Reading your Bible for today January 2

January 2: John 17:1-5

KJV Key Verse: John 17:5
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was .

Devotion:
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in poverty? We see a lot more programs on TV about the terrible state some people have to live in every day of their lives, yet most people seem to ignore their fate. We see governments turning their backs on people; always with an excuse as to why they can’t help. We see countries ignoring their neighbours – not through ignorance or apathy, but something more.

When Jesus came to live with us, He came down as a human being. That means He gave up all His glory He had in heaven and turned Himself into a mortal human being to be with us so He could go through everything just as we do. I am not saying we should all give up our lives and go to war torn and poor countries to see if we can hack it; because we will not be able to! There is no way many of us will be able to put up with the total lack of facilities some countries have. Instead, I would rather you remembered just how much Christ gave up for us when He came down to be with us on earth.

Being here did not stop Him from achieving His goal, to spread the Gospel and to lay down His life for our sin debt. He made sure He made people aware of God, not Himself (even though we know He is God). He made people aware of the fact that God is in control of everything. He made people aware of the fact He was an intermediary between us and God. He made sure we knew He would continue to listen to all of our prayers and to answer each and every one of them. He made sure He would leave behind a comforter for us so we would never be alone.

He did all of this because of His love for us. That same love which existed whilst He was still in heaven, before we existed. His love for us that allowed Him to give His life for us. He knew He would return to heaven, but He still prayed God would glorify Him. Why? Because God wants us to show Him we do love Him. We can do that through our lives and through our prayer.

Points to Ponder:
How much do you ignore in the world around you?

Are you making a difference for God yet?