A Devotional As Review for the Sermon "From Seeing to Witness"

John 1:5; 1:26–34

Scripture Focus

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”John 1:5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoCF5b8Q8hE

Sermon starts around 52:52 mark

Devotional Reflection

There are moments in life when God allows us to see what we may never fully hold. Not as punishment. Not as loss. But as invitation.

Scripture returns to this pattern again and again. God calls a servant, grants vision, and then asks that servant to trust a future that will move beyond them. Moses stands on the mountain and looks into a land he will never enter. His faith is not diminished by that distance. It is deepened by it.

John the Baptist stands in that same holy space.

When John first sees Jesus, there is nothing dramatic to mark the moment. No voice from heaven. No spectacle. Just a man walking toward him. John sees Jesus before he fully understands who He is.

This kind of seeing requires humility. It resists the temptation to rush toward certainty. John does not claim authority over what he does not yet know. Instead, he points and says, “Behold.”

There is wisdom in that restraint.

So much of our spiritual struggle comes from mistaking familiarity for understanding. We may pray often, worship regularly, and read Scripture faithfully, yet still miss what God is doing right in front of us. Proximity can dull perception if we are not careful. John shows us another way: faithful attentiveness without premature conclusions.

As time passes, John’s sight deepens. He does not merely see Jesus anymore. He beholds Him. The Spirit descends and remains. In that moment, John recognizes that God is doing something new and enduring, something that will not pass through his hands but will outlast his voice.

This realization costs him something.

John understands that his role is ending just as fulfillment arrives. His ministry fades while God’s promise moves forward. Yet he does not cling. He does not compete. He releases.

There is grief in that moment, but also freedom.

John teaches us that faith does not always mean being at the center of what God is doing. Sometimes faith means stepping aside with clarity and peace. Sometimes obedience looks like decreasing. Sometimes witness is simply refusing to block the light.

John’s final testimony is quiet but resolute: “I have seen.” His confidence does not come from control, but from surrender. He reflects a light he did not create and does not attempt to possess.

And in doing so, he shows us what it means to finish well.

Reflection Questions for Personal Prayer

1. What does it mean for you, personally, to be a witness rather than a controller of outcomes?

2. Where in your life might God be inviting you to slow down your certainty and practice seeing without rushing to conclusions?

3. What promise or possibility can you glimpse right now that you may be called to trust rather than control?

4. In what ways have familiarity, routine, or spiritual activity dulled your ability to truly behold what God is doing?

5. What role, identity, or season might God be gently asking you to release, even if its ending feels bittersweet?

6. If you were to bear witness today, not with words but with posture, what would your life be quietly pointing toward?