John 9:35-38

Jesus found the formerly blind man who had been faithfully testifying that Jesus had made him see. He had been thrown out, and Jesus asked him whether he believed in the Son of Man. The man’s response was, “And who is He, sir, that I should believe in Him?”

 

Good translators have often translated this phrase, “that I may believe in Him,” so my take on it could be wrong. But if I am not mistaken, this is an aorist or future subjunctive verb (I know, for most of you this won’t mean much, but if anyone reads this and wants to know why I translated it differently, I want to be clear for them). “May” is a fine translation, but “should” seems like a fine translation, too. Both of them indicate a possibility of belief, but it seems strange that a Jew – even a Jew as “radical” as this man who has dared to oppose the religious authorities – would be so eager to believe in someone as to use the word “may” without knowing for sure that this person was God, or was from God. “Should” indicates a willingness to believe if there is a basis for the belief, and Jesus’ answer to Him seems to provide that basis.

 

So if I understand correctly, “Who is He, sir, that I should believe in Him?” is the question. Who is the Son of Man? Why should I believe in Him? These are the issues.

 

And Jesus answers with two statements. The Son of Man is… 1. “You have seen (perfect tense) Him.” In other words, the person who healed you, the person who opened your eyes – you have seen Him, and you have seen Him at work in your life! 2. “He is the One talking with you.” Jesus says, “I am the Son of Man. I am the one who opened your eyes, whose power you have experienced in your life.” With these two answers Jesus responded to the man’s question, “Who is He, sir, that I should believe in Him?” Jesus says to this man, essentially, you should believe in the Son of Man because He is the One who opened your eyes, the One you believe was sent from God (since God does not work through sinners this way). And you should believe in the Son of Man because He has come back to you and is talking with you right now. You know both who He is and why you should believe in Him. So the question again, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

 

The seeing man’s answer? “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Jesus.

 

I don’t think that this man was ready to believe in just anyone. I don’t think he would have believed in the Son of Man if Jesus had tried to persuade him that one of the Pharisees was the Son of Man, for instance. This man was stubborn enough to get thrown out by the Pharisees; he didn’t believe in whatever people told him to believe.

 

The reason he believed in Jesus was that Jesus healed his eyes. Jesus convinced this man that He was from God. So when Jesus identified Himself as the Son of Man, this man believed in the Son of Man because He already believed in Jesus. If he had understood when Jesus first asked the question that Jesus was asking whether he believed in his Healer, this man would have said yes right away!

 

We need to be as discerning as this man was. He believed what He had the evidence to believe, and He did not believe anything or anyone else. The Pharisees came to him and tried to convince him that Jesus was a sinner, but he knew that Jesus had healed him, and his logic told him that Jesus must be from God. As a result, he opposed the Pharisees and they threw him out. But the seeing man believed in Jesus, because Jesus spoke with him and confirmed the truth.

 

We also need to realize what matters are worth being so stubborn about. This man was discerning and stubborn about the most important thing – his relationship with God and with the One God sent. Too often we get divisive over smaller matters. We need to ask God whether the issues we choose stubbornly to hold on to are the issues He wants us to hold so dearly, or whether we are destroying His work by what we fight over. Let us keep Jesus at the center of our attention! He is the reason that those who follow Him may unite, and He is the reason that we divide from all who oppose Him. That is a division worth holding to! Like this formerly blind man, may we align ourselves with the Son of Man because we know who He is and what He has done for us! Remember the cross!

 

John 9:24-34

The Jews continue to try to find something wrong with the blind man’s testimony about Jesus. They want him to stop glorifying Jesus, and they tell the blind man that Jesus is a sinner. They command him to glorify God instead, seeking to silence his testimony about Jesus’ work in his life.

 

The seeing man continues persistently, saying, “I do not know whether He is a sinner. I know one thing: Although I was blind, I see!” In other words, the facts remain true. And I’m not going to stop testifying that Jesus made me well just because you people say you know He’s a sinner.

 

So they ask the seeing man about what Jesus did again, trying to find some way to accuse Jesus and prove Him guilty of sin. By now the seeing man can tell that they don’t really care that he can see – all they want is to prove that Jesus is not worthy of honor and glory! He calls the shot as he sees it (paraphrased): “I’m not going to waste my breath telling you again. You really don’t want to become His disciples, do you?” In the Greek, it is perfectly clear that he expects them to say, “Certainly not!”

