Reading Plan:
John1:1-10

Our Thoughts:
“You had to be there.”
If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times. We say this when we’re trying to describe an event to someone, disappointed because they couldn't grasp the greatness of what happened, in spite of our stellar storytelling. When it becomes evident that we’re not getting the impact across or aren’t communicating well enough, we cut our losses and say, “I guess you just had to be there.”
But what if the person was there? They would simply know, just like you, how amazing the experience was. John, in the very beginning of his Gospel, starts off by talking about the origins of all creation: the beauty of the cosmos, the intricacies of physics and space, all of it. And then, he makes a mind-bending statement about it all by saying, Jesus was there. Mingling the opening words of Genesis (“In the beginning”) with the Greek concept of the divine logos(“was the Word…”), the apostle John makes a powerful point that has drawn many to faith in Jesus for centuries.
In the beginning of creation, the Word of God, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was there. And having been there, he knew why it all started, how it all started, and where it all is headed. In other words, the living Word had the Father’s eternal agenda stirring in His heart as he lived and moved among us.
New creation. Out of chaos. That’s what Jesus, in concert with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, does. That’s what the Creator did in the beginning. And that’s exactly what the Word made flesh, Jesus the Son of God, came to do among us. Can I get an AMEN?! He’s doing that work in my heart right now as I write this, and He can do the same in you. How? By the same Spirit who formed creation and who raised Jesus from the dead–the same Spirit that lives in you andmeat this very moment.
Imagine John, the beloved disciple, sitting down to write this documentation of the life of Jesus. He saw the miracles. He witnessed the transfiguration. He saw Jesus alive again after his brutal crucifixion. He was present when Jesus ascended into heaven. And he was filled with the Spirit at Pentecost with everyone else, finding that God was willing to do the same kind of miracles through him that he had done through Jesus! John has no need to inflate Jesus’ story or make anything up for his readers. He’s good. He’s ready to write what really happened because John was there.
Reading through the pages of the New Testament reveals Jesus' most profound work, and if we could have been there at the very beginning of time, we would have seen Jesus there, too.
With the Spirit empowering Him for ministry, Jesus brings order to the chaos in the human heart, breath to spiritually dead humankind, covenant perfection in relation to the Father, signs, and wonders that signal the presence of God is truly in our midst, and good news–for the poor, the captive, the prisoner–no matter our situation.
And Christ, in you, through you, speaks God’s loving order into the chaos of the human heart.

More Questions:

• Think about your own story of awakening to Christ. How has Jesus been speaking to the chaos of your life, bringing his good news to transform it into something that shows off his glory?
  

Prayer:
Jesus, thank you. My life is an example of you speaking your powerful word into the chaos and the disordered desires within, making me a new creation. Come, Jesus; make me not only a vessel of that new creation but a catalyst of new creation in the lives of others.


Author: Blake Houston