Why John?

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This week is the letter J.

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While working at a fair, one of the carnival workers would stop and visit with us a couple times a day. He became a friend and one day, my son commented on the medallion he wore, not knowing what it symbolized. Our new friend’s response surprised me. “Well then, you must be Christians.”

As a matter of fact, yes, we are Christians.

That little bit of conversation triggered a lot in our family. My son-in-law thought to give him a Bible and we had an extra one at our house. When we gave it to our friend the last night of the fair, he told us that we were the first Christians to talk with him, and he had tried to intentionally talk with one because he had questions, but he was blown off. It just amazed me that in his 35 years, we were the first Christians to talk with him.

Inside the Bible I had placed a card in the book of John. The card simply said “John is a good place to start.” But that bothered me. That really bothered me. Why John? I’ve been a Christian for 31 years and I’ve heard countless times that John is the best book of the Bible to point nonbelievers to. I’ve read John a gazillion times, and I love it, but I found myself reading John again, wondering how an unsaved person would understand it.

Would our friend understand what he was reading?

I knew he wouldn’t. The account of the Ethiopian man in Acts assured me of that. And yet I know that God’s Word is alive and active. I know people have read the Bible and were saved as a result, like my good friend Joanne. I began praying that he would meet Jesus through the pages of the Bible and that God would send a Philip to him—someone who could explain the Scriptures, someone to water the seed planted in our friend, and someone to harvest when it was time. I still pray.

And I’m still in the book of John, studying. I’m learning and understanding things I didn’t before. I’m digging into it and loving it, praying the whole time that our friend will meet Jesus.

So tell me, why start in John?

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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:24 AM

    I think pointing people to John (or "Big John" as my husband puts it, due to 1,2,& 3 John), is a good idea because John talks in depth about Jesus. The first words in the first chapter say, "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God" (John 1:1-2, NLT). I know a lot of people who have read it and understood better than anywhere else in the Bible. I think it might just be easier for them to understand. But everyone is different. ;-] Good post!

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    1. Yes, John is all about Jesus, and he explains things, what they mean. And he establishes the deity of Jesus right off the bat, setting the tone for reading the rest of John.

      It's encouraging to hear a lot of people have read it as nonbelievers and understood it. =] Very encouraging!

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  2. Praying for him. And I really don't know the answer to that question. Will be following the responses to this. I love John (my favorite gospel) but I think its the most abstract of the gospels. Super post!

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    1. That's it, Jo. It's more abstract than the other Gospels, That's exactly what I was trying to say. And it probably explains why I didn't understand why it's the best place for nonbelievers to read, because I don't do abstract well.

      And that makes me doubly thankful that John explains so much and tells us the why to things. =]

      Thanks for reading between the lines and pin pointing that for me. =] It's helping me see things better. =]

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  3. I don't have an answer to that, but I do have a question. Why did he presume you were Christians just because someone asked about his medallion? What was it?

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    1. The medallion had to do with wiccan or something along those lines, and since we didn't recognize it, he guessed we were Christians. He was right. We do stay away from things like that so we didn't recognize it. This time it led to reaching out to him more. =]

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  4. I too was wondering about the medallion. I was always uncomfortable when people gave a go to for everyone. Everyone is different so I think we should be aware, or sensitive, to what would be meaningful to them.

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