selah

The Word for today:
John 6:22-40

selah:
John 6:28-29

Some Bible verses are so crucial that we should pause there before going on. They should be underlined, highlighted, memorized, and meditated upon.

The Psalms contain a mysterious word: 'selah.'

(It is pronounced "see-lah," with the stress on the first syllable.)

No one is exactly sure what it meant, but our best guess is that it meant 'stop, look, and listen.' It followed a thought which demanded reflection. So 'selah' signaled that the musicians were to play an instrumental interlude with no singing, in order to let the idea and emotion sink in.

Day by day, Stand in the Rain uses the phrase 'mark this' to focus on a verse.

But from time to time we will use the word 'selah' to indicate a verse which is crucial to biblical understanding.

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One such Bible passage is before us today: John 6:28-29.

Faith? Works?

If ever you get confused about the fundamentals of your New Testament, go to John 6:28-29:

Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

You will hear a lot of discussion in the Bible about faith and works. Are we saved by our faith or by our works? The answer is here. We are saved by our faith in the work of Jesus Christ--who fulfilled the law by living a sinless life, then paid the penalty our sins deserve when he died on the cross. When he rose from the dead, it was proof that He'd done it! He'd defeated death by his sinless sacrifice.

So we are saved by our faith in the work of Jesus Christ.

Selah.