Tag: A Word for Wednesday

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He Showed Us How

John didn’t get it. Who could blame him? As Jesus approached him at the Jordan River, all the Baptizer could muster was a humble inquiry rooted in puzzlement: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” It was necessary, however, for the One who came from God to consecrate Himself to God, so as John baptized Jesus, the Father thundered His approval and the Spirit descended upon the Son. God was there in His fullness; Jesus’ work on Earth had begun.

We know why Jesus came—to redeem a people separated from God by sin. We know what He taught us what to do—love God with all we have and love others as we love ourselves (the entire law is wrapped up in these). But one thing that escaped me all these years is this: Jesus also modeled for us how to live reborn lives. Consider the ways He lived with and in the Holy Spirit of God. As Isaiah foretold, God put His Spirit in this long-promised Messiah,1 and in fact, the Spirit lived in Him.2 Jesus was taught by the “Spirit of wisdom … understanding … [and] knowledge,”3 also as Isaiah prophesied, and the Spirit led Jesus4 while He went about His Father’s work. Astoundingly, it was by the power of the Spirit that Jesus was raised from the dead.5 All of this commencing from the baptism at the Jordan, when the Spirit of God alit on the Son of God.

Just before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”6 The Spirit had been Jesus’ friend—a faithful guide—and now Jesus was promising His presence with all who would believe. What then came of this promise? It should sound very familiar. God put His Spirit in us7 and His Spirit lives in us.8 He is to us, also, the Counselor would come and teach us, or “guide us in all truth.”9 The Spirit leads10 all who are children of God through Christ. “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”11 All this commencing from the faith into which we are baptized—when the Spirit seals us in the Son, who did the will of the Father.12

How do we love God with all our might, not only in our heart, but also in our words and our actions? How do we love our neighbors in what we think, say and do? Not in our own power, will or wisdom, but by living this life the way Jesus did—going where the Spirit leads us and saying what He tells us to say, not just in the epic, pivotal points in our life, but even more so in every day encounters with people. Jesus showed us how.

Father, I confess that my natural inclination is to place my priorities above yours. Send your Spirit today to lead me, and grace me to recognize His voice and to follow Him, moment by moment. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Christ in me is salvation.

Read today’s Scripture in Matthew 3:13-17.

1 Isaiah 42:1
2 John 3:34
3 Isaiah 11:2
4 Luke 4:1
5 Romans 8:11
6 John 16:7
7 Ezekiel 36:27
8 1 Corinthians 3:16
9 John 16:13
10 Romans 8:14
11 Romans 8:11
12 Ephesians 1:13

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The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me

My head snapped in a double-take the first time I heard an inmate say this: “Coming to prison was the best thing that ever happened to me.” I’ve heard it several times now, and what always follows is the explanation—“If I hadn’t come to prison, I wouldn’t have faced the things in my life that needed to change,” and “… I would not have come to know Jesus Christ.” God has a way of taking life’s blows and turning them to good. Incarceration is certainly one of the bigger “pause” buttons one could ever encounter, but “hard time” in life is not limited to time behind bars, and no walls can constrain God’s mercy. So here are just a few examples of people I know who have experienced the consequences of their own sin, only for God to deliver them and turn their pain into good.

Ambition. A good friend once related to me the tragic end of his first marriage. “I was so focused on being at the top of my game—the best in the business—that I largely ignored my wife. When she had an affair and left me, my friends indignantly pointed their finger at her in accusation, but I said, ‘No, I essentially drove her away.’ I’ve been remarried for over 30 years now, and I pour my life into my wife and our sons. All of us have a love for Jesus Christ.”

Self-righteousness. Frustrated by his moral failures, which left him short on hope and long on self-pity, a friend realized that no amount of his own goodness would ever be good enough to stand before a holy God and that trying to do so only resulted in more and more frustration. “I finally came to the point where I had to fire that debit/credit god of mine,” he chuckled. He had come to the realization that his only hope for a right relationship with God was through God’s own grace—never a goal to seize through works, but ever a gift to receive in faith.

Duplicity. I know a man who, in the pursuit of approval and with a fear of rejection, preferred not to talk about his faith in some social settings. But when he was rejected by those whose approval he desired the most, God was there to walk him through the pain and to show him true acceptance and love, which can only come from Him. With a greater sense of joy and freedom, that man shares his faith much more freely today, having been released from the desire for the faux, “conditional” acceptance that the world has to offer.

What about you? Have you ever suffered from your bad decisions, only for God to use those consequences to shape you further into His likeness? I’m guessing so, because He is the God of redemption who makes even our pain turn out for our good and His glory. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us. He always will be.

Father, your goodness is beyond comprehension. You turn even our difficulties into good—our good and yours. Thank you. I trust you with my entire life. Take it; it’s yours. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Christ in me is redemption.

Read today’s Scripture in Acts 16:16-40.

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Ascending into Unity

I haven’t lived in too many places in my life—started out in Cheboygan, Michigan and ended up making Columbus, Ohio my home. With the exception of three years in North Central Ohio, that’s been about it. It was in Columbus, then, that I found the perfect residence, and I’ve lived there ever since. It’s a special place, peaceful and secure as advertised, but what makes it unique is the neighbors—they’re amazing. Let me tell you about them.

Where I live, you will find liberals, conservatives, progressives, socialists and even communists. In this place, I’ve met several people from Africa, Asia, the U.S., of course, and if I can just get out more, I know I’ll meet denizens from other continents, too. People from an impressive array of religious backgrounds—Catholics, Protestants, Sikhs, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews—have departed from their points of origin and made this their home. Could there possibly be more diversity in one spot? Yet, despite our countless differences, we just love living here, and I’m quite certain none of us are inclined to move away. Ever.

Where is this place? Perhaps by now you’ve figured it out. We live in Christ. “Abide in me,”1 Jesus said, and from a demographic matrix of inestimable dimension, people have traveled countless life highways to this eternal Abode, dropped their bags and called Him, “home.” Then after a while, we all discover with wide-eyed wonder the same thing: in Christ, diversity ascends into unity. “There is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”2 Thus united, we go forward as the body of Christ, individually gifted and corporately bound in the Spirit of peace, together thriving in singularity of purpose—to bring glory to God.

There are many in this world who—through a cynical or perhaps naïve regard for diversity—would exploit people’s differences and pit us against each other toward destruction. And it is easy to allow our divergent views on earthly issues to distract us from the oneness we share in Christ and the work He calls us to do together. Could there be a more diabolical distortion of God’s design? God did not create our differences so as to divide us; rather, He honors the uniqueness of each of us as He builds us into something greater than all of us. Wrote Paul, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it,”3

So, let us resist the temptations that would divide and dissuade us and, instead, remember who we are—the body of Christ—and where we live, in Him. Each of us is in this with all of us.

Father, in your unsearchable wisdom, you made us different, not to divide all of us but to honor each of us as we take our place in the body of Christ. Grace us to value each other as you do and to unite as one Church in Him. In His name, I pray. Amen.

Christ in me is peace.

1 John 15:4
2 Ephesians 4:4-7
3 1 Corinthians 12:27

Read today’s Scripture in Ephesians 4:1-16.