Jesus Increased

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Pete

Another “report card” on Jesus early years. Another “wait-a-minute” moment as I try and noodle again on what it meant for God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, God fully God, to take on flesh and become a man. Jesus increased.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.

(Luke 2:52 CSB)

Yesterday, I meditated on the fact that, while God has need of nothing, Jesus being fully human needed grace. This morning, I’m chewing on the fact that Jesus increased.

I read these two words this morning and the bible study we did a couple of years ago on the attributes of God came to mind (a Spirit thing, I’m trusting). In particular, the study about how God is unchanging. The theological name for that attribute? God is immutable.

God’s immutability means that God doesn’t grow in some areas or deteriorate in others. To change would mean that God would have a “before” condition and then an “after” condition, implying the passage of time. But God is outside of time. To change would mean that if He became better at something, or possessed more of something, then at some point before then He was less than perfect in that thing. But God is perfect. To change would mean that God would experience something new, but how’s that possible if, in order for God to be God, He must be omniscient, knowing everything? God is immutable. Jesus, being God, is by His very nature unchanging. Yet Jesus increased in wisdom and stature.

Huh?

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh . . .

(1Timothy 3:16a ESV)

I sort of get that Jesus had to increase in stature, that being human meant that His body must mature and grow up (though, that the God who is without limit or constraint would confine Himself to a physical vessel is mind-stretching in and of itself). But that Jesus also increased in wisdom? Hmmm . . .

How does someone increase in something that they have sourced since before the foundation of the world? In the beginning, Jesus created all things (Jn. 1:1-3, Col. 1:15-16). In the beginning, Wisdom created all things (Prov. 8:22-31). Jesus is Wisdom. Wisdom is Jesus. So, how does Jesus increase in something He simply just is?

I don’t really know. All I know is that Jesus emptied Himself (whatever that fully means) when He took on flesh (Php. 2:7). And from that “emptied state”, the One who was fully God and always God lived out, in time and space, what it was to increase. And so, the One who is Wisdom, and was always Wisdom, increased in wisdom. Great indeed is the mystery of godliness!!!

Great indeed is what Jesus allowed Himself to experience in order to be the perfect Redeemer for those in desperate need of a perfect redemption.

Such is God’s incomprehensible grace. To God be the glory!

Amen, again?

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God’s Grace Was On Him

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Pete

I’ve been reading “favor” for so many years in the ESV that when I encounter “grace” in the CSB this morning it kind of stops me in my tracks. After all, what did Jesus need grace for?

When [Jesus’ father and mother] had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The boy grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom, and God’s grace was on Him.

(Luke 2:39-40 CSB)

That God’s “favor” would be with the boy Jesus as He grew up resonates. After all, thus says the LORD, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17). Of course God the Father’s favor was upon the Son. But His grace? What’s that about? What need did Jesus have for grace?

He had no need for unmerited favor shown to sinners. The boy Jesus was Immanuel, God with Us, God incarnate, God fully God. While fully human, still without sin. Thus, having no need for mercy (not receiving what you deserve for sin), nor for grace, receiving what you do not deserve, as He deserved it all. He had no need for the righteousness of Christ to be credited to His account. He owned the account! So, why was God’s grace on Him?

Simply a reference to the fact that He grew up loved of the Father and blessed by Him? For sure. Whatever the young Jesus’ formative years were, they were formed under the watchful eye of the Father and the ever-present care of the Spirit. So, in that sense, God’s grace was on Him.

But could this also be a reminder of the “need’ Jesus allowed Himself to experience by becoming human? Having emptied Himself by taking on the likeness of humanity (Php. 2:7); determined to apprentice as a mediator able to sympathize with our weaknesses as He was tempted in every way as we are, yet with out sin (Heb. 4:15); did Jesus grow up, becoming strong, because He too experienced the divine grace sufficient for all human frailty?

But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong.

(2Corinthians 12:9, 10b CSB)

Jesus, God Himself who needs nothing for He is all in all, “needed” grace as He took on flesh and submitted Himself to becoming man, fully man. He had no need for unmerited favor for sin, but in all ways as we do required all-sufficient grace to walk fully in the human condition. Chew on that for a bit.

Oh, the humility adopted by the One who created everything in heaven and on earth — the One who is before all things and by Him all things hold together (Col. 1:16-17) — that He should know too what it is to be a receiver of God’s grace.

Therefore, He had to be like His brothers and sisters in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since He Himself has suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted.

(Hebrews 2:17-18 CSB)

Like us in every way. Even needing to know God’s grace was on Him.

