Journey through John 7:16-24

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 7:16-24

Devo Thought: Have you ever had a moment in life where you realized pretty quickly you had judged a book by its cover and had judged incorrectly? I remember that happening here one time. Back when Brother Phil was still our pastor, he had a guest preacher come and preach for him one Sunday. I remember his introduction, and I remember thinking to myself that this isn’t going to be very good (how very humble of me). Anyway, the man who took the stage and pulpit was a man of a slight build and was wearing a very neat but unassuming suit and tie. He wore glasses and didn’t seem to have an overpowering presence about him. I wasn’t impressed. The next thing I know, we are diving deep into Philippians 4:6-7, exploring the Greek and Paul’s precise phrasing. He helped me see deeply into that particular text, and I still remember many of things he talked about that morning. That preacher’s name was Dr. Ivan Parke. He is a professor and the assistant chair to the Christian Studies department at Mississippi College. The point is that I had judged by appearances, not with right judgment. This is exactly what Jesus is trying to help the crowd see. People were not judging him properly. Their discernment was only as deep as what they could see with their physical eyes. He was telling them that they needed to be able to see and hear beyond what their physical eyes and ears would allow them. They needed to see that Jesus wasn’t trying to uproot and cast down the Law of Moses but to fulfill its very purposes. We must be careful to judge with right judgment, which is a judgment led by the Spirit.

Let us pray to ask God to help us to judge carefully and rightly.