He Must Increase (John 3:22-30)

Today's scripture: John 3:22-30

John the Baptist had already baptized Jesus and had witnessed the Holy Spirit's coming down "like a dove" and the Father's proclaiming, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

As we read not too long ago, he himself called Jesus the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).

He knew who Jesus was, and although he was a forerunner of Jesus' and even though Jesus said that "among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matthew 11:11), John didn't think he was anything special.

No, he knew was merely the messenger. Jesus was the message—He is the message. John was the best man. Jesus is the bridegroom. At a wedding, the best man's job is to make certain everything goes smoothly for the groom, and during the ceremony, he wants all eyes to be on the bride and groom, not himself.

John the Baptist knew his purpose: to proclaim Jesus as Lord. He knew he would need to "decrease" making certain that Jesus would "increase."

And we should seek the same. Our desire should be to see Jesus increase in all things, to make certain that all eyes are directed to Him. We should merely be message-bringers. No matter how we serve—on a platform or cleaning a toilet—we should desire only His glory, His honor.

He indeed should increase while we decrease.  

The Light of the World (John 3:19-21)

Today's scripture: John 3:19-21

We live in a very dark world. Would anyone argue with that? Over the last few days, we've witnessed bombings in Boston and the explosion of a fertilizer company in Texas. While the latter was probably not instigated by man, it still illustrates earth's decline.

But let's focus a moment on the bombings. As I'm writing, the news is on in the background, and I hear about one suspect's being killed and another's being sought. Terrorists on our soil.

I have to say something that might be controversial. I'm not surprised. What does surprise me is that it doesn't happen more often than it does. Suicide bombings and other terrorist acts occur regularly in other countries, so why not in the United States? We're certainly not immune.

Yes, we live in a very dark world. We are inhabited by men who "love the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds [are] evil." The majority of earth's citizens do not profess faith in the one true God, the Light of the world. They hide from the Light because they don't want their evil deeds "exposed." They believe the lies the world tells them and ignore the truth—the truth that comes only through the Light.

Sad to say, but it's going to get worse before it gets better. We may not be able to prevent tragedies like Boston, but we can try to reach those who are living in darkness. We can speak truth and introduce them to the Light. We can pray for the victims of man-instigated or natural disasters. And we can pray for a change of heart of those who might choose to hurt others.

And we can seek the Light ourselves, not allowing the darkness to bring us down. Because the Light will one day completely abolish the darkness.

Oh, Lord Jesus, the Light of the world, come quickly!

For God So Loved (John 3:1-18)

Today's scripture: John 3:1-18

Today, we're looking at one of the best-known passages in the Bible. There's so much richness, encouragement, and affirmation in these words, and the most wonderful of promises in a verse many of us memorized as children.

Picture the scene:

A Pharisee, a member of a group that despised Jesus and wanted nothing more than get rid of Him, comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness. Nicodemus knows his fellow Pharisees would be furious if they knew, but something compels him to seek out this upstart, Jesus of Nazareth.

"I know You must be of God," Nicodemus says," because You do signs and wonders."

Jesus' response is interesting. He doesn't acknowledge Nicodemus' opening line. Instead, He makes what seems to be a totally unrelated statement: "In order to see the Kingdom of God, you must be born again."

Born again? Nicodemus then asks what many of us would. "How can I go back into my mother's womb to be born again? This doesn't make sense."

Jesus explains that a person must be born of the Spirit. In other words, it's not a physical rebirth; rather, it's a spiritual rebirth. It's a surrendering of the old self and taking on the new self, cleansed and pure.

Nicodemus still doesn't get it, though. I can't say I blame him. The concept of spiritual rebirth isn't always easy to grasp. But Jesus' next words certainly are. He says that we are loved. We are so loved, in fact, that God, the Creator of all things, sent His Son—a part of Himself—to earth to pay the penalty for our sins. We are saved through Him.

We don't know how Nicodemus immediately responded. We can infer, however, that he came to believe in Jesus and His message. How? Because after Jesus' death, he was with Joseph of Arimathea to collect Jesus' body for burial (John 19:38-40).

We all have a chance to meet with Jesus, whether under the cover of darkness because of fear or shame or in the bright light of day. We can all listen to His assurance of forgiveness and eternal life.

Have you meet Jesus? He's waiting to share hope and truth with you. Just ask Him.

The Trust of Jesus (John 2:23-25)

Today's scriptures: John 2:23-25

I find verse 24 very interesting: "Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men ..." Why would Jesus not entrust Himself to those following Him? I'm not certain, and so I go to one of my favorite commentaries:

Our Lord knew all men, their nature, dispositions, affections, designs, so as we do not know any man, not even ourselves. He knows his crafty enemies, and all their secret projects; his false friends, and their true characters. He knows who are truly his, knows their uprightness, and knows their weaknesses. We know what is done by men; Christ knows what is in them, he tries the heart. Beware of a dead faith, or a formal profession: carnal, empty professors are not to be trusted, and however men impose on others or themselves, they cannot impose on the heart-searching God. (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible)

Jesus knows the heart. He knows mine ... He knows yours.

Even if we seem to be following Him—going to church, praying out loud, wearing our NOTW clothing—He knows what's deep in our hearts. He knows our motives. He knows our "true characters."

So, if He knows my deepest thoughts and sees my hidden sin, why would He entrust Himself to me? Yet, praise God, the Holy Spirit is working in me to mold me into a woman who truly loves her God and strives to serve Him.

I want to be a woman to whom Jesus will entrust Himself. I want my outside to reflect what's inside. I want my character to be Christ-like. And so I pray for the Holy Spirit to continue to work in me. I pray I will be more "upright" than "weak."

I want to be worthy of Jesus' trust. How about you?

Believe Jesus' Word (John 2:18-22)

Today's scriptures: John 2:18-22

Jesus came to earth to pay the penalty for my sin—for your sin. He told His disciples on more than one occasion that He would be betrayed, He would be killed, He would be buried, and He would rise again (Matthew 12:40; Mark 8:31; Luke24:46).

In fact, in Matthew 20:18-19, Jesus couldn't have been more explicit:

“Listen to me carefully. We are on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. They will then hand him over to the Romans for mockery and torture and crucifixion. On the third day he will be raised up alive.” (MSG)

Yet, His disciples didn't get it.

Even after walking with Jesus for three years, watching Him perform miracle, and hearing Him teach, they still didn't understand how God was going to offer forgiveness through the once-for-all sacrifice of His Son.

It's easy for us to shake our heads and wonder why they didn't understand Jesus' words, but I wonder if we would have been any different. They expected a triumphal King who would destroy their enemies. They didn't expect a humble Messiah who went quietly to His death. They ran in terror when Jesus was arrested. They hid in fear for their lives after His death. We probably would have done the same.

They didn't get it ... until He appeared to them, alive and well. It was only then that they "remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken" (John 2:22).

We too can remember what Jesus said, how He prophesied of His own death and resurrection, and we too can "believe the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken."