Good morning. Today is Sunday, June 14th!

🥳 Congratulations on starting today with God, and thank you for letting us be a part of it.

📖 Verse Of The Day

— John 3:30

🧠 Devotional

Did you know Jesus and John the Baptist were actually related?

According to Luke 1, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was related to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. That means Jesus and John were family, most likely cousins.

And what’s incredible is their stories were connected before either of them were even born.

The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her she will give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. Then Gabriel also tells her that her relative Elizabeth, who was old and previously unable to have children, is now pregnant too.

So Mary goes to visit Elizabeth.

And the moment Mary arrives, something amazing happens.

Luke 1 says that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby inside her womb leaped for joy.

That baby was John the Baptist.

Before John was even born, he was already reacting to the presence of Jesus.

Elizabeth is then filled with the Holy Spirit and says to Mary:

“But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Luke 1:43

That line is incredible because Elizabeth calls Jesus “my Lord” before Jesus is even born.

And this moment perfectly fits John’s future role.

John the Baptist would later become the prophet who prepared the way for Jesus, calling people to repentance and pointing everyone toward Christ.

Even John’s birth was miraculous. His parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, were very old and had no children. An angel told Zechariah that John would be born and would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).

Years later, when John finally sees Jesus publicly, he says:

“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29

And one of the most famous lines John ever says is:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John 3:30

That really summarizes John’s entire life.

Everything about him pointed people to Jesus.