ESOCS Devotional 28 September 2023 – Man that was with Jesus
MEMORY VERSE: “A servant girl saw him seated there in the fire light. She looked closely at him and said “this man was with him.” Luke 22:56 NIV
TEXT: LUKE 22:47-62 (NIV)
While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 55 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
57 But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.
58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.
59 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
The man that was with Jesus is a man that can never hide or deny him. This is one who is born again and has yielded his neck to carry Jesus’ yoke by learning from him and being loyal to Jesus as his only master. Our Bible text pointed us to the life of a brother who feels he can hide his identity as a disciple of Jesus. The more he wants to hide, the more glory people see Christ in him.
When you follow Christ as his disciple, it involves, a direct encounter and interaction with him (1 Peter 2:21), a unique and peculiar lesson or dealing (John 21:15-25), as systematic and cumulative experience (Isaiah 28:9-10), that finally show in your life and character (Act 4:3).
The man that has been with Jesus is a man that can be easily identified by the way his character, deeds and manner of life and speech shows Jesus. When people look at you closely, what do they see? What will they say? To every man that is with Jesus, the way they act, sit, carry themselves, talk and react to issues always show Jesus.
So, you cannot impose it on people to see you as one who has been or, is with Jesus. Who you are with goes a long way to determine who people will see you as. Who you have spent majority of your time with, learning how he or she lives their life determines how you will live your life and also how people will see you living your life.
A man that was with Jesus is a man that Jesus’ life has rub on and changed, to conform to the desired shape that Jesus also wants from him.
- Who you are with and learns from today, determines who people will see you as tomorrow.
- Father Lord, help me to constantly be with Jesus in my today’s life, so that in my tomorrow, people will see Jesus in Me.
FURTHER READING: Proverbs 30:10-31; Ecclesiastes 7:1-14; 2 Corinthians 8:16-end; 9:1-5
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ESOCS Devotional 28 September 2023
