John 1

I have been reading in John the past few days, and have been completely enthralled by the first few chapters. John talks a lot about John the Baptist and what his job is, but he also uses this to show us who God is, and what He is like. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it... He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. WE have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." This is up through verse 14. He later goes on to tell about Jesus' first disciples, starting in verse 35. "The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "look the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour... The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida... When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Now I don't presume to know what all of this means, but there are a few parts that stick out to me. He says that those who received Jesus and believed His name, he gave the right to become children of God, not born of natural descent but born of God. Born of God!! How amazing is that?!?! We can be born of God. That in itself is amazing. He says that there was nothing before God and that from Him all has been created. He then goes on to talk about what it means to have faith, and what this faith will do. These three disciples gave up everything to go with Jesus. All they had was their fishing and their families, yet they were willing to drop it all for Jesus. Are we willing to do that? I know I'm not most of the time. I don't give Him everything. They are a great example of having the faith of a child. Children have no care in the world, but they have faith that their parents will take care of them. We need to believe in what our God can do and is doing. We need to understand that through God we can do anything. We don't need anything else! 

Just think about this passage, and reflect about what God is doing in your life. It's amazing!