 

They play hardball, too. “You want to choose sides? Fine, you can be His disciple. We are Moses’ disciples! We know that God has spoken to Moses. Who knows where Jesus is coming from?” We’re with God, and you’re opposing us!

 

The seeing man retorts, “Here’s the amazing thing: Jesus opened my eyes and you still can’t figure out where He’s coming from! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; but God listens to anyone who is God-fearing and does His will. From eternity past no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of a man born blind! If this man were not from God, He would be unable to do a thing!” Jesus must come from God! There is no other explanation!

 

They couldn’t attack his argument, so they attacked him! “You were born entirely in sins! How dare you teach us!” And they threw him out!

 

This man who was born blind – this man who could see – was faithful! He knew what had happened. He knew who had healed him. He knew what he believed. And he was not about to let any human authority – even religious authority – tell him that Jesus, his Healer, was anything other than God-sent!

 

We get leery sometimes of making the same arguments this man made. We reason that counterfeit miracles exist, and that we can’t trust miracles to tell us whether a person comes from God or not. And we have biblical reason to think that way (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Probably the Pharisees were approaching this whole situation with this text, or similar ones, in mind! But this text does not teach us to distrust miracles! Rather, it counsels us to be aware of a teacher’s words and guidance. If a teacher is encouraging us to honor the God of our fathers, and if signs and miracles accompany his work, we ought to praise God! Miracles are intended to be an eye-opener, and a sign of God’s hand at work. The only times we should oppose a worker of miracles are when those miracle workers lead us to worship someone other than God.

 

The Pharisees couldn’t understand how a servant of God could work on the Sabbath; this really seems to be the main thing confusing them, at least in this instance. And because of this one thing, they rejected all the rest of Jesus’ miracles and teachings. Discernment has always been a scary thing. It means that we do not understand at least some of what is happening; otherwise, we really wouldn’t need discernment. The Pharisees were too afraid to venture beyond what they thought they understood, but we now know that their understanding was incorrect. How blessed they would have been if they had accepted Jesus’ teachings as the God-honoring sayings they were, if they had become Jesus’ disciples!

 

Father, this is certainly one of the areas I’m afraid of. I am both afraid of believing someone I should not believe because his teachings are so close to mine that I ignore the differences (and they turn out to be huge), and afraid of condemning the teachings of someone I ought not to condemn because I think I have detected flaws in his teaching – flaws that actually reflect my own misunderstanding! Father, protect me from both of these. And help me to remember that this seeing man was right to reason as he did – Jesus came from You, because Jesus did things that only someone connected to You could do! May this be my initial response when people are asking for discernment in these sorts of things, a response born out of a desire to glorify You for what You do! You are worthy of all glory and honor! All that is good comes from Your hand! You are able to do much more than we could ask or imagine! May I be bold, just like this formerly blind man, to say so!

 

John 9:13-23

It sounds as though the formerly blind man’s neighbors did not know what to think of his testimony. They took him to the Pharisees, probably hoping the Pharisees could figure out what happened.

 

A new detail comes out: Jesus had restored the man’s sight on the Sabbath. This is part of what concerned the Pharisees. They wanted to make sure that the Sabbath had not been violated. So they asked the man again exactly how he had been healed.

 

The seeing man again gave the same testimony: He (Jesus) applied clay/mud to my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”

 

The Pharisees were not sure what to think. Some of them heard the first part about making and applying mud to a man’s eyes. Making mud and applying it to a man’s eyes is a form of work. Work was done on the Sabbath. Therefore the Healer is bad, wicked.

 

Others heard the last part, the formerly blind man’s testimony: “Now I see.” Who restores sight? Satan has been known to afflict people, but health is from the LORD. This man was blind but now sees. This sounds like the work of God! Therefore the man who did this is not a sinner, for He works on behalf of God. The Pharisees disagreed among themselves. Jesus was always bringing disagreement between people.

 

With all this disagreement, they decided to ask the blind man for his impression. In his judgment, Jesus was a prophet. Now, Jesus was a prophet, and His followers knew Him as such (Mt. 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 24:19; John 4:44). This statement was intended to give Jesus great honor. A prophet was a man who did as God said and spoke God’s words. A prophet was in close communion with God and received his direction from God. So to call Jesus a prophet was to say that He was a true man of God, for God would not offer such a close relationship to a sinful man or honor a sinful man’s attempts to heal a man born blind if that man was sinning in the process. 

