Lara Howard

Words in Red | John 3

December 8, 2025 By Lara Howard

This week’s suggested reading: John 3

Tip: Aim to read the suggested chapter once per day, with a goal of reading the chapter at least 5 times this week. As you read, keep a running list of anything the passage teaches you about Jesus – i.e. his commands, his example, his words, his convictions.

A second tip: Before you start reading the chapter each day, talk to God.
Praise him for his goodness and faithfulness. Tell him the concerns on your heart. And ask him to speak to you as you read his Word.

This week’s question to ponder: What about the gospel message is offensive? If you’ve been “born again,” take some time to write out your own story of coming to believe Jesus.

I remember the moment I left the hospital after giving birth to my firstborn child. I thought to myself, “How in the world are they letting me take this alive, baby human home? I don’t know what the heck I’m doing!” It was shocking.

What was equally shocking was the depth and height and weight of love I felt for this newborn baby. It was a love I had never experienced. It felt immeasurable, fierce, protective, and sacrificial. Twenty-one years later, it still feels that way…multiplied.

Granted, this world is broken. People are broken. Relationships are broken. And tragically, not everyone has the opportunity to experience the weighty love of being a parent.

But it’s true. There’s nothing like a parents’ love for their child. If given the choice, every parent I know would give their own life to save their child’s. It’s the nature of parenthood. That’s one reason this week’s text truly overwhelms me.

Per usual, I’m merely scratching the surface of truths we could glean from this week’s chapter. And this week’s passage is a familiar one – possibly the most quoted of all Bible verses. So let’s dig in.

Humans are already condemned.

Welp, this is the bad news. This is the part of Jesus’ message that often offends people.

We read in John 3 that Nicodemus, a Jewish ruler, came to Jesus “by night” with some questions. He acknowledged that Jesus was a teacher from God because “no one can do these signs that you (Jesus) do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2) But when Jesus explained further, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” (John 3:3) Nicodemus couldn’t understand what Jesus meant. (John 3:4)

To summarize, Jesus explained that humans need a second birth – a spiritual birth. Yes, all humans are born “of water” – which I and many others interpret as being born in the flesh as a human baby. But he explained to Nicodemus that humans need a spiritual birth. Without this second, spiritual birth, we’re left naturally blind to things of God, a.k.a. the Kingdom of God. Then further down in the chapter, we read, “…whoever does not believe is condemned already…” (John 3:18a) Without being born again, humans remain condemned.

That’s the bad news. We can’t do a bunch of “good” things to not be condemned before a holy God. He’s perfect. He’s holy. We’re not. We need help. We need forgiveness. We need a Savior. That’s why Jesus came.

Jesus came because God loves us.

Here’s the good news, a.k.a. the gospel. (Sidenote: the word “gospel” comes from a Greek word literally meaning, “good news.”) The good news is that God – the Creator and Sustainer of everything – loved his creation so much that he gave his Son to save us.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

John 3:16-18

God’s love for humans is so great that he sent his only Son into the world to save us. How does he save us? Well, spoiler alert, he’s going to die on a cross as a sacrifice for the sin and rebellion of mankind. That’s the part that overwhelms me as a parent. It’s one thing to give yourself as a sacrifice for someone you love. It’s something totally different to give your only Son as a sacrifice for everyone…even those who claim to hate you.

The good news of Jesus is that God sent him to earth to offer humans a way out of condemnation for our sins. The even crazier thing is, all we have to do is believe! And when we believe, his Spirit makes us come alive – born again.

Seems simple enough. We as humans are spiritually unalive. We need to be made alive – born again. All we have to do to be born again is believe Jesus – that he’s the Son of God who came and died as a sacrifice for mankind. So why would someone not want that gift?

People love darkness.

Jesus tells us, “the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:19) Remember, Nicodemus came to Jesus “by night.” I would bet that Jesus nodded to the physical darkness around them when he said these words. People love darkness, Nicodemus, because they think they can hide.

So why would someone not want to believe in the gift of forgiveness? Because humans love darkness. We tend to think we can hide our rebellious choices in the dark.

It’s like when the sun shines into my living room on a hot, summer afternoon. I can see dust particles floating all around. This is disgusting! Why am I not choking? But in the evening, when the sun has set and the moon gently sends out its light, I no longer see the dust in my house. And that helps feed my denial of dirt.

Jesus did not come here to condemn humans – we’re already condemned apart from him. The good news is that God loved us so much he sent his only Son so that anyone and everyone who believes in him will be saved. It’s a gift – costly to him, but graciously free to us.

