Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew
that his hour had come to leave this world and
return to his Father. He had loved his disciples
during his ministry on earth, and now he loved
them to the very end.
John 13:1, NLT

Reflection:

Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one of his
disciples, disowned by another, and deserted
by all of them for a time. Still he "loved them to
the very end." God knows us completely, as
Jesus knew his disciples.
He knows the sins we have committed and the
ones we will yet commit. Still, he loves us. How
do you respond to that kind of love?

(Life Application Daily Devotion)

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair
 cut and his beard trimmed.

As the barber began to work, they began to
have a good conversation. They talked about
so many things and various subjects. When
they eventually touched on the subject of God,
the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to
realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God
exists, would there be so many sick people?
Would there be abandoned children? If God
existed, there would be neither suffering nor
pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would
allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't
respond because he didn't want to start an
argument.

The barber finished his job and the customer
left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop,
he saw a man in the street with long, stringy,
dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked
dirty and unkempt.

The customer turned back and entered the
barber shop again and he said to the barber:
"You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised
barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just
worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't
exist because if they did, there would be no
people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards,
like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist!", answered the barber.
 "What happens, is, people do not come to me."

"Exactly!" - affirmed the customer. "That's the point!
God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people
don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why
there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

(GodVine)

Throughout the Gospels, the language Jesus uses
to condemn the hypocrisy of the Scribes and
Pharisees is always harsh and uncompromising.
He says:

They preach but they do not practice.

They bind up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay
them on men's shoulders.
They do all their deeds to be seen by men.
They love the place of honor at feasts and the best
seats in the synagogues.
They pay tithes while neglecting the weightier
matters of justice, mercy and faith.

They are frauds, blind fools, blind guides; they are
like white-washed tombs, beautiful to look at on the
outside but on the inside full of filth and dead men's
bones.

They display a holy exterior, but inside they are filled
with evil.

Fools! Frauds! Blind guides! White-washed tombs!
Notice again that these very strong words of Jesus are
not directed toward atheists or agnostics or criminal-types or
public sinners. They are directed at respected Churchmen --
men who publicly profess faith in God