John 1:24-28

What does it say about God?

God prepared the world well for His coming.Jesus came basically incognito because that is Who He is—humility shown by the King of KingsEven incognito, His value is understood. “He is preferred before me.”God came in order to relate to us

Touch point: Relation

I must recognize His value. Since His value is not dependent upon my perception, it demands that I perceive Him properlyI need to pay attention to that hand of opportunity extended by the coming of Jesus.It touches me in the place of service. I should value others enough to find ways to serve—not just things I want to do in service to them, but actual service by seeking their needs above my own. Just like Jesus did.The key word in the section is “preferred” and it speaks to my decision to notice the value of Jesus and the value of others because of the way Jesus valued others.

Intention:

Since Jesus is “preferred” He should be the center of my intention and attention.Human wisdom says to make yourself the center of your intentions—everything relates to how I am best served by the people, relationships, and things in my life. I need to cut away anything that does not meet those most urgent needs in my life.Consider, where do I turn when I need to make decisions? How does Jesus make those decisions? It ONLY comes as I begin to see HIS ways as THE way. Because He is preferred before me.I seek counsel from the pages of the Bible and the principles and worldview that comes from it.There is a LOT of freedom in this choice, especially since our circumstances are not directly addressed in the Bible. That means that I get the opportunity to decide whether I will try my best to only do what God would do and see things the ways God sees them, or I can choose to find my own way and trust my instincts completely.What I choose reveals not the value of Jesus but my PERCEPTION of His value.And that depends on what I am seeking in life.To connect with people in this, I should talk about the glory of Jesus as the backdrop for making any decisions in life.

I can talk about how I make decisionsI can talk about how God worked through Jesus to bring about His glory and that He will do the same through us.I can talk about the protection of Providence.I can talk about the nature of Jesus and how wonderful His nature is as revealed by the Bible.That seems to be the main lesson to take from this. “He is preferred before me.”I can talk about what that means and why it is so important to spiritual growth. Then give a few examples of how it can help growth and some practical ideas for growth. What do I need to do from now on when I am going to decide something? First, see the glory of God’s nature so that we are moved in the right direction.