisamos esperar em Deus, e então receberemos toda a força que precisaremos, conforme prosseguirmos, dia após dia.

Publicado em 1913, adaptado. Fonte: https://gracegems.org/Miller/strength_for_a_new_year.htm

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Strength for a New Year

By J. R. Miller

We ought to make something of every year. Each new year should be like a new step on the stairs, lifting our feet a little higher. We ought not to live any two years on the same plane.

Many Christians grow faint and weary in their tasks and duties. Routine is intensely wearisome. Tasks are large and exacting, life is dreary in its monotony, work seems ofttimes in vain. We sow and do not reap. We find disappointment and discouragement at many points. Hopes bright today lie like withered flowers tomorrow.

But we can be strong. God has strength for us. How does His strength come to us? It comes to us in many ways. James tells us that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. No matter, then, how the strength comes to us, it really comes from God. We may find it in a book, whose words, as we read them, warm the heart and freshly inspire us for struggle or service. We may find it in a friendship whose cheer and companionship and helpfulness fill us with new courage and hope. Far more than we understand, God strengthens us and blesses us through human love. He hides Himself in the lives of those who touch us with their affection. He looks into our eyes through human eyes, and speaks into our ears through human lips. He gives power to us in our faintness, and hope in our discouragement, through the friends who come to us with their love and cheer.

The Bible tells us a great deal about the ministry of angels in the olden days. They came with their encouragement to weary or struggling ones. After our Lord’s temptation, angels came and ministered to Him in His faintness. In His agony in Gethsemane, an angel appeared to Jesus, strengthening Him. No doubt angels come now to minister to us and strengthen us, but they come usually in human love.

But God’s strength is imparted in other ways. It comes through His words in Scripture. We are in sorrow, and opening our Bible we read the assurance of divine love, the promise of the divine help and comfort—that God is our Father, that our sorrow is full of blessing, that all things work together for good to God’s child. As we read, and believe what we read, and receive it as all for us, there comes into the soul a new strength, a strange calmness, a holy peace, and we are at once comforted.

Some days we are discouraged, overwrought, vexed by cares, fretted by life’s myriad distractions, weary and faint from much burden-bearing. We sit down with our Bible and God speaks to us in its words of cheer:

“Let not your heart be troubled.”

“Fear not, for I am with you.”

“Cast your burden upon the Lord.”

“Peace I leave with you.”

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

And as we ponder the words, the weariness is gone; we feel that we are growing strong; hope revives, courage returns. One who reads the Bible as God’s own Word and hears God’s voice in its promises, assurances, commands, and counsels is continually strengthened by it.

But there is something better than even this. God Himself … comes into our lives with all His own love and grace. The prophet tells us this: “He gives power to the faint; to him who has no might He increases strength.” This means nothing less than that there is a direct importation of divine strength for God’s fainting and weary ones on the earth. This is a wonderful revelation. It tells us that the very power of Christ is given to us in our weakness, passed from His fullness into our emptiness.

One may stand by us in our trouble and may make us a little stronger by his sympathy and love, by his encouragement and cheer, but he cannot put any portion of his strength or joy into our heart. Christ, however, gives us strength, and imparts of His own life. What the vine is to its branch, Christ is to us. If the branch is hurt in any way, bruised, broken, its life wasted, the vine pours of its life into the wounded part, to supply its loss and to heal it. That is what Christ does. He gives power to the faint. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. The greater our need, the more of Christ’s grace will come to us. Therefore, there are blessings which we shall never get until we come into experiences of trial. We shall never know God’s comfort until we have sorrow. And as we learn what grief is, we shall learn also how God gives strength and consolation in grief.

How can we make sure of receiving this promised strength? The answer is: “Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” What is it to wait upon the Lord? It means to trust God patiently, to believe in God’s love, to accept God’s guidance, to keep near God’s heart, to live in unbroken fellowship with God, leaning upon His arm, drawing help from Him. Prayer is part of waiting upon God. When we go to Him in prayer, instantly we receive a new supply of grace.

