Discovery Journal

Guest Blogger Kippen P. - July 31, 2010

Scripture:

John2: 1-12 1On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." 5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.[ 7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. 9When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." 11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested( his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 12After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Observation:

Although no sin was committed or even insinuated in this passage, it clearly shows the human nature of Christ in so much as He knew and even stated that it was not His time (to expose Himself as the Christ and be preforming miracles--Kippen's interpretation), but He did so anyway. Just another of many Biblical examples of men falling prey to the temptations of women. Although Christ escaped this situation with no sin being committed and His glory being manifested, it would appear to have been premature and it clearly shows He was tempted.

Application:

As men and women of God, we need to be keenly aware of each other's weaknesses in our inner sexual relationships. Men need to gird themselves against being tempted by women. (Lord knows that we can get in enough trouble by ourselves--we don't need help.) Women should recognize that men do have a weakness when it comes to dealing with them and guard diligently against being a man's stumbling block. Whether we are the ones who choose to tempt or the ones who allow ourselves to be tempted, we separate ourselves from God and make it difficult to have that personal relationship with Him, and that is the greatest punishment of all.

Prayer:

Lord, I pray for Your strength and discernment to recognize when a women is leading me astray, and I'm not just talking sex here, Lord, although that's important, also. I'm talking the everyday life things like gossip, flirting, being bated into arguments, and so on. Lord, I also ask that just as You guide me from those pitfalls, that You help me to be aware of situations when I'm the one digging the pit for someone else to fall into. In Jesus' name, Amen.