Devotionals | His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich

Help Wanted?

July 21, 2011 Leave a comment

There is much talk today about unemployment. In my Bible study class, we often pray for people who need jobs, who are interviewing for jobs or who are changing jobs. My husband is about to retire from a position, essentially becoming unemployed or about to have no job. So it is probably not a surprise that I have been meditating on a recent devotional thought I received from author and pastor John Piper. He noted that God’s message to us, that is the gospel of Christ, is “not a ‘help-wanted’ sign but a ‘help available’ sign.”

When Paul was preaching to the Athenians in Acts 17, he told them, “God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything.” If God cannot be served, that is really bad news to anyone trying to “score points” with Him by religious ritual or evangelistic zeal or by observing His laws. The rest of verses 24-25 says, “He himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.” Now this is really good news to anyone looking for the “help available” sign. Jesus pointed out that he did not come to serve but to “give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) That’s the help available for all who would come to Him for mercy and grace. His arms are open wide. His help is available.

Categories: Bible, Devotionals Tags: gospel, help, service

Seen any signs?

February 11, 2010 Leave a comment

In my Bible study class I’m teaching through the Gospel of John. It’s different from the other gospels for several reasons, but one of the main ones is that John wrote it after the other three chronological accounts (Matthew, Mark and Luke), and he structured his account with the knowledge that most readers would already know many of the events surrounding Jesus’ life, so he could concentrate on highlighting certain supernatural acts that Jesus did which served as signposts to lead the reader to “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life in his name.” John 20:31. This, by the way, is the reason John said he wrote his gospel.

These signposts or “signs” are pretty obvious in the gospel, especially after John deliberately labels the first two of them, calling them “the first of his miraculous signs” and then the “second miraculous sign.” The pattern the reader discerns in the first two of the signs serves as a template for the rest of the gospel. By the time Jesus arrives in Jerusalem for the week leading up to His crucifixion, there remains only one directional pointer to His being God’s Son–His resurrection.

However, all but a few people completely missed these signs. The disciples themselves saw them through a haze. God was displaying His power, His beauty, His wisdom, His grace, His love and His truth, but they failed to see it. Oh, they saw the gifts of bread or wine or healing, but they didn’t see beyond the gifts to the Giver. Just think how it must have pleased Jesus if someone had praised Him more for being Him than for His gifts, if they were more content with Jesus Himself than with anything He could give them.

Signs from God confront us daily. God displays Himself to us every day with His gifts. May we not fail to recognize these signs of Him and glorify Him for who He is more than for what He gives.