Disclaimer: Words in Red is a devotional blog series created for personal reflection and spiritual encouragement. All writing is original and created solely by the author, Lara Howard—AI was not used in the development of this content. All content in this series is copyrighted and may not be reproduced, distributed, or used without written permission. © Think True Things

Words in Red | John 2

December 1, 2025 By Lara Howard

This week’s reading: John 2

Tip: Aim to read the chapter once per day, with a goal of reading the chapter at least 5 times this week. As you read, keep a running list of anything the passage teaches you about Jesus – i.e. his commands, his example, his words, his convictions.

A second tip: Before you start reading the chapter today, talk to God.
Praise him for his goodness and faithfulness. Tell him the concerns on your heart. And ask him to speak to you as you read his Word.

This week’s questions to ponder: What have I been tempted to put my hope in for personal “purification” other than Jesus? Where have I noticed hypocrisy in my own life, or in the “religion” around me?

I’m in an unexpected place in my life. Ever been there? The season I thought I was entering a few months back, quickly took a turn into unchartered waters. And I found myself with a choice: engage in a whiny, pity-party at the change in plans (which I may periodically fall into) or go to the Source of hope and peace for direction and strength in this unplanned territory.

It seems we often have that choice to make.

John 2 opens with an unplanned situation for some party-goers. We read that Jesus, his disciples, and his mother were attending a wedding in Cana when the party took a turn: the wine ran out. So, Jesus’ mother looked to Jesus to fix the problem. And he replied, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4)

To be clear, when Jesus called his mom “woman,” he wasn’t being disrespectful. He wasn’t addressing her like some 1950s American TV wife, “Woman, get my food!” He was addressing her in a culturally respectful way similar to “ma’am.” Then he told her his “time had not yet come.” In this statement, he foreshadowed his death and resurrection which we’ll read more about in later chapters.

Then, he fixed their problem.

Jesus' Blood Purifies

Jesus told the servants to fill the 6 jars with water. But these weren’t just any jars. These were 20-30 gallon stone jars used for Jewish rites of purification as detailed in the Mosaic law. These were jars that the people would use for ceremonial washing. In short, these were important jars and they definitely wouldn’t have used them for wine at a party.

After the servants filled the jars “to the brim,” Jesus told them to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. And when the master tasted it, he was shocked. This was no Mad Dog 20/20 cheap wine (sorry – if you know you know); this was the good stuff. And with this miracle, Jesus foreshadowed something huge.

His blood purifies.

Those jars – intended by the law to hold water used to purify God’s people for ceremonial cleanliness – became symbolic vessels of what truly purifies: Jesus’ blood.

Jesus often foreshadowed things to come. He often used physical situations to explain spiritual truths. He often spoke in ways that, if we didn’t know the rest of the New Testament, we would be just as clueless as the original audience.

With this first miracle, in essence Jesus was saying, all these earthly things we value to make ourselves clean and pure before God aren’t sufficient. Physical water only cleanses our physical hands. But Jesus’ blood – symbolized by wine, shed on the cross as a sacrifice for the sin of man – purifies our soul. And we don’t have to physically wash ourselves in his blood to be made pure. I don’t like blood, so thank you, God. We simply have to believe.

Hypocrisy Angered Jesus

After the wedding, Jesus, his family, and his disciples traveled down to Capernaum – about a 25 mile journey. Remember, they traveled mostly on foot. They stayed there a few days before heading up to Jerusalem for Passover – about a 100 mile journey.

In the temple, Jesus found those selling sacrificial animals and the money-changers. And he gave them a very clear message. He drove them out of the temple with a whip of cords, poured out the coins of the money-changers, and overturned the tables. And he said, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” (John 2:16) Zeal for his Father’s house consumed him. (John 2:17)

A couple things to note. One, this scene didn’t catch Jesus off-guard. He wasn’t being impulsive or acting out of uncontrolled emotion. Jesus knew what he would find before he got there. We know that both from John 1 and other texts in the New Testament that explain his foreknowledge. And he made the holy decision to drive them out. Zeal for the Father’s house consumed him.

And two, personal wealth pursuits under the guise of religiosity anger Jesus. Over and over throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus confront those who claimed to be following God with great religious piety, while deep down hiding a heart of greed. We call this hypocrisy – saying you worship God while doing things that go against his instruction and character. Jesus confronted the hypocrisy among the religious over and over again.

Humans are naturally self-seeking. And self-seeking lies at the root of hypocrisy. There will always be those who exploit others for personal gain behind a veil of religion. There will always be those who see the vulnerability of a zealous heart and take advantage of the situation. But one thing is sure: there is no fooling Jesus.

