Did you know that today's host, Jennifer Slattery, has a podcast of her own? Check out Faith Over Fear, where Jennifer helps us see different areas of life where fear has a foothold, and how our identity as children of God can help us move from fear to faithful, bold living.

In John 2:18-25, we witness a revealing moment early in Jesus’ ministry — a moment filled with admiration, opposition, belief, and rejection. While the crowds clamored for signs and the religious leaders challenged His authority, Jesus remained steady, anchored not in human praise or criticism, but in His unshakable union with the Father.

Today’s devotional invites us to reflect on how often we attach our identity and worth to the opinions of others — and how Jesus models a better way. He loved deeply, yet He didn’t entrust Himself to the crowds because He knew the fickleness of human hearts. Instead, He remained secure in the Father’s constant love and presence.

✨ Key Takeaways

💡 Learn how Jesus responded to both praise and rejection without letting either define Him
💡 Discover how our own attachment to human approval can keep us in bondage
💡 Be encouraged to entrust yourself fully to God, finding your identity and security in Him alone
💡 Reflect on the freedom that comes from resting in God’s unchanging love

💬 Join the Conversation

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Full Transcript Below:

18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person. John 2:18-25 (NIV)

The more someone else’s praise can lift you up, the more their criticism can tear you down. If you grew up in a critical home, you probably know the truth of that statement from experience. Perhaps you’ve felt the emotional high of feeling like you made an often emotionally unavailable parent proud, and the grief that flooded your soul when they suddenly, without clear provocation, rejected you through harsh words or relational withdrawal. Or you’re enduring a lonely and unstable marriage where you find your longing for love and connection has caused you to grasp at the slightest display of affection. Or you frequently feel excluded in your social circle, judged in your faith community, or belittled in a toxic work environment. 

Those circumstances can exacerbate our unhealed wounds and the lies our enemy the devil often attaches to them. In my long-standing battle against shame and the fear of rejection it triggered, I found today’s passage intriguing. 

This occurred at the beginning of Jesus ministry and directly following His first recorded miracle at a wedding in Cana. Directly following, Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover. At the Temple, He saw merchant and money changers clogging the one area permitted to Gentiles. In other words, they were limiting non-Jews’ access to God. In response, Jesus cleared the courts and overturned the tables. 

And the Jews responded to Him by demanding a sign, in essence, saying, “Who do You think You are?” 

And thus, opposition between Him and the religious power-players of His day began. But He also drew the admiration of the crowd. 

Here, we see adoration and animosity, respect and disdain, belief and rejection. And it is following this important contrast that we read, in verses 24-25, “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person” (NIV).

Notice, Scripture doesn’t say He wouldn’t love these people. Nor is this passage speaking of relationship. He knew what was in the heart of each of His disciples, as well, and that they’d abandon Him in His darkest hour, yet He intentionally built a deep connection with them. 

He loved deeply, freely, and unconditionally, those who accepted His message and those who relentlessly sought to discredit Him and trip Him up. But He didn’t entrust Himself to them. Instead, He entrusted Himself to the Father Who He knew would never leave (John 16:32).         

His constant and unbreakable union with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit enabled Him to love others well, from a place of wholeness, of confidence, not insecurity or fear. 

Jesus recognized the brokenness people carry. He saw every wounded, prideful, selfish, and deceived heart and humanity’s tendency to choose self-preservation, or elevation, over love. However, this supernatural, soul-deep knowledge didn’t provoke Him to judgment. Instead, it initiated a mercy and compassion that, ultimately, drew Him to the cross.  

I’m reminded of His words to the disciples in Matthew 26:41, when He said, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Consider also His prayer for His executioners and the hateful crowd who’d previously chanted for His death. As He hung on the cross, He said, ““Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Again, Jesus loved everyone, including those who proclaimed His praises on Palm Sunday and chanted for His death less than a week later. He was able to do so because of His relationship with the Father and the fact that He didn’t entrust Himself to His flawed creation. In other words, He didn’t base His worth or identity on their subjective and obviously fickle opinions.   

Intersecting Life and Faith

That is the soul-state the Lord longs for us each to experience. He wants us to live so anchored in His love and grace, so secure in who we are to in Him and to Him, that we cease attaching our worth to the perspectives and behaviors of others. 

For many of us, this inner transformation and strength won’t come easily. But as we grow in our relationship with Christ and follow His lead moment by moment, day by day, and hurt by hurt, He frees us from those things, like fear of rejection, that holds us in bondage.    

Further reading:

Ephesians 1

Romans 8:37-39

Hebrews 13:5

Jeremiah 31:3

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