Wednesday Reading: John 7:1-13
Key Verse: John 7:13
13 However, no one spoke openly of Him, because of the fear of the Jews.
Devotion:
How many times have you been told one thing and then heard another thing from the same person when they don’t think you’re around? We expect friends and honest people to say the same thing when they are with us as when we are not with them – whether those things are about us or not. But many a time we often find that people will act kindly to us whilst we are with them and not so when we are not around. If we are going to be totally honest then we will admit to having done that at some stage too.
Jesus knew what the Jews were saying about Him and He knew where their hearts lay. He also knew what they were going to do to Him. He also knew that the time was not yet right for Him to lay down His life so He told His kinsmen that He would not yet go to the feast of tabernacles. If He had gone with them, then everyone would have known about it and Jesus would have been taken prisoner earlier. Instead He followed on later in secret so that the Jews would not know He was in amongst them. Talk about being a fly on the wall! We can only imagine what sort of things He may have heard; and we can only begin to imagine just how much those things would hurt Him. Think how much you have been hurt by someone saying something horrible behind your back...
There are times when we want God to physically intervene in our lives; times when we just wish He would either change us or our circumstances overnight so that we would be better off. But during those times, are we thinking about our physical selves or our spiritual selves because we may well not be thinking on the same lines as Christ is about us. Jesus’ kinsmen wanted Him to show off His miracles to the Jews so that they could be held in high esteem. There is a big difference between wanting something for our own good and wanting something so that God may be glorified; we are not here to glorify ourselves, but God. We need to remember just who is in charge and who has the power and who should get the glory!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like people talking about you behind you back?
Do any of your conversations let God down?
