Philippians 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

While we were attempting to begin again by studying the gospel of John, at this point it would be helpful to seek examples of what others did to discover this Christ and who is God and became flesh.

These are the words of Paul, who as Saul studied under Gamaliel, a teacher of renown in Torah. This Saul probably knew more about Jewish traditions and the law than any of us today. I cannot imagine what Paul knew. Paul threw that all away in order to know Christ.

That is not the whole truth in the matter. As Paul became aware of Jesus Christ all that he had learned from Gamaliet was seen with a clearer understanding about how those scriptures pointed to Jesus as the Messiah. That is how Paul could go into the synagogues and convince the leaders and teachers that those scriptures held all the secrets needed to identify Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah of promise.

Paul replaced the wrong message with the right message.

This is what we seek to do in reading the gospel of John as a roadmap to Christ. We must, like Sargent Schultz, see nothing, know nothing, and allow what is happening play out before us.

John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The Word, Jesus, came into the world to show us what living a life in the will of the Father would look like. We must remember that this is just a beginning and we must be patient to allow everything to play out with a new understanding. A new way to look at old information.

John 1:6-8 English Standard Version

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

This John is John the Baptist and was foretold by the prophet Isaiah 40:3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

John 1:1

The Word Became Flesh

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

Given that I had some instruction about the bible in my early life and that I had strayed away and was seeking to start all over again, I sought to forget everything I thought I knew and seek a new beginning. John’s gospel did that, starting over with a new way of seeing the creation story.

John 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The Word was God and with God the Father, the creator of all things, and together they created everything. This was a cooperative effort, Father and Son building a world that the Son would eventually enter and become flesh. They knew from the beginning what needed to be done to set the stage upon which the Son would step into this creation and show mankind who the Father was and put His plans in motion, at that appointed time.

Given that I was not aware of this at that moment I began again, I had to empty myself of all assumptions and allow the Word, Jesus, His Words, the Bible, to speak to me.

One of the most difficult things to do when starting over, beginning a new life, is to empty oneself of every past understanding, assumption and teaching and to allow only the Word to determine what is to be believed. Having lived a life of mistakes then what needed to happen in this new life is to avoid all those mistakes.

John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The concept of seeking God’s will rather than self-will was here in the beginning, even though I did not understand the concept at the time. The method I used at that time in my life was to read, just read and not to use my past to determine my future. I just read the Word and allowed the Word to speak to me, even if I did not understand everything right away.

If we accept that we have repented of a life lived without God, then leaving all that had filled our mind needed to be put away just like God the Father removing my sins from me, as far as the east is from the west. Beginning with a clean slate one must erase all that is on the chalkboard which is our past mistakes. That seems impossible, yet it is needed.

Matthew 18:3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”