Daily Devotion

The new paragraph here does not mean the subject has changed. John answered Jesus, which means he was responding to what they had been discussing.  When John and his companions were on a preaching tour, they saw a man casting out devils in Jesus' name. They tried to stop him because he did not belong to the group. There may have been a hint of jealousy in what they did. This man was successful in doing what the disciples had so recently and so conspicuously failed to do. What the man was doing was indeed remarkable. He had grasped the truth of what could be done in the Name of Jesus. He had not been called or directly employed by Jesus as were the Twelve. John should have been able to make the connection of Jesus' teaching and his own wrong attitude.

 

The issue here is partisanship. John (and whoever else is included in the "we") tried to put an end to this man's ministry of exorcism saying, "...because he followed not with us." John had the mistaken idea that every follower of Jesus should have the same stripe.

Jesus rebuked John when He said, "Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us." We should not hinder others just because they promote the gospel in a different way. It would help to ask two questions: Are they really accomplishing good? Are they doing the work in the name of Jesus? If so, Jesus said, "Forbid him not."

 

 

But---and this is intensely important---our tolerance must be based not on difference but on LOVE. We ought to be tolerant not because we could care less but because we look at the other person with eyes of love. When Abraham Lincoln was criticized for being too courteous to his enemies and reminded that it was his duty to destroy them, he gave this great answer, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" Even if a man be utterly mistaken, we must never regard him as an enemy to be destroyed but as a friend to be recovered by love.

 

Life Application:   What happens in your mind when you see someone do something that really upsets you? When an old friend turns against you, how do you react? Or you try out for a job that you really want and someone else gets it?

 

 

Praise/Prayer: Dear Father, I am so thankful for the way Jesus dealt with His Twelve. His love for them was so great that He would not let them begin to think or act like people who did not know Him as their savior. The love that flows from Jesus makes all sin seem like nothing. Thank You for that Fountain filled with blood that washes away all our sins. Amen!