 

The Jews didn’t want to honor Jesus. They didn’t want to believe that He had actually healed the eyes of a blind man. They were looking for some way to demonstrate that this blind man’s healing was a deception. So they called in the blind man’s parents.

 

The man’s parents confirmed that he was their son and that he had indeed been born blind. But they refused to join their son in saying that Jesus had healed him.

 

John tells us why. The Jews had already agreed to exclude from the synagogue anyone who said that Jesus was the Christ, and the man’s parents did not want to appear to support Jesus. Their son was saying some dangerous things about Jesus, things very close to getting him kicked out of the synagogue. He was honoring Jesus in the face of men who had already decided to oppose Him.

 

The seeing man’s testimony was becoming more difficult. The reason he had to keep repeating his testimony was because no one would accept it. They heard his testimony, but they couldn’t believe it, so they would pass it off to another group for judgment. It was becoming like a trial, with the people sitting as judges and lawyers over the man’s testimony, examining it from every angle for evidence that the story was false. The seeing man would probably have been much more encouraged to re-tell his story if he’d had a receptive audience. But this was beginning to be more of an ordeal than a pleasure. No one would accept what he had to say.

 

On the other hand, no one could disprove his story. Every time they thought they might have found a way to prove the seeing man a liar, the Pharisees and the people found further evidence for its truth.

 

But there was certainly opposition. The seeing man’s parents, called in to testify that he was their son and had been born blind, refused to say anything more than the bare facts because they were afraid of being excluded from the synagogue. The Jews had already decided to oppose those who thought that Jesus was the Christ, and the blind man’s testimony wasn’t helping!

 

Too often we make our decisions before we have all the evidence. Of course, the Jews had a lot of evidence by this point that Jesus was the Christ. But they had refused to accept it. And now that further evidence was coming in, they couldn’t stand it! It galled them to see something else come along that might convince more people that Jesus was exactly who He claimed to be. But we do the same thing. We decide that something is unbelievable, and then we discredit it in the face of rising evidence until we are clearly in the wrong. Even then we stubbornly refuse to accept the truth. By that point we have too much at stake. We can’t admit we were wrong (even though that would be the humble, gracious, and honorable thing to do).

 

Father, keep me humble. Or make me humble. Whichever is required. Help me to recognize truth and to honor it as truth. May I not ignore truth, oppose truth, or do anything else that would keep me (and maybe others) from walking in the truth. May I encourage those whose testimonies support the truth, and may I take a stand on their side. Ultimately, may I stand for you!

           

John 9:8-12

When the people who knew the blind man realized that he could now see, they were quite confused. Some asked, “Is this the same man?” Others said that it was definitely the formerly blind man, and others rejected that thought entirely, guessing that this was just someone who looked like him.

 

But the man himself said, “I am.” I am the man who was blind from birth. I am the man you’ve seen begging out here all these years. I am.

 

Just for the sake of intellectual honesty, what does it mean that this man uses the same words, ego eimi, that Jesus used in John 8:58 as God? Is this man claiming to be God? No, the context makes it clear that he is claiming to be the man who was blind from birth and begging in the neighborhood. Well, then, if this man can use the same words as Jesus used and not be saying he’s God, how do we know that Jesus was claiming to be God?

 

It seems to me that only people who don’t want to believe Jesus’ claim to be God would believe this argument has weight. Ultimately, it is not only the words Jesus used that tell us He is God; God is not the only one who can use the words ego eimi, “I am,” as though they are exclusively God’s words. The context in which Jesus used the words tells us that He is claiming to be God, just like the context in which this formerly blind man is using the words tells us that he is claiming to be the man born blind. If the blind man were saying what Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I am,” then we would have legitimate reason to think he was also claiming to be God. Why? Because this statement says several things. 1. Jesus claims to have existed since before Abraham’s time, even though His earthly body is around 30 years old; 2. Jesus shifts verb tense. He doesn’t say, “Before Abraham was born, I was,” but, “I am.” Jesus’ abnormal use of the language indicates that He is trying to make a point. 3. The words “I am” have been used in the Hebrew Scriptures to identify God. 4. The context lets us know that Jesus is trying to demonstrate to the Jews that they should love Him and honor/glorify Him because that is what God the Father wants and because that is what Abraham did; in other words, the context teaches us that Jesus is claiming to be someone very special with a unique relationship with God. When Jesus says, “I am,” in a context where He is seeking to identify Himself, claiming that He has existed since before Abraham and changing the verb tense to make some point, it is legitimate in this context to understand that Jesus is claiming to be the same “I am” as God, the one in Exodus 3:14. So Jesus can use the words ego eimi in one context, claiming to be God; at the same time, the man born blind can use the words ego eimi in another context and merely claim to be the man born blind.

