GETTING STARTED
During Christmastime, I found myself walking down the Christmas tree aisle at Home Depot. What I saw on one shelf amazed me. It had over ten different options for making an artificial Christmas tree appear real (spray-on snow and pine scent seemed to be a common theme)! Attempting to change something by putting a superficial cover on it is not reserved for fake Christmas trees, unfortunately. I, for one, seem to do this same thing every day. But thanks to the transformative power of Christ, we are free to be authentic.
- In what ways have you been covering up the messy things in your life? Where have you been relying on your own strength to sustain you?
READ THE WORD: JOHN 2:6-12 (ESV)
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
DIGGING DEEPER
1. If you were one of the servants carrying out Jesus’ request, how would you have responded to seeing the water jars full of wine?
2. How did this sign change Jesus’ relationship with his disciples?
3. Transformed lives are amazing beacons of light for the gospel. What evidence would others see that Christ has transformed your life?
RESPOND TO GOD
Our natural tendency is to lean on our own strength. But the same power that changed water to wine and raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that God gave us to walk in his strength. So why don’t we turn towards his strength more often? God wants to make us new, and for us to live as an authentic representation of what he has done for us.
- Lord, help me to operate out of the truth that your Spirit lives in me right now. Allow me to not settle for the superficial healing offered by the world. Give me a heart that only trusts in the transformational power found in You.