He literally sees what’s inside of man. He knows our thoughts. He knows our motives. (John 2:24-25) And he fully and completely knows when someone says they believe in him with words, yet their heart is far from bowing to him as Lord. He has no interest in pretense.

Jesus came to bring grace and truth, not more rules and law. He’s not interested in playing church or empty religious symbols. In fact, he turned the “religion” of his day on its head because external religion isn’t the point of life. External religion is not how one reaches God. Saying all the “right” words or doing all the “right” things externally doesn’t impress him. He looks at the heart. And he’s looking for those who truly believe in him.

Words in Red | Start Here

November 24, 2025 By Lara Howard

I went to a minor league ice hockey game for the first time the other night. Before climbing over people to get to our seats, we decided to go grab some concessions. Because ingesting calories while watching other people exert physical energy is my favorite pastime.

While standing out in the hallway next to the hot dog condiment area, I heard the Star Spangled Banner streaming over the TVs lining the walls. I found myself frozen, listening to the words, more intently than possibly ever before. Then that last line came blaring through the speakers, “O’er the land of the freeeeeeeeee and the hooooooooome of theeeeeeeeee braaaaaaaaave.” And to my total surprise, I teared up.

It surprised me because I’ve never really described myself as a overly patriotic person. I mean, I’m thankful to live in the United States of America. I’m thankful for the opportunities and privileges of my birthright and for those who gave their lives to achieve it. But tearing up over a patriotic song? That’s not really me. So I mulled over this question for a few days, Why the tears, Lord? And I landed on this answer: I’m grieving.

I’m grieving the current state of our country (for context, it’s currently November 2025 in the United States of America as I write this post). I’m grieving the atrocities of our world. I’m grieving the way fellow humans treat fellow humans. I’m grieving the rhetoric of some loud, unloving sects of the American “Christian” church. I’m grieving the tragic loss of life due to genocide, war, starvation, and greed. I’m grieving the lies. I’m grieving. So when that old patriotic song filled the air, grief sat like a lump in my throat.

As continual headlines have flooded my phone for what feels like infinity, I’ve had a desire to put words onto proverbial paper for weeks, or even months. But I always get stuck, because I’m not exactly sure what I want to say. Or what I should say…and what I should keep to myself. So after wrestling with which direction to go, I decided not to start with my words at all. Instead, I want to spend some time with the “words in red,” a.k.a. Jesus’ words from Scripture. Because though my words don’t have the power to turn the tides of a heart…or a nation, his do.

That said, this is the first post in a new series sifting through the words and actions of Jesus as written in the book of John. Because as my sister says, “We have to know the Man.” This world is so. very. loud. People from every “side” claim to be following Jesus. So, let’s spend some time actually looking at him. Let’s listen to what he actually says and observe what he actually does. I have a feeling we may be a little surprised at what we discover.

What you can expect

Each Monday, I will highlight one chapter of the book of John, which means the series will last 21 weeks, Lord willing, since there are 21 chapters in the book of John. With each of these weekly posts, I will

Give you the suggested chapter to read from the book of John
Write about a few overarching truths that I took away from the text
Pose a question to ponder as we seek to apply Jesus’ words and actions to our own lives
Send out a weekly email on Thursday of each week to those who are on my email list. This email will contain a more detailed list of my own key findings from the text as well as any other material that might be relevant or helpful to that week’s chapter. If you’d like to receive those weekly Thursday emails, you can click here to sign up for my newsletter.

So with that said, let’s get started.

This week’s reading: John 1

Tip: Aim to read the suggested chapter once per day, with a goal of reading the weekly chapter at least 5 times. As you read, keep a running list of anything the passage teaches you about Jesus – i.e. his commands, his example, his words, his convictions.

A second tip: Before you start reading the chapter each day, talk to God.
Praise him for his goodness and faithfulness. Tell him the concerns on your heart. And ask him to speak to you as you read his Word.

This week’s question to ponder: What am I seeking from Jesus?

Setting the Scene for the Book of John

You can Google most of this stuff. But I wanted to briefly set the scene before we dive into the book of John.

It’s traditionally believed that John the Apostle – one of Jesus’ disciples – wrote the book of John. And for clarification, this is not the same person as John the Baptist – Jesus’ cousin – that we meet in John 1. John the Apostle most likely wrote the book between 90 and 100 AD.

As for location, most of the stories recounted in the book of John took place in ancient Palestine, including Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee, etc.

Lastly, as we read the happenings throughout the book of John, we will naturally get a visual image in our heads of the characters we’re reading about. And though this might seem like a duh statement, just to make sure we’re all on the same page: no one in the Bible has what we characterize as “white” skin…unless you count those who had leprosy. Jesus and his disciples were of Jewish descent from the Middle East, who most likely had brown or olive skin, short black hair, and a full black beard. (In fact, to put it in present tense, Jesus probably physically looked way more like Zohran Mamdani than Forrest Frank.)

