Getting Closer to Jesus: This is your invitation to join me in a slow, deliberate walk through the Gospel of John in 2025.

The theme of John revolves around knowing Jesus—the most noble and fruitful pursuit in all of life! To know Jesus is eternal life—the abundant life as we walk this planet and life forever in the eternal world. The goal of this devotional journey in John will be to create an unquenchable thirst and a clear path for pursuing, knowing, and enjoying Jesus in a way that transforms every aspect of our lives, making us more useful for this world and more ready for the next.

There are several reasons I believe a thorough saturation in John’s Gospel will be a worthy pursuit:

1. The Gospel of John, at the most fundamental level, is the Word of God. And the internal witness of the Bible promises us that a faithful reading and dilligent obedience of it will lead to wisdom and favor now and blessings for all eternity.
2. The Gospel of John brings to us the most sustained and compelling portrait of the exalted Christ we will ever find. Andreas Köstenberger has written that “John’s Gospel, together with the Book of Romans, may well be considered the enduring ‘twin towers’ of [our] theology.”
3. The Gospel of John was written by one who had arguably the most intimate relationship with Jesus of any human being in history. John self-identified as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” throughout his book. There is a depth of affection, friendship and intimacy in between this disciple and the Lord that is stunning—and inviting.
4. The Gospel of John, read and grasped, will be a profitable challenge. For me, John is the most difficult Gospel to get my brain around on a holistic level, though I find individual verses and passages as some of the most meaningful and beautiful in Scripture. I am looking forward to mastering it—at least attempting to do so.
5. The Gospel of John will satiate our hunger to know and follow Christ at a deeper level as well as, if not better, than any other devotional endeavor.

In what better way can we draw closer to Christ, made useful for this world and readied for the next than to give our best meditation and passionate worship to the glory of Christ that is revealed in the Gospel of John?

As the Apostle wrote in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” And we have been invited to immerse ourselves in his glory!

I am looking forward to this glorious journey—and I hope you will come with me!

Take the Next Step: If you haven’t already begun, get your favorite version of the Bible today and begin to slowly read the Gospel of John. The pacing I will use 2025 will take one to two weeks per chapter. If you are up for that, read deliberately and allow the beauty of this grand gospel to absorb into your very being.