Friday 19 Dec 2014

December 19: John 6:60-66

Key Verse: John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Devotion:
Can you imagine knowing what people are thinking, knowing what is on their hearts? I could not imagine anything more scary than this! Being able to understand people and have an intuition of what they are thinking is a gift that not many people have; most of us simply judge people according to things like body language or other tell-tale signs we give away unconsciously. Knowing what is on someone’s heart is God’s domain!

What if you knew exactly what people thought about the Christmas presents you bought for them? What if you knew exactly what people thought when you opened your mouth and said anything? It would seem a bit unfair that we should be given this intuition as a gift and so God does not give it out to one and all. It is for us to give as best we can and to supply as best we can so we can hopefully fulfil as best we can.

Jesus came to give the most amazing present in the world and He knew before hand what people were going to think of that gift. He knew who would take it willingly, who would believe, who would reject it… and yet He still chose to bring it forward as a free gift to everyone. But just because He has given the gift to everyone does not mean that every person is going to accept the gift – even though it is free!

Being willing to give even when you know your gift is going to be rejected is not the best way to start giving gifts. We tend to judge people by their reactions to what we give and what we say. Jesus gave and said the best and did not judge at that time. Yes we are all going to face the final judgement where we will have to give account for the choices we made and the deeds we did; but the gift has still been made available to us without limit. I thank my Lord and Saviour He was willing to come forward and give Himself for us and to us even though He knew I would get things wrong. Rejoice and be happy!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like giving gifts?

Do you like your gifts being rejected?