Growing up by God’s grace. Becoming strong for God’s glory.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Amen?

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Walking Freely In An Open Place

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Pete

According to my journal, I chewed on and then wrote about this verse in 2013. I did it again in 2018. Another five years have passed, and again the verse catches my eye and my thoughts this morning. Seems to be a cycle here, a five-year renewal plan. How I need the reminder about the secret of walking freely in an open place.

I will walk freely in an open place
because I study Your precepts.

(Psalms 119:45 CSB)

Come on! Isn’t there something inviting about the idea of walking freely in an open place? I’m thinkin’ . . .

Literally the term refers to a “broad” or “wide” (ESV translation) place. The idea is that of freedom (which is how the NIV translates it). “Wide open spaces”, that’s the term Peterson uses in The Message. Unencumbered. Free to do as I want. Tell me that’s not an invigorating thought.

Free to do as I want — but not in a licentious, self-serving, feed the old-nature way. Instead, free to do as I’m inclined to do because my inclination has been informed by heaven-sent precepts. What I desire has been shaped by what I’ve studied — the ways of God for His creation. What I want to do and where I want to walk being the fruit of what I resort to for counsel and where I frequent for clarity concerning living life and living it to the full. I am free to walk in open places as I consult, enquire of, and seek the word of God.

The freedom realized of “no condemnation in Christ” (Rom. 8:1) through the finished work of the cross catapults us into the freedom actualized of walking in the way of Christ by the Spirit of Christ as the Spirit illuminates the Word.

To be sure, we need to work at walking freely. Every morning we wake up to our flesh, our old nature, ready to war against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). And I’m guessing that, more often than we realize, the enemy is at work in unseen realms to clutter up and choke out open places while misdirecting us to other places. But if our habit is to continually seek God’s way through God’s word then, kind of by default, we wield “the sword of the Spirit”, the word of God (Eph. 6:17b), able to put down the desires of the old man (Gal. 5:16) and stand fast against “cosmic powers of darkness” (Eph. 6:12). As we keep ourselves in His word, we have confidence that we are abiding in His way. Thus, walking freely in an open place.

Did I mention that should jazz us?

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Gal. 5:1). And according to the psalmist this morning, at least part of the secret sauce for actually experiencing that freedom is found in studying His word.

Work of God speak!

So that we might walk freely in an open place.

Only by Your grace. Only for Your glory.

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The Privilege

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Pete

Encountered something in my CSB this morning which, while it may not be the strictest translation of the original, it’s interpretation of the original is certainly impactful.

Where am I reading? Luke’s gospel. What am I reading? Zechariah’s Spirit-filled, prophet declaration after his son, John, is born and named. The CSB translation’s impact? The difference between being “granted” something (ESV) and “given the privilege” of something (CSB). (Note: I am reading the 2017 edition of the CSB. The latest CSB revision, 2020, goes with the more literal rendering, “granted”, as well. But trusting in the providence of God as to the bible I bought, I’m gonna also trust that this meal, though maybe more “processed” than “organic”, is being served up by the Spirit as well.)

[The Lord, the God of Israel] has dealt mercifully with our fathers and remembered His holy covenant–the oath that He swore to our father Abraham. He has given us the privilege, since we have been rescued from the hand of our enemies, to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness in His presence all our days.

(Luke 1:72-75 CSB)

He has given us the privilege . . . to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness in His presence all our days.

That’s the prophetic hope of Zechariah through the revelation that his son would make way for the Messiah. The hope of being given the privilege, because of rescue and redemption, to serve in the presence of the God of heaven and earth in holiness and righteousness all his days. Wow! Chew on that for a bit! Yeah, talk about privilege!

How easy it is to slip into thinking of serving God as the price we have to pay for being saved by God, rather than the privilege we get to enjoy because we are also declared holy and righteous in Christ. We get to boldly be in God’s presence! All our days! Starting now and for eternity! And what are you gonna do when you are granted 24/7 access to the holy of holies on a wholly basis? You’re gonna wanna serve! Thus, God hasn’t just granted us to serve Him, He has given us the privilege to serve Him, as well.

It’s not that I have to serve, it’s that I get to serve.

Oh, because of the old man still at work within me, more often than I care to admit I don’t serve as I could, nor serve as I should. Yet, because of the cross, I wake every morning with the new opportunity to live into the forever privilege of serving God in His presence, clothed in the imputed righteousness of Christ. I can’t get tomorrow back, but I got today to live into the privilege.

Yeah, literally I’ve been granted to serve. But devotionally, what a joy to noodle on the reality that I have also been given the privilege to serve.

