John 1

Tribe, 

Day one of the Daniel fast and as I mentioned we’ll be reading through the gospel of John through the end of January. There are 21 chapters, and 21 days left in January, so we’ll do a chapter a day. My plan is to post some simple thoughts from the corresponding chapter each day. Read along with me and record your own thoughts.

A few thoughts on John 1:1-51:

• (v.9-12) The humility of Jesus is breathtaking. Everything was made through him....everything. Yet, this world, which he created, did not receive him.

• (v.13) We are born-again not because of our will, but because of God’s.

• (v.14) Jesus is full of grace and truth. Contrast that with church culture that tends to lean too heavily on one while forsaking the other. Fundamentalism emphasizes truth but misses grace. Liberalism emphasizes grace but misses truth. Jesus combined both perfectly without sacrificing the one for the other.

• (v.29) Jesus takes our sin away. A short sentence, a spectacular truth.

• (v.43-51) I wonder what Nathaniel was thinking after Jesus turned his world upside down. Encounters with Jesus should often leave us in awe. Contrast this with pragmatic American culture that just wants answers or tips from Jesus on how to live a better life now. The reality of Jesus should blow up our small pragmatic reality so that we might see the “greater things than these.”

Grace & Peace,

Brad