I Am Because You Are September 15, 2025 Devotional

JOHN 8:58 | ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

This sentence stands out within John’s gospel. Abraham was the father of Judaism, the original patriarch. He lived nearly two millennia before Jesus. This is nothing less than a claim to pre-existence. No religious figure, no prophet, no founding leader ever made a statement like this. It has many layers of meaning. At one level it implies the reality of the Trinity, the teaching Paul expressed by saying, “all things were created by Him, for Him and through Him,” and John in chapter one saying “He was the logos who was in the beginning with God and He was God.”

In another sense it means that scripture is a united story centered on Jesus. It is not a disjointed series of separate tales or a set of unconnected divine actions in response to human resistance. The story of Israel finds its deep purpose and culmination in Christ.

Do you read the Bible as one great story of creation, redemption, and renewal which is centered in Jesus?

Gracious God,

You’ve put Jesus at the center of Your work in creation and history. Help me put Him at the center of my life and thoughts.

Amen.