Day 120, 29th December: Joshua, John and Proverbs

Just Clicked
By Jason and Rachel Gardner

Today’s readings
Joshua 17:1-18:28
John 1:29-51
Proverbs 10:31-11:8

Sometimes I stare at strangers.

I’m not weird, it’s just that the back of someone’s head in front of me in a queue in Tescos or the way someone is walking down the street makes me think that they are someone I know. And I get that little leap in my heart and almost call out, ‘Hey mate…’ before I realise it’s not someone I know but a stranger who is giving me evils!

In today’s John passage we read about a couple of guys who know each other really well (they are related), but then something happens that changes their relationship forever. The guys in question are John and Jesus. John sees his cousin, Jesus, walking towards him. He’s about to call out, ‘Hey, cous…’ but in that instant he gets it. This guy he has grown up knowing is actually the Saviour he has been preparing Israel to meet. (John 1:29-31)

How crazy must that have been for John? One day Jesus is just Jesus, and the next John sees Jesus for who he really is. Later a cynical bloke called Nathanael gets to meet the Jesus his mate Philip has been going on about – and is promised the chance of seeing ‘greater things.’

Is that a bit like your story? Did you have a moment when it clicked for you and the guy you had heard stuff about, became the Saviour and Master you pledged your life and heart to?

In the UK it’s pretty hard not to hear about Jesus. People use his name as a curse or a joke – but look what they’re missing out on! As John stands there in the lake, seeing who Jesus is for the very first time, God sends a dove to land on Jesus’ head. It’s a sign that’s recognisable to John as evidence that the Spirit of God is on him and he is destined for big things.

John has a revelation of Jesus and he is transformed. Can you remember a moment or series of events when you had a revelation of who Jesus is? Did you open your life to God’s Spirit and notice your attitudes and behaviour slowly changing? Are you still committed to looking for the ‘fruit’ of a transformed life that shows you hang out with Jesus? Is following Jesus your daily choice and your great reward?

2011 is fast approaching and it’s a fact that next year God plans to extend his kingdom of light and love all over the world – and he wants you on board. He is looking for godly men and woman who are, ‘like trees that bear life-giving fruit.’ (Proverbs 11:30)

The people of Israel in today’s Joshua reading were so obsessed with a kingdom; their own. They were all about the chunk of land Joshua was allocating them. All they were looking and working for was a bit of earth they could call home. When Jesus called the first disciples he promised them a great inheritance, but not the kind that goes in a bank or you can build a block of flats on. Instead, he promised them that he would walk with them wherever they went.

And he promises that to you too. As 2010 ends, surrender everything again to Jesus and make him your very great reward.

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Today’s picture was taken by…
Lauren Hollingum. Thanks Lauren!

If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.

The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!