Week of January 17, 2010
JOHN 7:14-36
Doing and Knowing the Truth
MONDAY, JANUARY 18 <Read John 15:1-11>
Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” John 7:16
In the Christian faith, it is not as much what you know as who you know that counts. The leaders expressed mock wonder at Jesus’ lack of “learning” (literally “letters”). For them, you only had credibility if you had been to school, and could cite what other teachers had said down through the ages. In other words, Jesus had no “seminary” degree and therefore did not know anything and had no authority to teach. Jesus replies that his “teaching” (literally, doctrine) is from God Himself. Now Jesus of course had more knowledge than the leaders could ever dream; of course knowledge is very important and useful. However, knowledge about God is worth very little without a relationship with God and a desire to love and obey Him. To know Him and love Him and walk with Him is to have a wisdom you cannot get from any book or institution. That must always be first.
Prayer: “Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word; I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord; Thou my great Father, I Thy true son, Thou in me dwelling, and I in Thee one. Amen”.
(Be Thou My Vision, The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration, #382, Verse 2)
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19
Read Matthew 7:7-11
If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. John 7:17
A story is told of a young man who grew tired of his wild life and came under the conviction that he needed to change. For years, he had ignored and even ridiculed the Bible. At last, he came to a dead end, seeking answers and yet full of doubt. Someone said to him: “Why don’t you just go to God yourself and ask Him to make it clear to you?” So, he prayed to God that if He was there and Jesus was His Son to make himself known to him. The young man began to read the Bible and afterward he said that, though he could not explain it, a change took place, and he knew beyond a doubt that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God and his Savior. God often requires movement before He will act in our lives. That movement can be a sincere desire to be serious with Him, as the Scripture tells us: to “ask, seek and knock.” It can be an effort to obey, even if only in a very imperfect and halting way. When we move toward Him, even just a little, we can be sure God will move toward us a lot. He will save, redeem and assure us of His truth and presence in our lives.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the invitation and the promise; the invitation to move toward You, and the promise to meet me wherever I am with love and grace. Amen.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20
Read Luke 6:37-42
Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment. John 7:24
Judging people and situations comes very easily for us. We regularly judge people by the color of their skin, where they are from, how much schooling they have or a multitude of other reasons. We also judge situations by the gossip we hear or with the most meager information. God never forbids making judgments. We are regularly exhorted to judge right and wrong, good and evil, moral and immoral. What is condemned is being judgmental, thinking that we are somehow better than others and in the end making surface judgments without thought or mercy. In the leaders’ case, they condemned Jesus for healing a paralytic on the Sabbath because on the surface of it, He broke the law. In doing so, they forgot that the Sabbath in itself was a day of healing (rest for body and soul) and ignored an amazing miracle. Yet, they themselves broke a law of no work on the Sabbath to keep the law requiring circumcision on the eighth day after birth. As we make judgments, we must be careful, judging ourselves first and then doing our best to go beyond the surface of things. With God’s help we can then do better at making right judgments.
Prayer: Lord, help me to see that so often I move from making proper judgments to being judgmental, seeking to elevate myself at the expense of others. Forgive me and help me look beyond the surface of things and people and make judgments in humility and love. Amen.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21
Read John 10:32-39
Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?” John 7: 31
In our day, it is popular to be anti-Christian and even anti-God. Recently books have been written cataloging many mistakes, injustices, and even atrocities performed by individual Christians and the Christian church as evidence that faith can be a bad thing. Certainly Christians have done evil in history and the church as a whole has made and continues to make mistakes. But we should not be intimidated by the criticism, especially when it comes to Jesus. No other human being in history has inspired so much good, from the building of schools, hospitals, and other helping institutions, to the writing of laws freeing slaves, promoting equality and bettering the human condition. This does not count the millions of changed lives down through history of people who have put their faith in Him. Like the people in Jesus’ day, we can still ask: “Who has done more than this man?” The answer is no one.
Prayer: “The battle is the Lord’s! Not ours in strength or skill, But His alone, in sovereign grace, To work His will. Ours counting not the cost, Unflinching to obey; And in His time His holy arm Shall win the Day. Amen.” (The Battle Is the Lord’s, The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration, #472, Verse 2)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
Read Acts 2:22-24
At this, they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because his time had not yet come. John 7:30
One again, we see God’s sovereignty over time and circumstance. Seeing many of the people begin to put their faith in Jesus, the Jewish leaders attempted to put a stop to Him once and for all. They were not able to, not because Jesus ran away or because of a miracle, but because it was not yet God’s planned time. So often in our lives we have things we want God to take care of or settle. Some may have children who do not know the Lord. Others may be fighting a particular temptation or are in financial hardship. Others may simply be struggling to change a habit. God answers these things in His time and in His way. Like a camera lens focused on a small area, our vision is very limited and we do not see the broader picture of what God is doing in our lives or the lives of people around us. We must trust that God is not only involved in our lives; He loves us and knows what is best for us in the end. Our task is often to wait, and not just suffer through; but to learn what God is teaching us in the midst of our struggle.
Prayer: Lord, give me patience to wait for You, not patience for patience sake, but patience that teaches me to trust You more and more. Grant me the ability to wait, which grows my strength and faith for the road ahead. Amen.