Listen

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son.

John 3:14-18

Think

John refers to yesterday’s passage from Numbers, where God told Moses to put a poisonous snake on a pole, promising that any who had been bitten by a snake would be cured by looking at it. Today, it’s Jesus who is lifted above the chaos and restores life to broken people.

This scripture is foundational for Christians. However, when we get busy and distracted, we may forget to “lift up” Jesus as we should. How is Jesus involved in your life on an everyday basis? In what ways do you honor Jesus with your life? Perhaps you have a special prayer time with Jesus each day, even if only for a few minutes. Maybe you pause before eating a meal, offering yourself and your energy, refreshed by food, to the glory of God and your neighbor’s good. Or it could be that you lift up the example of Jesus by including the outcasts or standing up to a bully in defense of another. The opportunities to let the compassion of Jesus shine through your life and actions are almost endless!

Becky Ullom Naugle

Pray

Loving God, thank you for sending your son Jesus into the world to be our teacher and example. Help me to speak and act today in ways that “lift up” Jesus as a healer of the broken. Strengthen my faith today and in the days to come. Amen.

Go

Go into your day-to-day life confidently, knowing that God has brought you to life with Christ. Remember God’s love for you; remember your faith in God. You cannot go where God is not!