Daily Devotionals

'Every Day Light' with Selwyn Hughes

Devotional: November 2nd

For Reading and Meditation:
     John 3:1-17

Yesterday';s point about God finding great pleasure in His Son is worth pursuing as so much hangs on it when contrasting the Bible with the sacred books of other faiths. It seems strange to me that God should have so much to say about His Son in the Bible and yet ignore Him when supposedly revealing Himself to the founders of other religions. Long ago, in India, I sat by a man who, when he discovered I was a Christian, showed me his English translation of the Qur'an. I spent several hours perusing it. When eventually I returned it to him I commented: "I notice that though it talks a lot about God (Allah), it never mentions that He has a Son." He looked startled for a moment and replied: "Sir, in our religion such a thing could not be possible." He drew my attention to these words: "Allah forbid that He Himself should beget a Son." I turned to the Bible verse which forms our text for today, and read him the words. We sat quietly after that, both of us realizing we had touched on the main difference between Islam and Christianity. My heart leaped in gratitude to God that He had an only begotten Son whom He was willing to give up for my sin and the sins of the whole human race. A God who has no Son has to rely on intermediaries to bring people to Himself. And an intermediary who is not God and not man cannot effect complete reconciliation. It would be like a wonderfully constructed bridge that is broken at the farther end.

O Father, as I ponder John 3:16 I feel I am putting my heart up against Your heart. I want to feel its beat and catch its rhythm. For Your heart is here. I am so grateful. Amen.