Tuesday 4 Sep 2018

September 4: John 7:14-19

Key Verse: John 7:17
Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

Devotion:
When Jesus went to Judea, He went there because God wanted Him to be there at that time. Half way through the festival He went down to the temple courts and began to teach them from the scriptures. Reading in between the lines, these people were pretty much controlling the education market because they knew who had been through the schools and colleges; and they knew Jesus had not been through them. Yet, He knew them well and was able to teach them. What did they do in return? They wanted to get rid of Him, assuming there must be some evil influence somewhere along the lines! Were they that stuck up themselves that they did not see Jesus for who He was?

Many times in our lives we do get caught up in our own abilities and take on a mantle of ‘know it all’ or ‘this is my domain’ and act like we own the rights to things we have no right to own. God’s scripture is His alone to own and we are just messengers who are tasked with sharing what we learn with others, so they can then do the same. It is not ours to own because we are not the authors. God inspired the right people at the right time to write down these very special words recounting the history, the law and the prophecies of what is to come.

If we could ever come up with the knowledge and wisdom contained in the bible, then, just maybe, we could stand up and start to teach others who have actually spent their time learning and studying this all already. I know the more time I spend in studying God’s Word, the more I learn and the closer I draw to God through knowing Him better.

The closer we get to God, the easier it is to listen to what He wants in our lives and the easier we will find it to pass on that knowledge and wisdom to others. Every word we pass on to others can and should be compared to what God has already told others and written down for our learning. If we start to say things which are not the same as what God is teaching us through His word, then we are coming up against God Himself; it’s not going to work! Praise God and continue to lift up His Word faithfully, just as Jesus did – we may well face people who disagree because they want their own way!

Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to share God’s Word?

Are you sharing it faithfully?