Key Thought

Isn't it interesting how hard it is for us to see some things because we are too familiar with them? Jesus' brothers and sisters didn't recognize him as God's Son until after his resurrection. The people in his village didn't expect anything of importance from him. They missed who Jesus was! But we are promised that if we seek after him, we will find him. If we look at his teaching, we can determine if he comes from God. If we open the door to him, he will come in and share our life. If we obey him, he will come and make his home with us. If we receive him, we can be born into the Kingdom of God. So the test for us is pretty simple: do I seek Jesus or am I seeking something else -- a teaching, a doctrine, a religion? If we seek the latter things, we can know a lot about Jesus, but never really know HIM. So let's seek Jesus and his new way of life in the Spirit! As we read John together this year, let's always ask God to show us Jesus more clearly.

Today's Prayer

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Father, help me know Jesus more powerfully and more fully as I study his life and seek to reflect his character in my daily life. Please show yourself to me just as you promised. Open my eyes so that I can see your work more clearly in my life and praise you more fully with my heart. Jesus, please let me come to know you and not just know about you. In the precious name of my Savior I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John. The Jews sent them to ask, "Who are you?" John spoke freely. John did not refuse to answer. John said clearly, "I am not the Christ. " That is what John told people. The Jews asked John, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah ?" John answered, "No, I am not Elijah." The Jews asked, "Are you the Prophet ?" John answered, "No, I am not the Prophet." Then the Jews said, "Who are you? Tell us about yourself. Give us an answer to tell the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" John told them the words of the prophet Isaiah: "I am the voice of a person shouting in the desert: 'Make a straight road ready for the Lord.'" These Jews were sent from the Pharisees. These men said to John: "You say you are not the Christ. You say you are not Elijah or the Prophet. Then why do you baptize people?" John answered, "I baptize people with water. But there is a person here with you that you don't know. That person is the One who comes after me. I am not good enough to untie the strings on his shoes." These things all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River. This is where John was baptizing people. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, "Look, the Lamb of God. He takes away the sins of the world! This is the One I was talking about. I said, 'A man will come after me, but he is greater than I am, because he was living before me--{he has always lived}.' Even I did not know who he was. But I came baptizing people with water so that Israel (the Jews) could know that Jesus is {the Christ} ." Then John said, "I also did not know who the Christ was. But God sent me to baptize people with water. And God told me, 'You will see the Spirit. come down and rest on a man. That man is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. '" John said, "I have seen this happen. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven. The Spirit looked like a dove and sat on him (Jesus). So this is what I tellpeople: 'He (Jesus) is the Son of God.'"

— John 1:19-34 (ERV)

Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.