Apr 02

Just as there are children of God, so there are children of the devil. Jesus acknowledged this as he addressed some of them dressed up as children of God. They claimed that they were children of Abraham, but Jesus told them that their actions did not back up their claim, that if they were indeed children of God through Abraham, then they would do the things Abraham did (John 8:39).

The matter of lineage, whose children we are, is a crucial concept throughout the entire Bible. Constantly it refers to the origin and actions of two lines of people throughout history: those who belong to God and those who don't.

These two lines of human beings have been in conflict continually and will continue to be until the end, even as they were in this confrontation with Jesus, described in John 8.

There, Jesus focuses not only on the antagonism confronting them at that moment, but, having the eternal vision of God, he declares to them the source of that antagonism and the resultant consequences.

Human beings tend to focus on the problem. God, being the foundation of all reality, sees the underlying root problem that gives rise to the surface problem that so occupies human attention.

Jesus, being God, dealt with not only the surface conflict but the underlying cause of the problem. We would do well to pay attention to this method when confronting problems of our own in our daily lives.

Scripture for today: John 8:37-47
Thought for today: Sometimes the children of the devil dress up as children of God.
Prayer for today: Lord, I ask for discernment to know when those who claim to belong to you really do not.

APR 02