I found it interesting how Jesus protected us from giving our personal opinion on where someone stands in their Christianity, for we are all on the same playing field here on earth. Instead, Jesus gave the Jewish leaders the evidence He looked at in determining who their master was. These guidelines are still true today, so let’s meditate on the Word of God and apply its truth to our hearts and lives.

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DATE POSTED Wednesday, 2021-12-22
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

BY: Ed Algreen 

SCRIPTURE FROM: John 8:42; 44
TRANSLATION: Good News Translation (GNT)

BIBLE TEXT: 42 Jesus said to them, “If God really were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own authority, but he sent me.  44 You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father’s desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies. 

APPLICATION: We all have our excuses about why we act the way we do. For the Pharisees, they felt like they were good representations of their father, Abraham. But to their surprise, Jesus knew all about what that would look like if they were honestly following in Abraham’s footsteps. They then concluded, like so many on earth tend to do today, that God is their Father. For those readers and listeners who tend to do the same thing when backed in a corner about your faith, notice what Jesus evaluated:

-*- If God is your Father, then you would love like He loves. Jesus, being the Son of the Living God, went about doing good. He was careful to go only where He was sent and say only the things that He was guided by His Father to say. Jesus knew that all God’s children would act the same way, and that’s not what He was seeing in the Pharisees. I can only pray that Jesus, who knows every thought, action and word from us, will see enough evidence that we are God’s children. How do you think you are doing?

-*- You are children of your father, the Devil, because – you are following his desires. You commit murder – consider the number of infant murders each and every day in our respective countries through abortion. Shooting another individual has become as commonplace as fist fights used to be. You have never advocated for truth, just as there is no truth in your father (the devil). In fact, this has become such a part of your life that it seems natural for you to lie. It does not even phase your conscience anymore. Unfortunately, most people will never acknowledge that they lie, but for the honest person, we could identify a lie just as it comes from someone’s mouth.

So friends, who do we think we are fooling? Or, have we come to a place in society where we just don’t care anymore? I recently worked with some guys and girls who were instructed by local management to lie every day, because the ‘higher ups’ didn’t want to know about all they found wrong. Can we truly expect an honest day’s work from our employees, while asking them to wrongly lie about what they see, smell or witness? There is no such thing as being less evil because we only sin in this way or that. If we sin, we are a sinner. Let us therefore strive for righteousness in every area of our lives, so that the evidence is all over everything we do and say. May God Himself see and know that we are His, based on our honesty and righteous thoughts and actions. Otherwise, we are no better off than the Pharisees that Jesus ridiculed in our Scripture today.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Jesus went about doing good, as an imitation of His perfect Father. Out words and actions will tell Jesus, and the world whose we are also.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, please forgive us for becoming so much like the world and it’s father, the Devil. Not only do we want to make You proud of Your creation by being a great imitation of our Father, but we want others to wonder what’s different about us and seek to know our Creator and Master. Please develop a deep desire within us to know You intimately, and to study Your Word daily so that we may learn and practice Your commands and teachings by which we should align our lives. Please give us strength and direction each day, and a strong desire to know You better in every way, while striving to put your teachings into practice. May Your ministry come to fruition through the actions and words of my readers, listeners and myself so that others might also desire a relationship with You. AMEN!