Read the Bible in a Year (05NOV19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, November 5’s Bible reading is John 3-4.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, November 6’s Bible reading is John 5-6. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

JOHN MOMENT – (05NOV19) “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:29-30). Jesus and his disciples had come into Judea so He could preach, teach, and for the disciples to baptize new believers. Not too far away was John the Baptist who was also preaching, teaching, and baptizing. John’s followers, however, noticed that there were more people listening to Jesus and being baptized by His disciples than there was of John. Therefore, when John’s disciples brought the matter to his attention, John let them know that nothing could be done except what was given to them from Heaven. He explained to his disciples that he was not the Messiah but was only sent ahead of Him to prepare the way for His arrival. He could only speak the things of God from an earthly perspective, but Jesus could speak the things of God because He had a firsthand Heavenly knowledge. John told his disciples that he must decrease as Jesus increased because his work was done.

Sometimes Christians and ministries have become competitive for the wrong reasons. There are those who fight over positions in churches and then there are pastors who compete with one another to see who can have the largest following, most attendees, largest church, highest tithe payers, and celebrity endorsements. All the while, souls are being lost by the day as believers are pursuing selfish interests and gains. The Bible says: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). When we are working in the service of God, we are not to compete with one another, but we are to work together for the good of others.

John could have taken it personally that Jesus was getting a larger following than he, but John did not allow jealousy, envy, and pride to set in his heart. He knew that he had done the work that God had sent him to do and he also knew that his time was nearly over. Sometimes, we can want to hold on to positions and titles when God has other areas of service that He needs us to work in. This often leads to church fights, debates, arguments, resentment, and hatred towards one another. When such things happen, we should ask ourselves the following questions: “Who am I really doing this for? Am I doing this to serve God, or am I doing this to serve myself? Do I have a need to fill some empty desire within me that craves attention from others, or am I trying to work for the Kingdom of God? Is holding on to a title or position what God wants from me, or will I allow Him to use me even if I have neither one? Does my heart seek to save the lost, or do I seek to save my position? If Jesus searched my heart today, would He find it pure or stained with dirt?” The Bible says: “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10). God knows if we are serving Him selflessly even if we are able to fool others. We must all examine ourselves to see if we are operating with a pure heart in accordance to God’s will, or are we doing so out of pure selfish motives. You be the judge. Something to ponder….