Who Is our Father

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHO IS OUR FATHER

John 8:39-47

39 "Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the things your own father does." "We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself." 42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." 

NIV

This is a big bunch but it just should not be broken up, for here we are faced with the simple truth, we either belong to God or we belong to the devil. We either have God as our Father or we have the devil as our father. The words of that song of Bob Dylan’s “You have to serve somebody” surely was inspired by these words of Jesus. Those Pharisees tried to convince Jesus they were children of Abraham, but Abraham was considered righteous because he believed God, and these Pharisees were not believing God, they were not believing what Jesus was telling them, although they had all the proof they needed to know he was who he said he was. They were living under the influence of the father of lies, and therefore they could other believe lies, not the truth. It is not much different today as many people who refuse to believe in Jesus are living under the influence of the devil. The other entire world religions which have even made such great inroads into our culture are nothing but figments of the devils imagination. He has deceived so many people with his lies in his efforts to keep people from hearing the words of Jesus, the truth. Jesus tells the world, and even the world of Christianity that if God was actually their Father then they would believe Jesus was the only way to obtain eternal life. If God is our Father then we would know that Jesus was with him in the beginning and that all things that were made were made though him. There are still people in the world who do not believe that, even people who say they are Christians. It seems unbelievable, but that is the truth. The Pharisees truly thought they were righteous, that they believed in God, and were following the Law given to Moses. They believed they were living rightly, but Jesus told them they had been deceived by their father the devil. The same applies today. We need to make sure we know the truth and live by that truth rather than by some version devised by the devil to appear as the truth, but is in fact a lie. Is it possible that all these different world religions including so many, hundreds of, different forms of the Christian religion are lies of the devil because he knows a house divided cannot stand and therefore has done as much as he could to divide all mankind? We have to make sure we are not a part of that great division, that we hear the words of Jesus and believe the truth, the only truth. We cannot afford to be distracted by anything or anybody. We must be true to Jesus, knowing he is the only way, and it is him alone. We have to make sure who our Father is.