 

Back to the man born blind. Since he insists, even though he can now see, that he was born blind, his neighbors and those who recognize him want to know how his eyes were opened. A fair question? Certainly.

 

And the seeing man tells them what he knows: “A man called Jesus made mud/clay and anointed my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. I went and washed, and then I could see.” He identifies the healer. He describes the method. He testifies to the result. This now-seeing man is a faithful witness.

 

The neighbors wanted more. They wanted to know where the healer was. The seeing man did not know the answer, and said so. Again, he was a faithful witness. He said what he knew. He also testified to his own ignorance when necessary.

 

I must also be a faithful witness. Of what? Of what Jesus has done in my life. I think sometimes as Christians we have a hard time recognizing what Jesus has done in our lives, besides the inward work of salvation – especially if we were raised in a Christian home. We find it easier to tell the amazing stories we have heard from others. And so we give weak, second-hand stories of things we don’t really know. I’m not saying that second-hand knowledge is bad. Some of it is excellent. For instance, the main second-hand knowledge we ought to give people is what the Bible says, because then people can read it first-hand for themselves. But some of the second-hand stories we hear from other people are hard to verify, and if people doubt what we say, we have a very hard time being absolutely sure of the details because we didn’t experience the situation ourselves.

 

So what am I saying? As a Christian, I need to ask God to show me more and more clearly what He is doing in my life – and then I need to tell others what He has done! Personally, I have been realizing more and more than it is God who is providing for me and my family every day. We have been stressed about not having enough sometimes… but we have never come to the place where we don’t have enough! Someone might say, “Well, your wife has her own business and works hard to bring money in, and you work weekly at the Old Spaghetti Factory, so of course you have enough. Everyone who works hard has enough, whether they are Christians or not.” But this does not negate my testimomy, because when I go to the Scriptures I find out that God takes care of those who hate Him, so I should expect to see non-Christians being provided for, too! Matthew 5:44-45 says, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” My testimony is reinforced by the Scriptures, so that if someone says, “God isn’t providing for you; you are!” I can respond, “I know that God is providing for me. What you don’t realize is that He is providing for you, too. Stop rejecting Him. He’s taking care of you, whether you realize it or not!”

 

What else has God been doing in my life? He has helped me to let go of anger. With my friends. With my kids. With my wife. With my work situation. I could share exactly what I mean in each of these areas. How? By showing me that He is at work in the lives of fellow-Christians, so that the imperfections that frustrate me will one day be done away with. By showing me that this work is in His hands, not mine. By showing me that even the frustrating things in the non-Christian world will one day be dealt with, and that the people and situations I get angry with suffer from the same weaknesses I suffer from – weaknesses Jesus has died to heal or do away with!

 

What else? He has helped me to give up control of my academic career. I should say, He is helping me. I love control in that realm. But Jesus is showing me bit by bit that He has other priorities. Jesus is leading me toward those priorities (my family, kingdom work, etc.). At the same time, Jesus is showing me that I can trust Him with my academics. He gives me enough time to accomplish what needs done. Before I would have neglected other priorities to GUARANTEE that my schoolwork was done well (I still do, more than I should). But Jesus has helped me to keep my focus mainly on His priorities, setting aside my desire for control – and has shown me that He has my schoolwork under control, too.

