"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him."
John 3:14-15 (NIV)
Israel's complaining finally caught up with them. Venomous snakes moved through the camp, and people were dying from the bite. This was the same grumbling Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 10, a warning aimed straight at people who felt spiritually secure.
God's remedy was strange, but simple. He told Moses to lift a bronze snake on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten only had to look at it to live. Not climb toward it, not earn it, not fix themselves first. Just look.
Jesus later points straight at that image for himself. He said that just as Moses lifted up that snake in the wilderness, he himself would be lifted up. Everyone who believes in him would have eternal life. He is not borrowing a metaphor. He is telling us what the story was pointing to the whole time.
Correcting a misquote was never only about a phrase. Temptation has a way through it. Suffering that exceeds your strength is where you finally stop relying on yourself. Underneath all of it sits one simple instruction: look.
Some of you are still trying to fix what only needs to be looked at. You are analyzing it. You are managing it. You are working harder at it, hoping effort will eventually be enough. But the bitten Israelites were never told to work themselves better. They were told to look at what God had already lifted up.
Godseekers, whatever is more than you can carry, look to the one who was lifted up for you. Not your strength, not your explanation, not your ability to hold it together. Christ, lifted up so that looking to him is enough. Look, and live.
Prayer
Father, we have spent so much energy trying to fix what only looking to Christ can heal. Thank you for lifting up your Son so that looking to him would be enough. Forgive us for trusting our own effort more than we trust him. Teach us to simply look today, and to keep looking tomorrow. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Personal Reflection
- What are you trying to fix or manage right now instead of simply looking to Christ?
- What makes it hard for you to believe that trusting him is actually enough?
Step of Faith
Today, instead of working through what is crushing you, spend five quiet minutes looking to Christ in prayer. Tell him plainly that you are trusting him instead of your own effort.
