Today’s devotion focuses on the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Christ’s era. Although they claimed to know and love God, Christ exposed the true state of their hearts. In reality, they are only professing believers!

Bible Reading of the Day
AM – 1 Chronicles 8-10
PM – John 8:37-59

𝕿𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊: 𝕴𝖋 𝕲𝖔𝖉 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗, 𝖞𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖚𝖑𝖉 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊 𝖒𝖊
𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟖:𝟒𝟎,𝟒𝟐 𝐊𝐉𝐕
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅: 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝑨𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒎. 𝟒𝟐 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝑰𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒚𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆: 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑮𝒐𝒅; 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒆.

The opening verse, verse 37, states, “𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥: 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘈𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘮. 42 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘐𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘺𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦: 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘎𝘰𝘥; 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦” This reveals how Jesus Christ’s message was despised and rejected even by the religious leaders of that time. Despite the miracles and wonders He performed—such as healing lepers, restoring sight to the blind, and healing the mute—they should have recognized Him as the Messiah. These acts alone strongly confirm His identity and should have made them realize He was the promised Messiah among them. Their attitude and condition resemble many today who claim faith but do not possess true belief.

The Lord Jesus Christ challenges their claim that Abraham is their father. If they truly descended from Abraham, their actions would mirror his virtues. For instance, Abraham welcomed God’s messengers with respect, urgency, and enthusiasm, as described in Genesis 18. God uses this to show Abraham’s readiness to listen and obey. In contrast, the Jews rejected God’s message, claiming faith but not truly embodying it.

The Lord challenges their assertion: if God were truly your Father, you would love me! Today, many say they are headed for Heaven or claim to be Christians, but their actions contradict these claims. Instead of embracing the truth, people seek comfort, security, and reassurance in falsehoods. They use deception to ease the guilt that the Truth causes them. Deception becomes their tool to silence the truth that troubles them.

Remember, God’s standards for Heaven are very different from those of mankind. We need to trust in Christ. The Lord Jesus confirms His divinity again, as He has done before. People may claim to love God, but they do not truly have that love. Are you turning away from Christ? Do you say you believe in Him but lack an authentic relationship with Him? Our actions should match our words! The important question is: do our faith and actions align with what we say? Therefore, 🅰️ 🅶🅴🅽🆄🅸🅽🅴 🅰️🅽🅳 🆃🆁🆄🅴 🅱️🅴🅻🅸🅴🆅🅴🆁 🅸🅽 🅲🅷🆁🅸🆂🆃 🅸🆂 🅽🅾️🆃 🅹🆄🆂🆃 🆂🅾️🅼🅴🅾️🅽🅴 🆆🅷🅾️ 🆃🅰️🅻🅺🆂 🅰️🅽🅳 🅿️🆁🅴🅰️🅲🅷🅴🆂, 🅱️🆄🆃 🆂🅾️🅼🅴🅾️🅽🅴 🆆🅷🅾️ 🅳🅴🅼🅾️🅽🆂🆃🆁🅰️🆃🅴🆂 🆃🅷🅴🅸🆁 🅵🅰️🅸🆃🅷 🆃🅷🆁🅾️🆄🅶🅷 🆃🅷🅴🅸🆁 🅻🅸🅵🅴!