Daily Devotion March 24

March 24: John 12:42-43

KJV Key Verse: John 12:43
43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Devotion:
We may stand up and say that we would never enjoy praise more than giving praise to God… until it happens to us. Praise can be a very powerful tool as well as a very powerful temptation which many will fall into. Some of the church rulers and leaders were beginning to believe that Jesus was the Messiah but they would not dare say it out loud because that would mean they lost every bit of praise in the temple. But when directed to God, praise can still be good.

Praise does make us feel good inside because it gives us a sense of worth, but when we try to absorb that praise things start to go wrong. We cannot keep that praise forever, it fades and dies. But if we are willing to take that praise and willingly forward it on to Christ so that everyone sees we are doing that, they too will direct their praise to God and not to us. It is a very fine line and one that has to come from the heart otherwise it is meaningless!

All of this was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah and it is quoted in the previous verses in this chapter along with the fact that some will still not believe because they have hardened their hearts instead of leaving them open to Christ. Being full of pride of being selfish will stop us accepting the truth about Christ just as these church leaders were not accepting the truth. It is very easy to get distracted and not see Christ.

This means we have to do something about this and not just go along with what others are doing. We have to make a stance based on what Christ is trying to teach us through His example and His Word. Trusting God and His Word can be hard especially in our modern world where we have so many distractions through others religions, scientists, biologists and various others beliefs. But trusting and believing God will always be profitable to our souls and will always lead to the truth.

Points to Ponder:
What makes you doubt?

Will you trust Jesus?