Only by God’s amazing grace. Always for God’s all-deserving glory.

Amen?

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For He Will Broaden Your Understanding

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Pete

Weary from grief (Psalm 119:28). That’s the songwriter’s bottom line — if he were talking in CSB language. If ESV language, “My soul melts away for sorrow.” And if he allowed Peterson to put words in his mouth, “My sad life’s dilapidated, a falling-down barn” (MSG). While we might say “down in the dumps”, the psalmist would say, “down in the dust.” His soul felt one with desert dry earth. Whatever his circumstance, however long he had been in this season, for the psalmist the heaviness was such that at times he just wanted to cry.

Who can’t connect, at least to some degree, at some point in their life? That’s what makes this stanza of Psalm 119 so instructive, it prescribes for the child of God a remedy for the weariness of grief and the dusty condition of an arid soul.

My life is down in the dust;
give me life through Your word.

(Psalm 119:25 CSB)

Give me life through Your word. There it is. And just in case we missed it, he repeats his plea before the heavenly throne of his attentive God. Teach me Your statutes (v.26). Help me understand the meaning of Your precepts (v.27). Strengthen me through Your word (v.28). Graciously give me Your instruction (v.29).

Revival for the worn-out soul is found through God’s word. Opening the book each morning might at first be but an anchor, something solid to cling to when everything else is shifting, but keep at it, and the anchor becomes manna, daily bread, sufficient intake for the day’s needs. And don’t stop, for eventually God’s word becomes life-giving, reviving drink for the dry soul. Though circumstance might not change, hope somehow eventually abounds.

How come? Because in seeking and sitting and savoring the words on the page on our desk, we interact supernaturally with One who breathed out those words and penned them from on high.

I have chosen the way of truth;
I have set Your ordinances before me.
I cling to Your decrees;
Lord, do not put me to shame.
I pursue the way of Your commands,
for You broaden my understanding.

(Psalms 119:30-32 CSB)

When we choose the way of truth as the only way out of the weariness; when we set His word before our eyes and cling to it as the only way out of the dust; when we pursue His revelation though we have little strength to pursue much else; then He will broaden our understanding.

He will. Not our intellect but His intervention. His supernatural intervention. The LORD of Hosts Himself draws near, up close and personal, through the Third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. The Comforter, the Helper, the Spirit of truth ready, willing, and able “to guide you into all the truth” (Jn. 16:30). The truth about the situation. The truth about you. The truth about Him and His all-sufficient grace and unfailing love. The truth about the power of the gospel to deliver. The truth about the glory soon to be revealed which puts the weariness of this season within the context of the life that will be ours for eternity.

Give me life through Your word!

O’ soul are You weary and troubled? Go to His word. And keep going, keep clinging, keep pursuing. For He will broaden your understanding.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Pray About It

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Pete

Hovering over the third stanza of Psalm 119 this morning. In it is one of my life verses, not surprised to encounter it. But this morning I also encounter a verse which particularly resonates for the first time. Bottom line, thanks to Spurgeon’s tutoring this morning, I am reminded that I just need to pray about it!

Within Psalm 119:17-24 there are four asks: deal generously (v.17); open my eyes (v.18); do not hide (v.19); take away (v.22). Three of these I’ve chewed on before. The fourth is new food for thought this morning.

The first prayer (v.17) is that God would not deal with the songwriter according to what he deserved, but that God would instead deal bountifully (ESV) with him. The psalmist acknowledging that he first needed God to graciously and generously make him alive to God’s word if he were to have any shot at keeping God’s word.

The next two prayers are flip sides of the same coin. Open my eyes to wondrous things in Your word (v.18) has been the “theme verse” for my morning devo time for years. To accentuate his desire, the psalmist also pleads that God would withhold nothing of His heavenly ways from this earthly wanderer (v.19). You gotta see it in order to receive it. It’s gotta be put on the plate before you can feed on it. How we need the Spirit to open our eyes to what’s in God’s word.

And maybe it’s that ask which is why the last ask ends up rolling around in my head.

Take insult and contempt away from me,
for I have kept Your decrees.

(Psalm 119:22 CSB)

Honestly, while it jumped off the page, I didn’t know quite how to process it. So, as I sometimes do when in the Psalms, I pulled up Spurgeon’s “Treasury” to help me digest this meal.

