July 5: John 5 31-40

Key Verse: John 5 39
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me

Devotion:
Talking all about yourself can be harmful for your image – the more we build ourselves up the more people will think we are not telling the truth because we are talking about ourselves! Jesus knew He would face this and that is why John was sent before Him to tell people of a truth which was coming, one which was going to change the world. This was what the scriptures had recorded in them and something the people should have already been prepared for… but the closer the time came, the more people ignored the signs.

We have seen this in action over the first half of this year and we will continue to see more of this as people ignore the warnings just because they want to go back to doing their own thing! We can look forward and say “we won’t get involved!” but after a very short while of not having our own ways we tend to give in to temptation and do silly things! We even start believing our own lies and tell those same lies to others expecting them to believe us…

Let us never forget we are those lights Jesus is talking about here, just as John was a light coming before Jesus, we are lights declaring the way before the Lord returns once again. We don’t know when it will be and we have no idea how other than this is because Jesus said it would be so. You may think we have a bit of an uphill struggle here because we don’t know enough details – that is where our faith comes in.

If we are willing to have faith and trust Christ will do as He has promised, then we can shine that light just as John did and people will believe us just as they believed John. The crowning glory will be when Jesus does come again and we can live out our faith! Ours is to simple tell it how it is, but Jesus has the task of fulfilling what has been said, no matter what!

Points to Ponder:
Do you shudder at the thought of having to tell people about Jesus?

Imagine having to tell them there is no longer any hope...