Saturday 11 Jan 2014

Saturday Reading: John 7:32-36

Key Verse: John 7:35
Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

Devotion:
You may find it amazing that two people could hear the same thing and come up with different ideas about what they heard; and then again you may say the same thing about the bible today, two people reading the same passage and getting something different out of it. This is what our minds are all about. Each one of us is very different and that makes us unique. God made us unique. If we were all pretty much the same then we would all end up in the same place, doing the same thing and believing the same things… imagine what it would be like if all of those who went before us took a wrong turn and we ended up not believing in God just because nobody else did!

God made us different so each of us can make our own minds up about Him. In that same manner each of us makes up our own minds about the people that we love. Jesus tried to remind us that we should love everyone but we still do choose! His reminder was to open our eyes to the differences and to accept people for what they are. When we stop accepting that we fall into a deep pit of despair which we will struggle to get out of.

The Pharisees had worked themselves into a pit that was legalistic and was shutting out Christ instead of accepting Him as the Messiah; after all, how could a mere human take on their part of the Messiah! We need to stop judging people according to our own rules and allow God to do that instead. We need to love people for who they are and what they are… that is difficult at times! But necessary!

Even if we turn our backs on Christ He will not turn His back on anyone. When we turn our backs on Him we will still see Him reaching out to everyone else around us. He does see each one of us as being very different but He still loves us the same. That is the love that He wants us to go out with so that we too can get to live for our Father in Heaven. God wants us to trust in the things that He does and can do, not in the things of this world or what we think this world should be able to do.

Points to Ponder:
Are you limiting God’s outreach?

Will you be different and love God?