“These are painful things to tender minds. David could bear them for righteousness sake, but they were a heavy yoke, and he longed to be free from them. To be slandered, and then to be despised in consequence of the vile accusation, is a grievous affliction. No one likes to be traduced, or even to be despised. He who says, ‘I care nothing for my reputation,’ is not a wise man, for in Solomon’s esteem, ‘a good name is better than precious ointment.’ The best way to deal with slander is to pray about it: God will either remove it, or remove the sting from it. Our own attempts at clearing ourselves are usually failures; we are like the boy who wished to remove the blot from his copy, and by his bungling made it ten times worse. When we suffer from a libel it is better to pray about it than go to law over it, or even to demand an apology from the inventor. O ye who are reproached, take your matters before the highest court, and leave them with the Judge of all the earth. God will rebuke your proud accuser; be ye quiet and let your advocate plead your cause.”

— Spurgeon, Treasury of David

Pray about it. What more needs to be said?

Leave it with Me. Yes, Lord.

By Your grace. For Your glory.

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God at Gibeon (2018 Rerun)

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Pete

Slept in this morning. Time to read, not much time to process, even less time to type. But what grabbed me this morning in 1Kings is something I chewed on a bit 5 years ago. Rerunning that post for this morning’s encouragement.

If he had been in Major League Baseball, his .500 batting average would have been record setting and unprecedented. But stack him up against other followers of God and as a following God average, it kind of stinks.

That’s the thought that comes to mind as I read of Solomon’s start at being king. And maybe that’s why I’m chewing on the fact that God met with Solomon–and blessed Solomon big time–in Gibeon.

I start in on 1Kings 3, and I observe four things in the first four verses:

  1. Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. A swing and a miss! What’s he doing marrying a foreign woman? Forbidden. Come out and be separate, says the Lord. Don’t mess with unequal yokes. Especially when it’s with the world from which you were delivered by God’s mighty hand.
  2. Solomon loved the Lord. Home run! That’s what we’re talking about. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might. This is looking promising.
  3. Solomon walked in the statutes of David his father. Attaboy! Now we’re batting .666 (ok, so maybe that’s a bit foreboding in itself . . . whatever). David was a man after God’s own heart and, if the son was going to be like his father, then things are looking favorable for Israel’s king.
  4. Yet he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. The king went to Gibeon to offer his sacrifices. But the ark is in Jerusalem! Sacrificing at high places was a pagan practice. Right action, wrong venue. Popup foul fly–easily caught for the out. Batting .500. Great, if he’s hitting balls with a stick. Perhaps not so great, at least to my judgmental way of thinking, for someone who “supposedly” loves the Lord.

Good thing I’m not the scorekeeper. Game would be over for Solomon. For so many others. For me!

But here’s what grabbed me this morning:

At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”

(1Kings 3:5 ESV)

God meets with Solomon at Gibeon . . . the “hill city” . . . the high place. Despite Solomon’s forbidden alliance with the world and his misdirected worship at Gibeon, God appears to Solomon and says, “Ask. Seek Me. I’m prepared to bless you.”

And it sets up one of the greatest passages in all of Scripture. Solomon, rather than asking for long life, instead of wanting riches and prosperity, above all the ease that would have been his if his enemies were removed, Solomon humbly asks for wisdom and discernment to lead God’s people well. And “it pleased the Lord” (3:10).

Batting 500 on my scorecard. But God is delighted in His servant.

Where I might have written off Solomon because of his poor entrance scores, God, in His abundant grace, meets with the would be king where he’s at. And I think it’s because Solomon truly loved the Lord.

While some of his actions might have been misdirected, his heart desired His God above all things. His longed to be faithful more than he wanted to be set up to be famous. He loved God. God loved Solomon. And, though somewhat out of context, “love covers a multitude of sins” (1Pet. 4:8).

And then I read this:

And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

(1Kings 3:15 ESV)

God met with Solomon in Gibeon, then Solomon went up to Jerusalem to worship. God blessed Solomon abundantly where he was at, then Solomon went to where he should have been. Jerusalem wasn’t a requirement; it was a response.

How prone am I to think that I must do, and then God will bless. That if I walk in a manner worthy, only then will God accept my worship. Not saying that we shouldn’t seek to obey, just that I’m so glad God’s not keeping score the way I might before meeting me where I am.

After all, it’s not about keeping score, it’s about loving God.

Not about how well I perform, but that He so loved me that He sent His Son to redeem me, and His Spirit to seal me, and His Word to transform me by the renewing of my mind.

And in that, He will meet me even when I fall short. And in His kindness, lead me to repentance. And through the finished work of the cross, and by the shed blood of His Son, forgive my sin when I confess my sin–cleansing me from all unrighteousness.

Not because of who I am or how good my batting average is.

But because of His abundant grace. And always for His all-deserving glory.