 

I could go on. But this is the kind of witnessing we need to do, telling people what Jesus has done in our lives, what we have experienced and seen. It must, of course, match the Scripture’s testimony. If we claim that God is doing something that He says He doesn’t do, then we might want to rethink our claims. But Jesus is impacting lives now. In many different ways. People are similar, but our differences should be reflected in our testimonies. A businessman’s testimony will show how God is leading him in his business life, while my testimony is more about God leading a student. A homeless person’s testimony will demonstrate that God is faithful on the streets! As Christians share what God is doing in all our lives – directly, with our neighbors and co-workers – people will be unable to shut us up simply by telling us that we can’t be sure such-and-such really happened. We will know exactly what has happened, and our certainty will remain even when others refuse to accept our testimony. We will have reason to share the same stories with others.

 

May I – may we Christians – be faithful witnesses!

 

John 9:1-7

Back in John 5, Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, later telling the man to “stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” One must at least wonder whether the implication of the passage is that the man was an invalid because of his sins.

 

But here in John 9, Jesus encounters a man who was blind from birth. The disciples must have assumed that most such afflictions were God’s judgments. With such an assumption, the one question in this case is whether God was judging this man (had God counted him so sinful as to judge him at birth?) or judging his parents for their sins. And this is exactly the question they asked.

 

Jesus leaves no ambiguity in His answer: Neither this man nor his parents sinned – that is, this blindness was not God’s judgment on their sins (though both had, of course, sinned at various points in their lives – all have sinned).

 

So why was this man cursed with blindness? This man was blind so that God’s work could be displayed in his life. That is the answer, pure and simple. Of course, this answer raises other questions. Why would God make – or at least allow – a person to suffer just so that His work could be displayed? Couldn’t God find other ways to display His work? Essentially, is this fair?

 

That question is not answered here. But we do see God’s work in the man’s life.

 

Before reading the conclusion, though, I want to see what else Jesus has to say. “It is necessary that we work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming, when no one is able to work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

 

First, God’s works must be done. “While it is day,” that is, while work can be done. As long as it is possible to do God’s works, Jesus and His followers must do them.

 

Second, there is a time coming when no one will be able to work. I’m really not sure what time this refers to. Jesus basically claims to be the daytime we need in the next statement. Was Jesus saying that God’s works could no longer be done after His ascension (now)? I don’t think so, because Jesus then sent His Holy Spirit to live in His followers, and we believe that we are doing God’s works now. If not now, does He mean merely the couple of days He was in the grave? That doesn’t seem likely, either, although the disciples certainly weren’t doing much during those days. It seems most likely that the time Jesus means is the time of tribulation at the end. Whether that implies that Christians would be removed from the world (otherwise, wouldn’t Jesus still be in the world?) or that Christians would stay in the world but be so persecuted that they could not carry out God’s work, either way I’m pretty sure Jesus was referring to the end times.

 

Last, Jesus says, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” As long as Jesus was among them, the disciples knew that there was work to be done… God’s work. He was the day. He makes God’s work possible. We believe that God’s presence in us by His Spirit enables God’s work to continue. Jesus later tells His disciples that it is good for them that He is leaving because the Holy Spirit will come in His place. We have the light of God shining in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6, 2 Peter 1:19). So let’s do God’s work.

 

The work of God didn’t look all that magnificent in this case. Jesus spit on the ground, made mud/clay, put it on the blind man’s eyes, and commanded him to wash in the pool of Siloam, the pool of the Sent One (a name worth noting!). The process wasn’t pretty.

 

But the work of God was plain. The blind man did this and returned with his sight restored! Jesus is the One who makes God’s work possible and does God’s work. No man can make God’s work possible. Only God can make God’s work possible. Other men may do God’s work as God enables us, but Jesus is God. He is the light, the day, so that men can do the works of God. Let us hold fast to Him so that we can do God’s work!

 

John 8:48-59

This passage has several interesting elements to offer. First is the whole glory and honor discussion. The Jews have a vested interest (it seems) in dishonoring Jesus. But Jesus claims that God the Father has a vested interest in giving Jesus honor and glory. One example of this glory the Father has given to Jesus is that those who keep Jesus’ words will never see death. Abraham himself recognized the honor and glory of Jesus! In verse 50, it could be debated whether the “One who seeks (glory) and judges” – obviously God – is seeking His own glory or Jesus’ glory. Both are true, since it is God who honors Jesus, so either way the Jews are getting on the wrong side of the One who judges by dishonoring Jesus. I must give glory to the One who deserves it!

