Editor’s Note: Today’s AMI Quiet Time is provided by Pastor Peter Yoon of Kairos Church in San Diego.
Devotional Thought for Today
John 21:25
25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
Today’s food for thought shares a few random questions for reflections based on the final passage of the gospel of John.
First of all, this final passage in John leads me to think about death. If you’ve attended funerals, you’ve heard sincere and moving eulogies. Always, they describe the kind of life the deceased carried during his/her years as a parent or as a spouse or as a member of a church or the community and so forth. They describe all kinds of good and virtuous impact he/she has had on the family, the church, co-workers, and others. This last statement of John has that ring to it.
So what will be said of me or you when all is done? Will we have done many things well? How will you live so that you’ve made a meaningful impact for eternal purposes?
Secondly, as John reminds us that Jesus did “many other things as well,” I understand that Jesus did things well because He simply followed what the Father was already doing (Exp God & John 5:19). All of the works that Jesus accomplished turned out to be good works because He followed in the steps of a good Father.
So how are you doing in terms of following in the steps of a good Father? Are you engaging in His good works? Where do you see Him at work and extending an invitation to you, especially through your church?
Finally, John comments that there were so many good things Jesus did that there’s no way a world would have enough space for the books to have recorded all of them. (Such hyperbole may be a literary convention, but in this case it is quite literally true, for there is no limit to the riches that are in Christ Jesus.)*
Here, I imagine the names of people that Jesus touched, healed, taught, and saved. I imagine an immensely thick book about the height of a sequoia tree (hey…my imagination) where the pages are filled with people’s names and family trees, and all of them filled with their own countless stories of how Jesus literally changed their lives. I imagine this book to have names that are written the English alphabet, Latin, Chinese characters, Persian alphabet, and many others. That’s the kind of impact that Jesus has had because He did many things well.
Do you believe that God wants to use you to bring His ministry to the tens, hundreds, thousands of people around your life? Do you know that God wants to use you to bring His glory to the nations?
*The IVP New Testament Commentary Series