Sunday Reading: John 3:25-28
Key Verse: John 3:27
23 And John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it is given to him from Heaven.
Devotion:
So many times in our lives we are caught up in the things of the world and allow the things of God to be forgotten. Well, maybe not forgotten, but certainly put into the backs of our minds or ignored to some extent. John was faithfully doing what was expected of him, knowing that he was baptising people in a stream or with water whilst Jesus was coming to baptise us in the Holy Spirit. He knew that he was to spread the word as much as possible so that others would get to know about Jesus so that they could make their choice to follow Him.
In our little worlds that we close ourselves into we like to filter out all the things that we don't think we need or that we don't agree with. When that happens, it is very easy to then be persuaded by worldly things and follow on in the path of others. I sometimes wonder if John would think about what others saw in him and worry that they would be putting him on a pedestal. John did not put himself up on any pedestal, indeed he lowered himself to the level of a hermit (socially speaking) so that people would not lift him up. Through that example people knew that what he was teaching was true and not made up.
When John said here that a man cannot receive anything unless it came from God, he was not talking about earthly things but of spiritual things. There is no way that we can gain access to heaven no matter what we do on earth. There are so many earthly things that we can gain through what we do here, but what eventual use are they when we get to heaven? John knew just how special Jesus was through what wisdom was given to him. Each of us can gain wisdom by continuing in reading God's Word and allowing Him to teach us through it – with that new wisdom we too can go out and pass on that knowledge to others in the name of Jesus.
Points to Ponder:
Are you holding on to earthly things?
Is God being allowed to work in your life?
