Tuesday 12 Jun 2018

June 12: John 8:12-18

Key Verse: John 8:16
But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.

Devotion:
I find it remarkable that Christ was willing to stand up and talk to all these scribes and Pharisees even though they were trying to get Him cornered so they could discredit Him. Can you imagine going into a room and being grilled by people who do not like you; having to answer questions fired at you designed to trip you up. If we were in that circumstance, most of us would turn to a few “white lies” to help us along the way, or at least turn away from the truth so we could get off the hook. But Jesus continued to answer each question posed to Him with the truth.

But more than that… He stated He did not judge people in the same way we do. In this passage we have Jesus’ words saying, “You judge after the flesh, I judge no one.” This is immediately followed by saying He is going to judge with truth. In other words, He was willing to stand there and answer questions without judging them for the way they asked, what they asked or why they asked. He was willing to be totally open and honest whilst they continued to hide behind their veils of deceit!

As long as we are willing to admit that Christ is our Saviour and He alone is the light of the world, then we are walking towards the light. No longer should we fight amongst ourselves in the dark because He has given us the light, has shown us the light and continues to let it shine for all to see. Whilst He was on earth as a human, He continued to spread the Gospel. Now that He is in heaven, He continues to spread the Gospel through the Holy Spirit and through us. There is no way we will ever understand His ways fully because we are not capable of thinking that far! There is no way we will ever stop judging others, because we live in a world where we are all taught to judge one another. Is it any wonder then we lose sight of our God?

We need to stop and realise just what we are doing before it is too late. He continues to wait for us to do exactly that…

Points to Ponder:
Have you thought about the things people may dislike about you?

Have you thought about the things God would dislike in your life?