1.14.2026 - Scott Elgersma

Wednesday, January 14, 2025

John 14:6

As you enter your time with God today, take a moment to quiet your mind from thoughts of life and this world. Breathe this prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus, come. Fill me with your Spirit. Open my heart that you might share your words of life with me today. I long to be more like you.”

We read today from John 14:6 Read the passage now or at the end of this devotion. What can we learn today about how Christ shows to us the nature of the Father?

I was sitting at lunch once during seminary with some folks that were earlier in their seminary career than I was. I was starting my graduation year, and they were beginning their first year. You just sort of grab an open seat in the lunch space and I have no problem getting to know new people.

There was one first year student at the table that I knew, sort of. Jim came from the Ripon area of California, and years before, I had run into him when he was a student attending one of the camps that I worked at. He was from a dairy family and had spent his life living, working, and caring for dairy cows. He was soft-spoken and generally a solid guy who has since gone on to do faithful ministry in the church.

Jim had brought a small bottle of milk to drink with his lunch. Another 1st year student noticed this and said, “You drink milk? Wow. I stopped drinking milk years ago. I saw a documentary on what they do with cows on farms, and I can’t stomach milk, cheese or even ice cream anymore. What’s your email address? I’ll send you a link to the documentary. I bet you won’t want to buy milk anymore.”

I cringed. I waited. I anticipated the blow-up, the confrontation, the ‘re-education’ of this ignoramus who was making broad statements about something based on biased information from a small data set of problematic farms. Having lived and worked in dairy country, I knew just how much time, care, concern, and value dairy producers put on their cows and their well-being. Happy cows give more milk and so caring for your cows is good business. I waited for this punk to get what he deserved.

That did not happen. The milk-drinking student gave him his email address and said he would watch the documentary. He then screwed the lid back on his bottle of milk, put it into his backpack, and promptly changed the subject to some classwork they had been assigned.

After lunch was over, I stopped the student and asked him why he didn’t defend the dairy industry. 

“Oh that? Yeah, we deal with that all the time. I’ve had this conversation a bunch over the years. I figured out that when I got riled up and confronted the other person, they just dug their heels in to defend their perspective. Now, I listen. I’ll look at the documentary although I’m sure I’ve seen that one. Then I’ll share some family videos, especially my little sister and the cow she’s shown for the fair. She spends hours with that cow and it’s about the happiest animal I’ve ever seen. I’ll show him the truth, but I’ll share it so that he can see we know what we’re talking about because we live with cows everyday of our lives.” 

I never followed up with the story, so I don’t know how it ended. I expect that in the years ahead, one of two things happened. Either the other student figured out that he didn’t know what he was talking about or he didn’t. No matter what happened, Jim was the expert on cows. He’d lived with them every day of his life.

When our text today tells us the way to God, we might want to listen to the one who is talking. He has lived in relationship with the Father forever.

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.””

This is one of the strongest statements that Jesus makes in all the gospels about what it means to have a relationship with God. 

“I am the way”. The road you travel to get to God goes through me. 

“I am the truth.” Without me you have lies. With me, you get what is real.

“I am the life.” Without me, you are dead. With me, the breath of God fills your lungs.

And there is no other way.

Which leads to the argument that many in the world have with Christianity. “How do you know that there is no other way to God? Don’t Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, naturalists, or even humanists who see ‘god’ in different places have a point? Your God says that he is everywhere? How do you know that the others haven’t found him?”

Because the one who knows the Father best tells us that if we are going to meet his dad, we can only do it by going through him. 

Christ is the expert. Him and the Father are one. With the Holy Spirit, the three persons make up the one God. Others who might think they have a better handle on who God is and how to have relationship with him are the naive fools who make important life decisions based on tidbits they found written on old greasy napkins that were thrown into a dumpster. We do not know of what we speak unless we speak of Christ. Even then, the best words we can use are the ones he spoke himself. He can be trusted. Nothing else can.

Let us be those who seek the way of Christ. Let us be encouraged to seek more of Jesus knowing that as we do, we see more of his Father. Let us also be those who point others to Christ trusting that our Savior will meet them and show them everything that they’ve been missing.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his smile towards you and give you his peace.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I love you all. Blessings.

Feel free to share this devotion with others.

Some questions out of today’s text and teaching.

How has learning more of Christ shown you more of the Father’s power? As you grow in your faith in Christ, how can you lead others that they might meet him too?

To contact the author, please email: elgersma@therivercrc.com