August 15 | 2 Peter 1:16 & 1 John 1:1-3

DAILY READING

2 Peter 1:16

1 John 1:1-3

REFLECTION

Being Eyewitnesses

By Todd Marti

“For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16 (NIV, emphasis added).

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.” 1 John 1:1-3 (NIV, emphasis added).

Peter and John’s testimony had great power because they were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ actions when He was physically with them. Although we can’t do that now that Jesus has ascended, we can do something similar: be eyewitnesses to God’s actions in our day to day lives.

Jesus is God and God acts in each of our lives. He provides for us materially. He gives us work to do and the abilities and opportunities to do it. He tempers, guides, and directs us through His Holy Spirit. He blesses us through relationships. He does those things every day, we see Jesus when we see God, John 14:8-10, so we are eyewitnesses to Jesus when we see His actions in our lives.

How do you do that? Let me suggest two ways.

One is by regularly, intentionally, looking for His actions in your life. Take 10 or 15 minutes sometime during each day to sit with God, ask Him to show you how he acted in your life during the past day, and then review that day chronologically, looking for the good things that happened. No matter how tough your day was, you will see some good that God provided to you or others around you. If you’re having trouble seeing them, review the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 and consider how you saw them in yourself or others during the day. This exercise is sort of like one of Jesus’ original disciples recalling what he saw earlier in his day with Him.

Another is by asking God what you should learn from those things. Ask Him what set the stage for the divine actions you recognized. Ask him how you could better conduct/position yourself to participate in His actions going forward.  Ask Him to help you be more attentive to his actions in the coming day.  That’s sort of like one of Jesus’ first disciples asking Him to better understand what He was doing.

PRAYER

Lord, draw us to you daily to examine how you are acting in our lives. Give us eyes to see the ways you have blessed, guided, empowered, and protected us during the past day. Help us to see what you would have us learn from those actions. We ask this in the name of Him we desire to know more fully, Jesus the Christ.

Additional Resources

Additional information about this practice can be found at Gratitude and Petition–The Daily Prayer of Discernment. Although it comes from a Catholic ministry, nothing in its content seems inconsistent with Lutheran theology.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TODD MARTI

I have been connected to UALC since 2000 in various small groups and as a co-manager of the UALC Community Garden. I’m married to Kelly Marti, and the proud father of Sarah Marti. I am happy to be writing these devotions.