God's Word for You (Thursday, Jan 21, 2010)
A Daily Devotion by Pastor Tim Smith
John 3:31-36
John had just confessed that he must decrease and Jesus must increase. Now he explains what he meant:
31 “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
John is talking about himself and Jesus, but he could be talking about any one of us and Jesus. Any words that come from us are just human words; any message that some from a human alone is nothing more than human. But Jesus’ words are the very word of God. A person who proclaims Christ is proclaiming a Divine message. But most importantly, we look to Jesus because God the Father has given everything to his Son, Jesus Christ. The prophet Daniel saw a vision of the Messiah Jesus and recorded what he saw:
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14).
One of the identifying marks of Jesus as the true Messiah is the public testimony of the God the Father given at his baptism. And one of the identifying marks of you as a Christian is the washing of your sins in your own baptism. It is there in our baptism that we are given the gift of forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. To “accept” such a gift requires no effort at all on our part, any more than being mentioned in the will of a dead relative takes any effort. As a house accepts a coat of paint, so we have accepted the gift of eternal life. It is a gift, credited to our account. We love Jesus for what he has done, and so we accept his testimony.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (NIV)
Believing in the Son does not mean that every Christian must understand every single teaching and doctrine of the Bible perfectly. We spend a lifetime learning and growing in our faith. But the simple faith of a child apprehends Jesus, trusts in the Savior, and is coated with the coat of his forgiveness and love. Faith in Christ rescues us from God’s wrath; without it that wrath hovers over us like a terrible storm that will never dissipate.
Because God has loved us, his forgiveness and compassion will never dissipate. Through Jesus we have the peace of God that transcends our understanding, that guards our hearts and minds forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul's Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn's father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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