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?”
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
