Daily Gospel Devotional: July 6

John 7:32-36…

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Jesus had been addressing the questions from the crowd, and some were moved to believe in Him. This irritated the Pharisees, who wanted to just get Him out of the way. Talk of Jesus Christ is always an irritator and instigator, and it will stir up people to try and stop any commotion before it spreads.

The perception planted into the hearts of unbelievers is the deception and distortion of the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4). Jesus was talking about His ascension into heaven, following His crucifixion and resurrection, when their opportunity to believe would have passed (Matthew 23:37-38). But they thought Jesus was proposing to leave for the detested Gentile regions. They expected the Messiah to come and vindicate their status as God’s people. But Jesus came first to die for sins, and this they would not accept. These religious leaders were supposed to be spiritual, but they kept going on about what the natural situation was, because they could not really see Jesus with spiritual eyes (1 Corinthians 2:14).

People continue to miss salvation for similar reasons. Mankind is self-centered, but Jesus defines His ministry focus by what He has come to do for God. Yes, His work benefits us, but what Jesus did was mainly for His heavenly Father (Romans 3:25-26). He came from God and He goes back to God. Jesus was God-centered in all things; we should have the same orientation in all that we do (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Hard hearted people still don’t accept Jesus on His terms. He doesn’t meet our expectations. We want Him to deal with our felt needs, the crises of our circumstances and our social situations. But He wants to deal with our real need, the sin in our soul and the spread of it in our life. We had better heed His words before it is too late (Isaiah 55:6 / 2 Corinthians 6:2 / Hebrews 9:27). Today is the day of salvation because you are not promised tomorrow (James 4:14).

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©