As we wait upon God, abide in Christ, keep our fellowship with Him unbroken, there flows from Him to us, into our lives, an unbroken stream of strength according to our needs. … As the waters of the sea pour out into every bay and channel, every smallest indentation along its shore, so God’s strength fills every heart.

Note also the word “renew” in the promise. “Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” As fast as the strength is exhausted, it is replenished. As fast as we give out, God gives anew to us. It is like the widow’s barrel of meal and cruse of oil, which could not be emptied, but which were filled up again as supplies were drawn from them. We are to go on with our work, with our struggle, with our doing and serving … being sure that, waiting upon God, we shall ever renew our strength. We are in living communication with Him who made the stars and calls them by their names, and holds all the universe in being, who faints not nor is weary. He is behind us all the while—all His fullness of life, all His important strength—and every emptying of life from us is instantly replenished, for He gives power to the faint.

Thus it is when we give to others in Christ’s name, He fills the emptiness. “Give, and it shall be given unto you,” is the Master’s word.

Over all the unopened year, God casts His light. There can be no experience through the year for which there will not be strength. God never gives a duty, but He gives also the needed strength to do it. He never lays on us a burden, but He will sustain us under it. He never sends a sorrow, but He sends the comfort to meet it. He never calls to any service, but He provides for its performance. We need only to be sure that we wait upon God, and then all the strength we shall need will be given, as we go on, day by day.

Published in 1913, adapted. Source: https://gracegems.org/Miller/strength_for_a_new_year.htm.

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A New Year's Prayer

What are our goals for the new year? Will we follow the lust of the eyes, or the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life and make the things of this world our goals? Will we pierce through our soul with many sorrows, as Apostle Paul warns, because we make riches, that is, money and the things that money can buy the goal of our life? Will we end up like the famous poet Lord Byron who at the height of his fame and fortune cried, "I have quaffed at every cup of pleasure and drank at every cup of fame, but a las, I die of thirst." If we put the lust of the flesh before the needs of our eternal souls, we will indeed gravely miss the mark and end up like that man in the poem "He fed his body, but starved his soul."

"There was a man that some men call great,
He made good and had grappled with fate.
He'd won some fame and some riches, too.
But in the crowd there were those that knew,
The state of his soul, so miserably small, that real greatness he knew not at all.
For all throughout life he had missed the real goal and fed his body but starved his soul.
 He had no time for the little things that so much peace and contentment brings,
a gentle hug, a child's tender look, a promise sweet from the dear Old Book,
 a little talk with a Friend Divine, a little walk where the wild flowers twine.
He was just half a man, not well rounded-whole,
 who fed his body and starved his soul.
And then the day of accounting came and in God's own time Death called his name. Then his body that he fed and cared so well, was left behind like an empty shell,
while his shrivelled soul went to see his God.
All unprepared and paid the full toll, for he fed his body but starved his soul.
So my friends let us walk today where the truly greatest have full sway,
 let us take the path that higher goes, where the soul of man surely grows,
you'll never hear it said of us then "just one of the common herd of men,"
 for if you would be well-rounded whole, you must read God's Word to enlighten your soul."

Apostle Paul tells us to forget the past and reach forward to the things that are before keeping our heart and mind on the things that are above, not of this world. Let us not mind earthly things, but heavenly. Let us walk in love and forgive one another. Let us keep our heart and mind on that Heavenly City like the famous saints of God in Hebrews chapter 11 who by faith sojourned in this world while looking for that Eternal City with real foundations whose builder and maker is God. Let us forsake our own Egypts and embrace the reproach we receive for following Christ as greater riches and treasures than this world has to offer. Let us choose afliction and suffering, if need be, with God, than the pleasure that sin offers us for a season. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life shall pass away, but he that does the will of God shall abide forever.

Therefore, as we make our goals for the new year, let us put God first in our lives. Let us forsake our plans and goals and say, "Jesus, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling. Let Thy will, not My will, be done in my life for you this year. Let me seek you first in my life. Help me forsake all and any thing that keeps me from You and from following You with all my heart, body, and soul. Lord, give me full submission, and full obedience to You. Help me truly be your disciple. In Jesus's name, I pray." Amen.

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