A New Devotion - Pointers

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

John 1:35-42

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Pointers

Although I was raised in the city and had no first-hand knowledge of hunting, I saw enough movies to know about dogs that were called “pointers.” Now, that’s what they were called, because that’s exactly what they did. You see, their job was to go out into a field with a hunter and literally point at whatever game was being hunted. And when they pointed, these dogs were extremely still and focused, with one of their front legs up, their tails straight out and their head pointed forward. It was amazing. And I’ve got to tell you, as a kid, I always found them fascinating. I mean, it’s one thing to chase rabbits or flush out quail; it’s something else to stand like a statue and simply point.

And you know, after reading this passage from the Gospel of John, not only was this exactly what John the Baptist did, it’s what we’ve been called to do as well. I mean, just like John pointed his two disciples toward Jesus, something that Andrew also did for his brother Peter, it’s our job to point those around us toward the one who came to save his people from their sins. And what these two men did with their words, we can also do, only we shouldn’t feel limited to verbiage. For example, we can direct folks toward Jesus by our attitude and by our demeanor, but maybe most important of all, by our willingness to show mercy and compassion to one another. You see, it’s through our decision to love our neighbors as ourselves that we become the Lord’s pointers.