Daily Devotions based the Sermon on John 12:20-32 from March 21, 2021
THIS WEEK: Lead Me to the Cross…Plant a Seed…Find the Cross!
We eat a lot of seeds.
Bread out of ground wheat. Chili with beans. Mustard from ground mustard seeds. Spices like celery seed, coriander, or dill. Corn on the cob or peas in the pod.
They are all seeds. The amazing thing is God designed the seed to provide nutrition to the one who eats it – even the animals that eat seeds for their nutrition.
One caution…don’t eat all the seeds. Why?
Consuming seeds for nutrition is one of their purposes. But if all the seeds on the earth were consumed, we would quickly miss the benefit of their main purpose, reproduction.
The seed’s main purpose is reproduction. That is how God designed it. Even though it gives nutrition to the eater, it is designed to grow another plant. When it reproduces, it has carried out its main purpose.
(In case you’re worried, the United States Department of Agriculture has a “Seed Vault” in Fort Collins, CO in which over 850,000 seeds are stored and preserved in the event of a global catastrophe. Some of the seeds have been stored for 90 years!)
Is it possible that we can miss the main purpose of Jesus’ work as we consume what is more visible or immediately beneficial? Perhaps Jesus knew this about the Greeks who wanted to see him. Did they want to see a miracle? Did they want to see him raise someone from the dead? Did they want to see some amazing confrontation with the Jews? All of these things would have been amazing experiences to witness.
But it would have just been consuming a secondary purpose of Jesus. Yes he came to heal the sick, feed the hungry and raise the dead. However, Jesus is wanting to shift the narrative off of “consuming” his miracles and teaching to “seeing” and connecting with his main purpose: saving souls through his death on the cross.
His purpose was spoken of when Joseph is given the name for the baby to be born of Mary:
Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
When the Bible speaks of Jesus’ key work, it is not in his healing, driving out demons, raising the dead ministry, but the payment for sin he endured by his death on the cross. The Apostle John writes:
1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God sent Jesus to save sinners. At the crux of that was his crucifixion. In the crucifixion would his glory be seen as he paid the penalty your sin and mine deserved.
This is how Jesus wants to be seen. This is what brings glory to his name.
Apply: Evaluate your faith life. Do you treat Jesus as a consumable (i.e. desire what he can give you to enhance life on this earth)? Or do you see Jesus for his main purpose: saving you from the punishment your sins deserved?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus thank you for all you did for me, but especially I thank you for your saving work you accomplished on the cross for me! AMEN.