March 26: John 5 19-23

Key Verse: John 5 21
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

Devotion:
Jesus made sure people were told how He would not do anything God, His Father, would not sanction. Jesus made sure people understood how He worked directly with God in everything He did. He made sure He listened to everything God told Him and obeyed God’s commands. Something which struck me was how Jesus was listening to what God was saying then and there, not going by what Moses had said so many years before or by the habit people had got used to doing...

We need to be doing the same by making sure we are actively listening to the latest advice from God – by praying to Him and listening for the answers! Just as people around the world need to be listening to the latest advice from their governments about the state of their countries and the safest way to make sure they are kept safe from this pandemic. Listening to the latest advice has always got to be the right thing to do!

As a modern society we have grown callous in our ways with God because we have continued to do things the way of the world instead of doing things God’s way. The more we get involved with the ways of the world, the more we tend to ignore God because of the peer pressure we have continuously around us. You can think of it as you trying to have a conversation with a friend in the middle of a dance floor where the music is drowning out your every word – eventually you give in and just enjoy the dance… Now imagine 3 of you on that dance floor; the one in the middle is the messenger for talk going both ways and becomes the integral part of every conversation.

We do need to stop and focus on what God is trying to tell us. We will not always hear it because of the ‘volume’ of the world around us, but the more we do listen the more we will be in tune with what God says and the easier it will be to hear Him in the din of the world. Jesus was totally in tune with God the Father and had no problems hearing what He wanted Jesus to do.

Points to Ponder:
How much do you listen to the news and gossip around you?

How much do you separate yourself so you can hear God?