 

Secondly, this passage contains another of Jesus’ obvious claims to be God. “Before Abraham was born, I am.” John writes Jesus’ statement using the exact same Greek words found in the Greek translation of Exodus 3:14: ego eimi, I am. This is the statement God told Moses to give to the Israelites as God’s name. When Jesus combined these words with the phrase, “Before Abraham was born,” He left no doubt that He was claiming to be God. Those who suppose that Jesus could have been an angel and still have existed before Abraham are right, but no angel would have dared to claim deity the way Jesus does here. Jesus is more than a creature; He is the Creator. Abraham honored Jesus. Though this would be a side track, I wonder if Jesus is referring to Abraham’s conversations with God, to the time when Abraham hosted three visitors, or to the time when Abraham met Melchizedek. Perhaps all three? Regardless, Abraham recognized Jesus’ divinity, and we should, too. Give glory to Jesus Christ, our God!

 

Thirdly, I found it interesting that this whole conversation took place in the temple. When the Jews picked up stones, Jesus left the temple. Let’s think about this. They’re in the temple, where God is to be worshiped. The Jews are dishonoring Jesus – God in the flesh! They are not worshiping. They are not listening. In fact, they get so upset at Him when He claims to be God that they prepare to stone Him! And then what happens? Jesus – God Himself – leaves the temple. Chilling. I won’t make too much of it since we see Jesus in the temple later in John. But it brought to mind the Ezekiel passage where the glory of God departs from the temple. Any time that God leaves the place where He is supposed to meet with men is a scary time. Praise God that Jesus came in the flesh! Jesus remained on earth obediently until His work was done, paving a highway to heaven with His body. He is “Immanuel,” God with us, and He has not left us alone. We can still meet God through Jesus. But once we reject Him, there is nothing left for us but fear. We must glorify Jesus. And we must glorify Him today, while there is still time.

 

John 8:37-47

Who is your father?

 

That’s the question Jesus is addressing as He speaks to the Jews. They claim that Abraham is their father, and later that God is their father. But Jesus disputes these claims. On what basis? On the basis of their actions and choices.

 

Abraham? Jesus acknowledged that the Jews were his descendants. But He goes on to say that Abraham is not their father, because Abraham did not try to kill men who brought him truth from God. The Jews, on the contrary, are trying to kill Jesus even though He has brought them the truth from God. If they were Abraham’s children, they would respond to God’s message the way Abraham did. Jesus says that the Jews are doing the things their father does. Who is their father?

 

God? This is the Jews’ next claim. But Jesus says that He came from God, and they would love Him if they were truly God’s children. If they were God’s children, they would comprehend Jesus’ speech because they would speak the same “language”. Jesus is speaking the truth, but they don’t accept it because they do not have the Father of truth, God Himself. So who is their father?

 

Satan? This is what Jesus says. Satan was a man-killer from the beginning, and the Jews want to carry out Satan’s desire by killing Jesus; this proves that they are not Abraham’s children because Abraham did not do such things, and that they are not God’s children because they do not love the One sent from God. Also, Satan is a liar and the father of lies. The fact that the Jews refuse to believe the truth that Jesus speaks proves that they do not speak that language of truth, but the language of lies; therefore, Satan must be their father. They want to do Satan’s will by killing Jesus, and they speak Satan’s language of lies rather than understanding God’s (and Jesus’) language of truth.

 

It’s interesting that they respond with a lie: “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed (verse 48)?” This is what they choose to believe, and provides evidence that Jesus’ testimony about them is true.

 

I remember when Christy did her internship with my parents in Guinea. Her response to having lived with them for a number of weeks was the comment, “Now I understand why you are the way you are.” For better or worse, children do live like their parents. Their thinking is influenced by their parents’ thinking. If you know a person’s father, you will very likely know what to expect from that person himself.

 

Father, thank You for adopting men and women into Your family, freeing them from the family of Satan! Father, may those of us who have been blessed to become a part of Your family learn to live like You. May we love the people and activities You love, and shun what You shun. May we speak the way You speak, offering truth in love. May we not listen to Satan’s lies, to our own lies, or the lies of others – all of them ultimately lead us away from You. And Father, may we be honest enough with ourselves to recognize when we are not following You in word or deed, and to question whether we are actually Your children or not. May we always seek a right relationship with You. Although there are other worthwhile things in this life, none of them is worthwhile apart from You. May our hearts’ desire be to have You as our Father!