May 19, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Listen!

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Merciful Lord, I submit this day to You, and to Your rule, with deep joy and high hope.

Read John 1:1-18

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning. [3] Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. [4] In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. [6] There was a man sent from God whose name was John. [7] He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. [8] He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. [9] The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. [10] He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. [11] He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. [12] Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- [13] children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. [14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. [15] (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'”) [16] Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. [17] For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [18] No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“The Sovereign Lord … wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught…I have not drawn back” (Isa. 50:4,5). This is a teacher we must listen to!

What a magnificent way to start this series! John’s prologue takes a cosmic view of who Jesus is. Matthew and Luke narrate the Christmas story from a human point of view. Here we have the big picture of Jesus coming to earth and his ministry among us. It stretches our minds to read that the baby born in Bethlehem was, from the beginning, with God who created the universe!

John is calling us into another reality, as he will continue to do throughout his Gospel. He calls Jesus the “Word,” or in the Greek, logos. (This is the word from which we get the word “logic” and words that end in “-logy.” It means “account,” “explanation,” “rationality.”) We tend to think of God’s “Word” as the Scriptures, but we must remember that in the first instance the “Word” is God’s communication of himself to us in Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:13). We, too, become “letters” to others as God writes a living message with the pen of his Spirit on our hearts.

The world is not irrational, meaningless or impersonal. In Jesus Christ, the Word, God communicates to us through a person. Amazingly, he wants you and me to hear and understand. Sadly, there are those who refuse to listen–as sometimes we do ourselves. As a child I must have been obstinate, as I have memories of my mother often saying to me, “There’s none so deaf as those who won’t hear.” So it is with God’s message to us. As we read John’s Gospel we will encounter people who for various reasons cannot hear God’s gracious invitation. At the start of a new week, let’s pray that we might daily turn away from the things that make us deaf, and hear his living voice.

Apply

How is God speaking to you at this time? How are you letting his voice be heard through all the clamoring voices around you? What is God saying?

Closing prayer

Heavenly Father, I know You are speaking to me. Somehow, the competing voices of culture, family needs, numerous demands, drown out Your voice. Help me to listen to You alone.

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