John 20:30–31: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

March 27th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

John is telling us that he was very selective of the events he chose to record in his eyewitness account. He focused on specific key miracles that Jesus did which changed the lives of not only those who received the miracle but also those who were watching the miracle. First John told us about Jesus changing water into wine (2:1–11); then how He healed a royal official’s son (4:46–54); then how He healed a lame man (5:1–18); then how He fed the 5000 (6:1–15); then how He walked on the water (6:16–21); then how He healed the man born blind (9:1–41); and finally how He raised Lazarus from the dead (11:1–57).

Why these specific miracles? John tells us: so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” John meant for these stories to lead people to faith in Jesus, to believe that “Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.” When we believe in Jesus and the great exchange that He brought about for us, exchanging His life for ours, then we receive forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. We receive it freely and we share it freely. How we need to reach out and into the world of another person with the truth of Jesus. As someone said, “Each one, reach one.”

There is an interesting, unverifiable story concerning Pascal, a 17th-century, French, atheist mathematician who challenged a believer with this statement: “Christianity is nothing, it would be easy to start a religion like that.” The believer quietly thought a moment and then answered, “Yes, all you have to do is get crucified and then rise from the dead three days later.” Pascal later gave his life to Jesus the Messiah, God the Son, who was crucified, died, and rose for him and us.

“LORD, please use us today to share Your gift of life with someone new.”