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New Year 2026 – The Gospel of John
- Friday 13th March – John 16:7-11 ‘Deep conviction’
July 25th 1982. Just a normal Sunday. I went to church with my family, to (what we then called) the Family Service. My Dad was giving the talk, about Jesus meeting Nicodemus in John chapter 3. It was the days of Overhead Projectors (OHPs – remember them?!), and he showed this acetate of a wooden cross. When he got to the text, ‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,’ he overlaid a second acetate with a picture of a snake, which was now wrapped around the cross. Then he completed the verse: ‘so the Son of Man must lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’
At this point, he removed the snake and instead placed a third acetate over the cross – this time of Jesus. And suddenly I understood. Jesus had died for me. Not just for the world, for me. I was no more or less religiously-minded than most children; the chief attraction of church on Sundays was playing football in the church hall after the service! But at that moment, just before my tenth birthday, I knew something profound had happened. I prayed directly to Jesus, I think perhaps for the first time; and I made a mental note to remember that day, because on that day my life changed.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, but I still remember that family service from over forty years ago. And what I experienced is what countless others have through the ages, and what Jesus speaks about in today’s passage. I came under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Conviction is more than just revelation. The modern NIV translation renders it ‘prove the world to be in the wrong,’ but that doesn’t quite cut it either. Conviction is revelation which fundamentally touches our hearts and changes our mind. It compels us to change. What others experience as ‘just words’ seem to be given specifically and directly to us, to transform our lives immediately.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. In particular, the Holy Spirit will convict people in regard to ‘sin and righteousness and judgement’ (v8). If this sounds negative – where’s the love of Jesus, or the peace that comes from knowing him, you might be thinking? – then we should never forget that we need a Saviour. Without sin there’s no grace. Without grace, there’s no gospel, no good news. We only truly understand the love of Jesus when we know what he has saved us from. We only truly know the peace of Jesus when we fully grasp that, because of Jesus, God’s just judgement has been fulfilled and ‘the prince of this world now stands condemned’ (v11). Whatever we face in this life, our future is secure.
I can’t explain why it was that day in 1982 when the Holy Spirit first deeply convicted me. I’m sure people were praying! But this I know – it was real, and true, and good. It’s what the Holy Spirit does, and is still doing, all around the world, every day, every minute. Today, let’s give thanks for our own journeys, those moments of conviction in our lives. And let’s also pray with faith for that same conviction to be at work in those we love, and those we’ll never meet. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
- Thursday 12th March – John 15:26-16:7 ‘Testify’Read more...
‘Crucify, torture, condemn, crush us. For the proof of our innocence is found in your injustice. It is on this account that God suffers us to suffer this… Yet no cruelty of yours, though each were to exceed the last in its exquisite refinement, profits you in the least; but forms rather an attraction to our sect. We spring up in ...
- Wednesday 11th March – John 15:18-25 ‘They hated me first’Read more...
In January every year, the charity Open Doors publishes the World Watch List: a list of the 50 countries where persecution of Christians is most severe. If 50 sounds like a large number, bear in mind that the Bible is restricted, banned, or heavily controlled in at least 52 countries. An estimated 400 million Christians live with persecution for their faith.
‘I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.’ (v15)
Just take a moment to let that sink in. The Almighty Creator of the universe calls you his friend. No other religious worldview contains ...
- Monday 9th March – John 15:9-13 ‘No greater love than this’Read more...
Some things are so important they need to be repeated. As Jesus talks with his disciples on the night before he dies, he shares deeply about many vital, life-changing things. If you were to read chapters 13-17 in one sitting (or listen, as the disciples did), it’s clear that this extraordinary teaching revolves around a few simple themes and commands, which ...
- Saturday 7th March – John 10:10-11 ‘The Good Shepherd’Read more...
And so we finish our week with the iconic image of Jesus as The Good Shepherd. There’s so much we can say; but before we explore the image further, today let’s remind ourselves to link verse 11 to verse 10. Paragraph breaks are not there in the original text – we impose them in our translations. These translations are wonderful, not ...