Devotion - Thursday, January 8

In John 4:46-54 Jesus returns to Cana.  It was here that he changed the water into wine during a wedding feast.  Once there, he is met by an official whose son is ill.  The man asks Jesus to heal his son.

Jesus will do this.  But first he addresses the issue of demanding "signs."  He says, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."

I am stumped every time I come across that verse.  It leads me to reconsider my own belief.  There is an accusation there that unsettles me.  It is true that we are only able to believe when we have seen the miraculous?  If that is so, then it is little wonder that so many have not come to believe.

I don't know if it proves the existence of God, or brings me to the point of believing, but the thing which keeps me reading my bible and dwelling among the followers of Jesus is my experience of the community which bears his name.  It probably has a lot to do with the love of which I wrote yesterday.  The persons who assemble under the banner of Jesus are compassionate and caring; they are giving and serving.  They are the kind of people I want to be.

Perhaps it is a "sign," the way in which they go about their lives.  Maybe there is no greater wonder than a life that is focused on something other than my own advancement.