Thursday 11 Dec 2014

December 11: John 15:26-27

Key Verse: John 15:27
And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

Devotion:
John was the witness that God provided to tell the people of the coming of the Messiah. John was only about 6 months older than Jesus so was not there to tell people that Jesus was going to be born; that was the job given to the angels. John was telling people they had to repent and be baptised, to give up their old lives and live a new life with Christ. John was preparing the way for Jesus to come in as preacher and King.

The disciples had been with Jesus for most of His ministry and hence had enough knowledge to be able to pass on the news of Jesus to many people. Much of this was going to be done after Jesus had died and risen again because that would be the time when they would be able to go out with the message; learning more each day whilst they were with Him. We do need to be able to spend time with God and learn what He has in store for us before we go out and tell others, but we should not stop just because we think we do not know enough.

We may know a single verse which could be the key to someone else coming to know Christ: it is going to be the Holy Spirit who leads us toward the people that need to know what we have learned and not us selecting who we think should get what we have learned after we think we have learned enough! Going to university or college to learn more is good because it sets the foundation for which we can pass on knowledge or use that knowledge; but it is not the end of our education.

As long as we are willing to learn more from the people around us and from God through the Holy Spirit, we should be able to continue learning right up until the day we die. I thank God that He has given me an inquisitive mind to seek out the truth and to share that truth afterward. But I thank Him more for what He set out to do in the beginning so we would have this time to pass on what He teaches us.

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you know enough?

Will you trust God to teach you more?