Fresh Eyes

November 26, 2025

From Jackie Payne

I just finished reading the book of John. So much of it is very familiar, verses that I’ve been reading and rereading most of my life. It’s hard sometimes to reread something with fresh eyes, to see what Jesus still has to teach me. And then something jumps off the page. The Holy Spirit has gone to work! Today it was in John 18.

Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be better for one man to die for the people. John 18:14

He wasn’t wrong…granted, the way he was thinking was all wrong and his intentions were evil and selfish, but that is what Jesus did. He died for all the people. He stood in their place, our place, for all sin.

What was it all for?

In John 18:37 Jesus said, I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.

Since the Garden of Eden, the devil has been whispering and sometimes shouting that God’s character is not what it is, that God is not Love and Justice and Grace and Mercy and so much more.

Jesus came and gave up His life so that we could see the Truth – God’s Love and Forgiveness on display, telling the world the truth of His character.

We are coming into the season of praising Jesus for His miraculous birth, which it was, but let’s not forget what the point was – for Him to testify about the truth of who God is.

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to do His thing…show us the character of God with fresh eyes as we read and reread the story of Jesus. And may you and I do the thing Jesus came to do this season – testify to the truth!