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DAILY BIBLE READING GUIDE (January 3rd – 8th)

Monday – John 1.1-18, esp. 1-3; John 20.31

Meditation: John’s purpose in this gospel is that people may believe Jesus to be the Son of God and therefore find life in him. The first thing John wants the people to know is that Jesus is none other than God himself. John explicitly calls him “God” and also notes that Jesus is eternal and that he is the Creator. These are titles and descriptions that are only true of God himself. This is important. If Jesus is indeed God then what he says and does carries with it an authority like never before and means that John is right…our eternity hangs in whether we believe him or not.

Tuesday – John 1.4-9

Meditation: Jesus comes and brings with him life and light. John is making it clear: Jesus has come to save. He will bring a light to open the eyes of the blind and life to bring the dead back to life. And Jesus will succeed in what he sets out to do. The darkness may try to overcome the light and continue to blind the world, but it will fail. Jesus’ work cannot be stopped. Thank God today for the light in which you live and the life that he has given your once dead heart.

Wednesday – John 1.10-13

Meditation: The great grace that is the coming of the Word is met not with joy but with opposition. The world refuses to recognize it. Even God’s own people love sin too much to run for their Savior. But Jesus does not leave us without hope. God promises that he will cause people to be born again, that his will will make sons and daughters even out of those in love with the world. Thank God today for your salvation and pray that you would never seek the things of the world over him again.

Thursday – John 1.14-17; 1 John 1.1-4

Meditation: How does God save? Not from a distance. The Savior is here. In Jesus, God’s glory is now on display like never before. It has left the temple and now shines for all to see. Jesus is also the fulfillment of grace and truth. Jesus doesn’t just speak the word of God, he is the Word. He doesn’t just promise salvation, he is the salvation. God’s promises are true, they are real, they are here. Thank God that you can trust him to keep his word. Pray for greater faith to always believe it.

Friday – John 1.18; Isaiah 6.1-7

Meditation: No one has ever seen God, yet in Jesus not only is God seen, he is made known. Relationship with God that should be impossible for sinners like you and me is now ours because of what Jesus has done. If you pray to God, recognize how undeserving you are to have an audience with the One True God and thank Jesus who not only reveals God to you, he makes him known.

Saturday – John 1.19-34

Meditation: Prepare your hearts for worship tomorrow by soaking up these next verses. Tomorrow, we hear the first witness to who Jesus is. John the Baptist will make it very clear. This is no mere man; this is the one we have been waiting for.