“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
– John1:1-5 (emphasis mine)
I don’t know when “the beginning” started. I don’t have any intention of allowing my mind to swim that far into the abyss of the unknown. I’ve always approached the Bible in faith. You have to, really. And the book of John is proof of that. Whenever the beginning began, we know from the scripture above that Word of God was there. It spoke light into existence and it formed this whole world. Whenever the beginning began, God was there with His Word, with His Spirit, and with His Son.
I’ve been teaching the book of John to a group of young women at my church for a few months now. Each Sunday, at 10am, we gather and discuss the text. Even though I’ve read this book before and even though I already believe in Jesus, it still blows my mind that God would go to enormous lengths to prove His existence and His son’s legitimacy to us. This is a book about belief and love. Each week, we have been enlightened by the deep love God shares of every single human being He’s created. He loves us so much He wants to show us through miracles, mercy, grace and His Word.
“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
– John 20:30-31
The whole premise of this text is simple, John, one of Jesus’ followers, is writing this book so that every generation from John until now can read about the life and miracles of Jesus and the belief that Jesus is in fact, the Son of God. As we read through various portions of John, I want you to write down or circle in your Bible the word “belief” or “believe”. In doing so, I want you to see how many times John is capturing this concept and how he is identifying the concept of belief as the core purpose of Jesus’ ministry.
As we journey into this book, I want to ask you a few questions. What do you believe? What do you believe about God? What do you believe about Jesus? What do you believe about yourself?
This book, if you approach it honestly, will challenge your belief system. You will find yourself asking these questions again and again and God who is faithful will always point to the only answer to every question we have: Jesus is Lord.
Let’s walk together and get excited about what God will show us in the next coming weeks.
Be blessed and never forget to be a blessing!
Erika Kimberly
-To Be Praised Ministries, Founder & Contributing Writer