Jesus, the Life-Giver.  John 1.1-5

Can you devote 7 minutes to spend time focused on Jesus right now?

I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the fourth gospel, John, and read the first five verses.

In the beginning the Word already existed.

The Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

² He existed in the beginning with God.

³ God created everything through him,

and nothing was created except through him.

⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created,

and his life brought light to everyone.

⁵ The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.  John 1.1-5, NLT

I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we turn our attention to the life of Jesus as written about in the Gospel of John.  God has given us the written word of God, but in Jesus, God the Father gave us the living Word of God, which is how John refers to Jesus as he introduces him in this relational biography. 

As the beloved disciple pens the opening words of his account of the life of Christ, he takes us to another familiar opening—Genesis 1.1—[perhaps you would look it up in your Bible just now] “In the beginning, God created the Heaven the Earth”—and here shows that Jesus was not just present at that ‘beginning’ but that God chose to create through Jesus.  And then turn over to the letter of Colossians, and read Paul’s words, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”  1.16 

And how so?  Did he have an erector set?  Did Jesus have a potter’s wheel?  Did he have a gigantic laboratory?  Was he the originator of the first planetarium, in which he concocted the plan of stars, planets and galaxies?  Oh, he was the originator, but the psalmist says, “The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.” Psalm 33.6   Jesus Christ was not just there at the beginning, at the time of Creation, he created by speaking the Creation into existence. 

John says, “God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”

ΠNote:  I recently commented that a growing student of the Word ought have one leg in the Gospels, one in Paul’s writings and another in the Old Testament---because they are intrinsically linked, and inform each other.  You just saw an illustration of that in the two preceding paragraphs. 

We know that he was moved by the Holy Spirit,^* but why did John devote himself to write about his Lord, years after Jesus was gone from the earth?  Do you know the many hours he spent recalling, reconstructing, and writing about what he observed of Jesus—his teaching, the people he touched and the various events?  What could have motivated him, and kept him writing, even when he grew weary or his pen ran dry?  He reveals the answer in one of his letters to the churches he led – “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us.” 1 John 1.1-3, NLT

What motivation—to write and tell the story he knew so well, the story of which he played an active role--that others might know and experience the light, life and love of Jesus!  Heck, it prompted me to think, ‘why do I write?’  ‘Because I can, because I am committed to living a life in Christ, and for Christ, and because I am called to share.  ‘Because I believe that God’s Word is powerful and informative, true and relevant to today’s world … and although I was not an eyewitness to Jesus’ life like John, yet I am.  I have experienced the difference in my own life of living for Jesus--or choosing to go my own way--and living without him; I have witnessed people’s lives radically transformed through their relationship with Jesus Christ … That motivates me.  It motivates me to seek forgiveness when I have failed miserably, it motivates me not to give up, and it motivates to keep on writing, that others might find, know, and stay in contact with this Jesus. 

What motivates you?

I pray that question resonates in your heart and mind...

Christine

*2 Peter 1.21