Looking for the wrong thing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LOOKING FOR THE WRONG THING

John 7:25-31

25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from." 28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me."  30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?"
NIV

Why did some of the people think that the Christ would just show up in some miraculous way, poof, and he is, magically appearing from a place unknown? Did they not think the Christ would come from heaven, from God? Did they think the Christ would simply be another human being with special powers? They thought they knew who he was, but it appears they really did not know who he was or where he was from. Yet Jesus tells them they do know him and they do know where he is from. We could conclude from that statement of Jesus he was saying that all men know he is the Christ, and he comes from the Father, which we have never seen or truly know, but again, they could only see the human Christ, not the divine Christ. Some people today see only the human Christ. They see Jesus as a good man, showing the way God intended us to live, being an example. They put Jesus in the same category as Gandhi, Mohammed, Buddha or maybe even Confucius, but they cannot see that Jesus is the Son of the most high God, the creator of all that is, the one who was from the beginning and who came to earth in the form of a man, to die as a man, to paid the price his justice requires. They cannot see Jesus for who he is, but only who they believe him to be. Why are people always looking for the magic, the supernatural? That may be why so many today are deceived by Satan as he gives them something supernatural, a poof, a magically, even spiritual experience, yet it is a fake, but people are drawn to it for they do not see Jesus for who he is, but what they have been deceived into thinking he is. Even after Jesus explained who he was, and they had seen him perform miracles and heard his profound teaching of the truth and they believed in him as something, but still they could not see him as the Christ, for they thought the Christ would do more than Jesus did. People are always looking for more than Jesus did something other than bringing them eternal life. They are looking for the supernatural, not for Jesus. They are looking for the wrong thing.