Overview of: JohnToday's Reading:
John 5:1-47
"Healing, Life, and Scripture"
Focus Verses: John 5:24-26
24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself."
Insight:
Jesus was persecuted for more than breaking Sabbath laws. There were attempts and plots to kill him, not because he was a controversial teacher, but because "he was calling God his own father, and making himself equal with God" (John 5:18). He claimed to be the Son of God, the promised redeemer, the giver of eternal life, the one who would raise the dead, and the one who would judge on the final day.
Response and Action:
My faith is in Jesus. I accept his claims about himself. I believe he is the fulfillment of the promises found in the law and the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. I believe that the scriptures, the Holy Spirit, and the testimony of the saints all testify to the truth of Christ. My hope of life, purpose, and eternity are in Jesus. I will seek to do good and pursue his righteousness today and every day as I eagerly await the day of his appearing—the day when he will redeem all humankind and all of creation with his resurrection power.
O God, thank you for the life and redemption given through Christ Jesus, your Son. Give me the wisdom and the will to follow and serve him. Help me to live in such a way that my life becomes another testimony of the hope and life he came to give. Strengthen and transform me that I might know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Amen.
Old Testament for Today: Psalm 16:8-11
8 I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
In Context: Psalm 16
Proverb for Today: Prov. 26:12
"Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him."
Recommended Reading:
Who Was Jesus?
by N. T. Wright
