John 1:14

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This one sentence is packed full of so many things. The Word, who was in the beginning, the Word who was with God and the Word who was God. The Word through whom all things were made and nothing was made apart from Him. The Word with whom there was life, real, true, eternal life and light. The Word who was the light of the world. This Word became flesh. This person who was there in the beginning with God became flesh. This person who was with God became flesh. This person who was God became flesh. This person who through Him created all things including all flesh became flesh. This person who brought life and light to the world became flesh. The incarnation. God becoming man. Just amazing that the one through whom all things came into being would step into His own creation and subject Himself to the same things we are subjected to. A president or a king can go out into the world to see how things are going with the common person but they have not given up their title or power to do so. They are still surrounded by their protection and with a snap of their fingers things happen. With Christ, He left that behind. He gave that up and made the decision to not use His powers on His own behalf but only as God gave Him direction. Not only did God become man but He dwelt among us. He came to live with and among people as one of us. Not off in some deserted place. Not somewhere "safe" or "secure." But with people. People who both loved Him and people who wanted to kill Him even before He was born. He didn't come for a visit. He came for a lifetime to stay and walk among us.

John 1:9-13

John 1:9-13 vs 10 He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him. Jesus came and was here on the world that He created. Because through Him all things were made. Nothing that has been made was made apart from Him. And yet we didn't know Him. It is still the same today. Many of us don't recognize our creator when we encounter Him. We have been made by Him and yet we ignore Him or worse, discount Him. vs 11 He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive Him. God had called out the nation of Israel to be His chosen people. The ones set apart for Himself. And so He came to them in the flesh and they are the ones who rejected Him first. They shut their doors in His face. They went after Him and brought about His death. And the sad part is we would have acted in the same way. vs 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God. It was by God's will that were are born and brought into His family. When we receive Jesus we are given the right to become children of God. Which means that without receiving Jesus we do not have the right to become children of God. We may have been born into this world in the flesh because of the will of people but we are born into God's family because it is God's will for us.

John 1:6

John 1:6 There came a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light so that all might believe through him. He was not the light but he to testify about the light. John was a man with a mission. It wasn't something that he thought up or that someone said "hey, you could be good at that prophet line of work." No, he was sent by God. God sent him to witness to the light that was coming. Ultimately he was killed for his witness. Yet Jesus said no one born of a woman was greater than he. John was sent so that others might believe the light when it came. It was as if the light knowing that the darkness could not comprehend it, sent out warning that the light was coming. Preparing the way for those who could accept the light to be able to see it not as a threat but as deliverance from darkness. John never claimed to be something he was not. He claimed to be the one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord. And that is what he did. And when the Lord came not even in the way John expected he did not try to change how Jesus worked. In fact he decreased because his role and job were completed. The call of God did not go to his head. He did not see himself other than how God saw him.

Thoughts on John 1:1-5

I have been reading through John's Gospel and thought I would share some of the things that have come to mind as I have contemplated God's word. John 1:1-5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. To comprehend means to understand the nature or meaning of something. The darkness cannot understand the nature or meaning of light. To darkness, light seems to be something that attacks it or drives it away into the corners. No longer is darkness in control. A little bit of lit can drive the darkness away like nothing else. The darkness sees light as the enemy because it cannot understand it. Darkness wants to remove from sight everything. It wants everything to remain hidden. Light brings everything into view. The world is darkness and they do not understand the light that shines forth from those who are in the light. They degrade it. They put it down. They attack it or explain it away. Yet there is something there that they know if different. It is as if they cannot understand the light without experiencing the light. It is like flipping channels on the tv and coming across a channel that is geared for someone from another culture. I could watch and watch and watch and yet not understand what they are saying or why they are doing what they are doing on the show. I would not be able to comprehend them. Yet if I were to move to where their culture is from I could then experience the culture and begin to understand some of the language and learn about why they do things the way they do them. The darkness within me does not like the light. The lights drags things out to be seen that the darkness wants hidden from view. If no one sees this sin then it doesn't exist. Yet the light needs to go into my dark areas and illuminate the sin and filth in my life so that it can be cleaned out. ]