OUR DAILY BREAD 5TH FEBRUARY 2025 WEDNESDAY ODB MESSAGE
Our Daily Bread 5th February 2025 Devotional TOPIC: Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
BIBLE IN YEAR: Exodus 36-38; Matthew 23:1-22
KEY VERSE: You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me – John 5:39
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
John 5:36-40
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Our Daily Bread 5th February 2025 – Tuesday ODB MESSAGE:
June’s eyes were fixed on the gray car beside her. She had to change lanes to exit the highway, but each time she tried to overtake the vehicle, the other driver seemed to speed up too. Finally, she managed to cut in front. Smug in her moment of triumph, June looked in the rearview mirror and smirked. At the same time, she noticed her destination exit passing her by.
With a rueful smile, she recounted: “I was so fixated on overtaking that I missed my exit.”
Such a slip can also happen in our desire to walk in God’s ways. When the religious leaders persecuted Jesus for not keeping the Jewish law (John 5:16), He warned that they’d become so fixated on studying and enforcing the law that they were missing the person the law pointed to: “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (vv. 39-40).
In trying to be right before God, the religious leaders focused on following the Jewish law and making sure everyone else did too. Likewise, in our zeal for God, we may keep up with good things—church attendance, Bible study, charity work—and even get others to join us. But we can become so focused on them that we miss the person we’re doing them for—Jesus.
In all we do, let’s ask God to help us fix our eyes on Christ (Hebrews 12:2). He alone is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
TODAY’S INSIGHT
In John 5:39-40, Jesus acknowledges the importance of studying the Scriptures yet asserts that they ultimately point to Him. Both the Old and New Testaments declare Scripture’s impact. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul encourages Timothy to continue in the Scriptures, and he notes that “all Scripture is God-breathed” and trains and equips us for personal growth in holiness and to serve others (vv. 16-17).
Before installing Joshua as the new Israelite leader, God urged him to “meditate on [the Law] day and night” so that he’d be “prosperous and successful” in leading the Israelites into Canaan (Joshua 1:8).
In Psalm 19, David declares that the words of God refresh the soul, make wise the simple, and give joy to the heart and light to the eyes. By them we’re warned and find great reward (vv. 7-11). Through keeping and treasuring Scripture, God makes our way clear (Psalm 119:1-3, 105; Proverbs 2:1-5).
REFLECT: What are you focused on today? What does it mean for you to fix your eyes on Jesus?
PRAY: Dear God, thank You for giving me life through Christ. Please help me to keep Him at the center of all I do.
Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODB) is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. our daily bread devotional for today audio our daily bread booklet