Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: John 7 and Psalm 42

In John 7, the criticism of Jesus and pressure on Him was mounting from all sides. His brothers taunted Him that He should go to Jerusalem if He wanted to achieve popularity and fame (v.3-5). The Pharisees judged Him for not having studied under a recognised rabbi (v.15) and for being from Galilee (v.52). The regular people thought He was probably the Messiah, but they were too afraid of the reactions of the Pharisees to declare their faith publicly (v.13).

Yet Jesus continued to minister on no-one else’s terms. He was completely uninterested in the allure of popularity, fame, recognition, or the approval of humans. In v.18, He explained that His absolute freedom to minister was rooted in the fact that His deepest desire was to accurately represent the truth of God so that God could be most perfectly glorified :

¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

This was true of Jesus. He was not driven by hunger for self-glory, for the praise of people, or even their acceptance. He only hungered for the Father’s pleasure and glory! And this would be accomplished when He perfectly manifested the Father through His teaching and His life.

Therefore, what Jesus said could be completely trusted as an accurate representation of the truth about God! He was not filtering or misrepresenting the truth to make it more palatable or acceptable. He spoke undiluted truth … even when that caused worldly people to hate Him for confronting them with their sin (v.7).

Life Application: Is this also true for you? Is accurately representing God in your words and deeds your most important criteria? Take time today to reflect and, where necessary, to repent and to change course.