Author: Michael Himick

Without the “If”

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” — John 8:31-32

Scribbling in notebooks,
reporters gather round Jesus
as the Savior speaks
of truly following Him:
“If you hold to my teaching . . .”

Seeing a soundbite,
eager editors
quickly snip the if.
If, they say, won’t sell.
Just run with what He promised.

Soon, Hebrew headlines
and Aramaic airwaves
crackle only with
“You will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.”

Misquoted, taken out of context,
Jesus sighs:
I wanted you to see
all that you could be
if you would truly follow me.

Devotional poem © 2015 Michael Himick. Used with permission.

If You Hold to My Teaching

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” — John 8:31-32

The promise is clear: we can know whether Jesus Christ was true or false, whether his teaching was human or divine. But the promise rests on a moral condition. We have to be ready not just to believe, but to obey. We must be prepared to do God’s will.

John Stott

Jesus said, “I didn’t make this up. What I teach comes from the One who sent me. Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it’s from God or whether I’m making it up.”

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of John 7:17

Life Science

Jesus said, “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God” — John 7:17

Science, they say, is sure:
well-designed experiments
gathering empirical evidence
to prove or refute
your hypothesis.
Reasonable work:
proof, or refutation.

Jesus, they say, is
the opposite of science:
His humanity,
His divinity,
His teaching,
just blindly believed.
Unreasonable: unverifiable.

Yet how truly scientific
is the Savior!
How reasonable
is the Reason of God!
Jesus scientifically says:
Would you surely know?
Put my teaching to the test.

Your life is
a well-designed experiment.
My teaching is
a hypothesis that will prove true.
I am science’s Creator:
Would you surely know?
Put my teaching to the test.

Devotional poem © 2015 Michael Himick. Used with permission.

Anyone Who Chooses

Jesus said, “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God” — John 7:17