Daily Bread - John 17:20-22

We know that Scripture nourishes human understanding. The Holy Bible uses an organic metaphor to describe God’s intention. It likens God’s Word to water that nourishes a seed enabling it to sprout and grow. This is a “living metaphor.” It compares the process of growth in nature with the process of growing in faith and understanding. It shows us that a mature faith is not static. It grows!

2 Timothy 3:16 - - "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"

Faith begins with simple childlike trust and acceptance. The “good news” is like a seed planted in our hearts. God’s Word is like rain that waters the seed. In the world of nature, rain and sunlight work together to empower seeds to spread roots below the surface and branches above the ground. In the realm of the Spirit, the Scriptures and God’s spirit work together to empower faith and understanding to take firm root in our hearts, and branch out into every area of our lives.


Today's daily bread is John 17:20-22.

John 17:20-22 - - "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:"

Salvation can easily and accurately be described as "being at one with God." As long as we are separated from God, we do not have salvation. When we are "at one" with God, it means that we are becoming like Him, that we are walking along the same path with Him and will be saved.

Jesus Christ's death bridges this impossible situation for us. We can then begin to contribute to being at one with God. What remains yet undone, despite the gap being bridged, is a change in character and in attitude that must be worked in us in order for us to become like God. It takes living God's way for us to become like God. This is why humility is necessary.

We can see from Jesus' prayer and from our own experience (and from the history of man) that mankind is not at one with God, yet that is God's aim. Satan motivated Adam and Eve, and subsequently all the rest of mankind, to separate themselves from God. As long as Satan can keep us separated from Him, salvation is impossible.

Satan's thinking, which was passed on to Adam and Eve and then to us, is that we all have the right to set our own standards or codes of "right" and "wrong". He has convinced mankind that they have the same prerogatives and that these Satan-inspired, man-made standards can produce abundant prosperity, good health, peace, and a sense of well-being in our lives.

But they do not, and that is the problem!

Humbling oneself means giving up that devilish notion and submitting to what God says. He has given us free moral agency to choose whether to obey His standards and codes, not the freedom to set our own.