Does Your Heart Belong to Jesus? {John 2}

Good morning beloved!

Did you know that for the rest of this year we will be reading ALL of the Apostle John’s writing? 

John happens to be my favorite disciple, which is probably why I’m so excited! John had the gift of mercy and describes himself in this book as “the disciple that Jesus loved”. I think that speaks of how important that was to John -- Jesus loved him, and I’ll share a bit more about that later in this post.

John chose to stress the deity of Jesus in his gospel by giving us seven miracles that will serve to proclaim that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. We’ll also see Jesus refer to Himself as the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Door, the Good Shepherd and others that all point to His deity. In fact, John’s gospel is the most theological of all four gospels!

Have I peaked your excitement just a bit?  I hope so, for I hope that when we’re through reading all that John has written to us, you too will be so thankful for John and all he took the time to write!

Chapter two begins with Jesus’ first miracle ever recorded. I thought it was interesting that Jesus’ ministry begins at the time of the Passover celebration (verse 13) and will end during the Passover three years later.

But what I’d most like to focus on today is something I found at the end of this chapter in verses 23-25. I thought it was awfully strange at first and perhaps you can help explain why this is. Notice,

^“ Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” (emphasis mine)

Why wouldn’t Jesus “entrust himself to them”? The passage tells us the people, “believed in His name”, why wouldn’t Jesus entrust Himself to them?

What reason does John give?

“for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.”

He knew their hearts! He knew people’s “hearts are deceptively wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Here’s something I found that I thought summed it up pretty well:

"Although Jesus chose to live and work and say and do only those things that He heard from the Father.. He was still omniscient and knew the content of men's hearts. Jesus knew what men were thinking and He would not commit Himself to any of them, since He knew all about them - for He knew all men. Oh, the crowds were following Him around the streets of Jerusalem and they became excited when they saw the miracles He did. They started to believe in Him, but not for Who He was.. only for what they could get from Him. They saw the many signs and miracles that Jesus did, and most followed Him for the wrong reason. But Christ knew their hearts. He knows their thoughts. He knew their motives. Jesus knew whether their professed faith was from a genuine heart of real repentance towards God and a desire to live godly, or if it was simply a counterfeit faith, that was following after Him for selfish motives."--Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/john-2-24

Two important truths jump out at me right away:

1.)   We shouldn’t put all our faith in people.

This one statement could fill pages of a book to explain, but it simply comes down to,

·         People are fickle; they’ll love you one day and forget about you the next!

·         People are fallible; they are doomed to fail at some point and could end up hurting you.  Even our best intentions are no match for a perfect God!

·         Cling to Jesus and together the two of you can love others.

2.)   Jesus doesn’t need us! We need Him!

He sees our hearts and knows whether our profession of faith is genuine.  

Therefore, I must ask you, have you truly put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you walking intimately with Him each day?

If you’re not certain, it’s imperative to settle this now! Do you know, that you know, your heart belongs to Jesus? Why spend another day without Him?

Blessings,

sue