Lenten Devotional - Week One

Jesus is God

 

Music and Art

Play the audio file and click on the image to enlarge it.

Let’s take this time and quiet our minds. Let’s intently look at the art, and intentionally listen to the music. What attribute of God does the art and music prompt you to sense?

  • About the Artwork:
    Angelic Star over Earth Shining on Bethlehem
    Jim Larkin

    About the Music:
    All is Well (1989)
    Michael W. Smith
    Written by Michael W. Smith and Wayne Kirkpatrick

    Performed by Orchard Hill Music

 

As you read the scripture and poetry what is God placing on your heart?

Scripture

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5 (NIV)

 

Poetry

Son of God, maker of this world
Sustainer of everything
You whose praise resounds in all of heaven
You alone are king of kings

When we were lost, fast bound in sin
No way to find release
Messiah You’re
The promised one
Who came to set us free

Tiny babe, humbled in the hay
You set aside what you deserved
Bound in flesh, the boundless son of God
Walked among us on the earth

Your perfect life
A sacrifice
That life to us you’d bring
From grave to sky
You reign on high
You are the king of kings

King of Kings, Faith Bjorklund

 

Devotional

Jesus is God by Dr. Kurt Bjorklund

As we reflect during this season of Lent, it is our hope that through the Lenten devotionals, we will consider who Jesus is, meditate on His Word, and listen to how He wants to transform our lives through His Word.

In looking at John 1:1-5, these verses have puzzled me for years. Why is Jesus not simply referred to as Jesus? Why is he called the Word? The Greek word for Word is logos. The Word is defined by Strong's Concordance and HELPS Word-studies as expressing the thoughts of the Father through the Spirit or a divine utterance. In John 1:1-5, John is using a concept that would be familiar to his readers to highlight the character of Christ.

D. A. Carson calls this phrase God's ultimate self-disclosure. God shows us that Jesus is eternal, essential in creation, the way to life, and the illuminating guiding presence of God. Without Jesus, you and I would be left trying to figure out how to understand and relate to God.

 

Reflect

In what ways does seeing Jesus as the Word help you appreciate and worship God?