Ok. The stage is set. We have an overarching idea of location, author, time period, and ethnicity. Now let’s dig into the text.

There are 51 verses in this first chapter – 51 verses of depths we could explore. So it pains me to narrow it down to a couple of key points. But alas, here we go.

(If you haven’t read it yet, this is a good place to pause and read John 1.)

Jesus wasn’t just any human.

The big, overarching point of this chapter is that Jesus isn’t just any human. He wasn’t, and isn’t, just any man. He is God clothed in humanity.

The “Word” mentioned in the first verse of John 1 comes from the Greek word logos, meaning “something said; (and when used with the article “the” in John it means) the Divine Expression (of God), namely Christ.” (Strong’s Concordance, G3056) In laymen’s terms, Jesus is the Divine Expression of God in human flesh. When we see Jesus, we see God. (John 14:9) God clothed himself in flesh and lived among men. It’s the beautiful mystery of the God-Man we call Jesus.

This matters because sometimes we forget. We sometimes put Jesus in the “great man” category. But Jesus wasn’t just a man with world-changing ideas. We see in the text that he was in the beginning with God. He’s the only divine Son of God. He’s light shining in darkness. And he’s full of grace and truth.

My daddy was a pastor. He passed away many years ago, but one thing I remember him teaching was to always pay attention to repetition. Pay attention to repetition. Pay attention to repetition.

Twice in this text – John 1:14 and 1:17 – John describes Jesus as being full of grace and truth. In the Old Testament, Moses gave the Law; but Jesus brought “grace and truth.” Throughout the book, John will flesh out the meaning of “grace and truth” as juxtaposed with “the law.” But let’s at least get a basic understanding of what it means.

The Law references God’s perfect Law given in the Old Testament through Moses. And do you know one of the main purposes of God’s Law? It reveals that we can’t obey God’s law perfectly. (Romans 3:19-22) Literally. We’re too jacked up. We’re naturally selfish. We don’t like being told what to do. And we’re really good at channeling our inner 2-year-old with a whiny “NO” when given any opportunity.

Because we can’t obey God’s law perfectly, God set up a sacrificial system in the Old Testament. In short, God said that forgiveness of sin would come through a blood sacrifice. (Leviticus 17:11) So year after year, God’s people observed this sacrificial system. Year after year, the priest would offer animal sacrifices to “pay for” the sins of God’s people. But we learn in John that when Jesus came on the scene, the law was satisfied through his blood. He brought grace and truth.

Grace. Grace is unmerited favor. It’s getting good things that we don’t deserve. It’s the cop not giving me a ticket even though he caught me speeding. God sent Jesus to be the grace gift for humans. Because, spoiler alert, Jesus dies as the final blood sacrifice for the sins of people. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. It’s unmerited favor that comes out of the great love of God for his creation. Jesus brought grace. And to receive God’s gift of grace, we simply have to believe that Jesus is who he says he is and he did what he said he would do.

Truth. Later in the book of John, Jesus will tell us that he is the truth. (John 14:9) He is God in the flesh living among people. What he says is true. What he does is true. What he reveals is true. He is truth.

Jesus wasn’t just any human. He was and is The Divine Expression of God in human form. And he brought grace and truth to his creation.

What are you seeking?

The first red words we read in the book of John capture Jesus’ question to his early followers, “What are you seeking?“

In this section of the text, disciples began to follow Jesus. I often wonder if I would have been so drawn to Jesus that I would have dropped everything to follow him. I hope so. Because what these early followers did seems radical. One interaction with Jesus led them to set everything else aside – their own personal agendas and plans – and follow him. One interaction caused them to declare, “This is the Son of God, the King of Israel!”

And Jesus asks them, “What are you seeking?” To be clear, Jesus didn’t ask questions for his own information. He already knows the answer. He can see into the heart of man. There’s nothing hidden from him. Space and time and human limitations don’t hinder his knowing. So when he asks questions like, “What are you seeking?” he is giving the listener the opportunity to wrestle with their own personal agenda.

What are you seeking?

Are you seeking fame? Power? Approval? What are you seeking? Are you seeking forgiveness? Hope? Peace? Love? Wisdom? What are you seeking? We all have to wrestle with that question. What am I seeking from Jesus?

Jesus, the Divine Expression of God, came to earth in the form of a man, full of grace and truth, to usher in forgiveness of humankind through his ultimate sacrifice on a cross. And he asks each of us who follow him, “What are you seeking?”