Most of us long for miracles.  And Jesus’ perfect life, death on sinners’ behalf as the fulfillment of Passover, and His physical resurrection prove that He is willing and able to meet our greatest needs:  complete forgiveness and a new heart to follow Him as our living King.  But even in the Bible, most of the journey with Jesus is lived in the moments between miracles.  In this 50-day series, we’ll consider some of those moments leading up to the next great miracle in the New Testament:  the fulfillment of Pentecost and the incredible growth of the Church.

John 20:31 is loaded.  We covered one of its key terms in the last devotional.  Today, we’re looking at an equally packed phrase.  Let’s take it in two parts.  First, “life”

If it’s true that a person can only give what they have, what “life” will Jesus give will those who follow Him by faith in Him?  His life here was as a man acquainted with sorrows, having no place to lay His head, serving freely but being rejected more often than not, but not holding into His rights.  Rather, He took up His cross for the true good of others, entrusting Himself to His Father’s will, not His own.  That, believe it or not, is real life.

After all, isn’t that the level of love that we want from others?  Not a fair weather friend but a truly dedicated love.  That’s what life is.  Love.  Proven love by self-sacrifice.   Experienced love by the grace of Jesus’ sacrifice.  Transforming love by the power of His Spirit.  Purposeful love that points others to Jesus and His cross as His means of love and His model of love.

If we’re to be honest, most don’t want real love.  They want like or lust or something similarly easy and self-focused.  But such passions are inherently consuming, not giving.  They feed on others to feed us.  It seems satisfying until the object of our attention is drained.  Then we lash out at them (or them at us), and we move on to new prey.  Instead, we should pray.

Pray to trust in Jesus’ name – not emphasizing our level of trust but the meaning and weight of His name.  For those who know the person, someone’s name communicates their character, purpose, level of authority and more.  Jesus is “God saves”.  He not merely the way and truth about life.  He is the life.  His grace and truth are our foundation.  He is our protection and provision.  Knowing, loving, and serving Him is our purpose.  His image of prophet, priest, and king is our work.  And He is our rest.

I hope today’s thought and others in this series will be helpful to you as you journey with Jesus in the moments between miracles.

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