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I Can’t Even Walk . . .

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Pete

Oh, that it were a “just do it” sort of thing. That obedience was solely a matter of the will. That walking in the way was what you did by default once you set your heart on the way. But it doesn’t work like that, does it? Loving and learning the Scriptures alone isn’t enough when it comes to properly directing our steps. For, as an old southern gospel song reminds me, “I can’t even walk, without You holding my hand.“

This morning, it’s back to the A,B,C’s . . . actually it’s back to the Aleph, Beth, Gimel’s. Began reading in Psalm 119, the psalm that outsizes all other psalms. 176 verses parsed into 22 stanzas of 8 verses each. Each sentence in each stanza beginning with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, each stanza working its way through the Hebrew alphabet from Aleph to Taw. Yet, each stanza focused on the same grand theme, the multi-faceted glories of God’s word and the child of God’s call to walk according to His word. And this morning, right out of the gate, a reminder: I can’t even walk without You holding my hand.

The songwriter begins with how “happy”, or how “blessed” are those who are blameless because they obey His decrees. Those who keep from doing wrong because they are too busy walking in His ways. Those who seek Him with all their heart and thus have set their hearts to learn His righteous judgments. But then, in the middle of this song of desired obedience, a chorus of intense longing.

If only my ways were committed
to keeping Your statutes!

(Psalms 119:5 CSB)

A pause for self-assessment. A deep sigh of longing. An acknowledgment of great need. I can’t even walk without You holding my hand.

Even the heart set steadfastly on His word is prone to wander. The will given sincerely over to His will, still swayed by self-will. The living sacrifice, placed by itself on the altar, has an innate tendency to want to wiggle off the altar. While happy are those who walk according to the LORD’s instructions, needful are they as well.

Needful of an abiding, constant, inner work which daily renews commitment to His statutes. Needful of a limitless store of abounding, heaven-supplied grace ready to recalibrate the good intentioned pilgrim when they wander from the way. Needful of an ever-flowing fountain, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, from which our continuing need of forgiveness is met, and our sin-tainted souls are again cleansed from all unrighteousness. Needful of a faithful, loving Father ready to intervene again and again in order to complete the work He has begun in those He has called to be His children. Ready to help them in their desire to know the blessedness of obedience.

If only my ways were committed to keeping Your statutes! They are, O Lord, help Thou my lack of commitment. For I can’t even walk without You holding my hand.

By Your grace. For Your glory.

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He Is Our Song (2013 Remix)

Posted on May 19, 2023 by Pete

Not much wiggle room this morning. The songwriter doesn’t really provide a pass for anyone of the household of faith.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
Let Israel say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”

(Psalm 118:1-4 CSB)

God is good. Fact! His faithful love endures forever. Fact! Let those who fear the Lord say so. Command!

Let the redeemed proclaim it. Let the recipients of abundant, overflowing, all-sufficient grace declare it to be true. No wiggle room here. No saying, “Not today, don’t feel like it.”

It’s not about how we feel. And it’s not about our circumstances. But its all about His unchanging character. For He is good.

And what grabs me this morning in this psalm is that He Himself provides all the “material” I need to say so . . . or, to sing so.

The Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.
There are shouts of joy and victory
in the tents of the righteous.

(Psalms 118:14-15 CSB)

The LORD is my song!

In Him is the melody. In Him are all the chord progressions and lyrics I need. In Him are the verses, the chorus, and even the repeat-it-over-and-over-and-over-again bridge.

Because I am in Christ, glad songs are in me, in my tent. The shouts of joy and victory present even in times of struggle and battle. His Spirit within me is the band leading me in worship, providing the accompaniment, and connecting the praise of earth to the throne of heaven.

He is my song! Oh, what a glorious thought to chew on to begin the day.

I’ll let another, far more eloquent than I, take it from here . . .

“The Lord … is my song,” says Isaiah (12:2). That is to say, the Lord is the giver of our songs. He breathes the music into the hearts of His people; He is the Creator of their joy. The Lord is also the subject of their songs. They sing of Him and of all that He does on their behalf. The Lord is, moreover, the object of their song; they sing to the Lord. Their praise is meant for Him alone. They do not make melody for human ears, but to the Lord. “The Lord … is my song.” Then I ought always to sing. And if I sing my loudest, I can never reach the height of this great argument, nor come to the end of it. This song never changes. If I live by faith my song is always the same, for “the Lord … is my song.” Our song to God is God Himself. He alone can express our intensest joy. O God, You are my exceeding joy. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are my hymn of everlasting delight. — Spurgeon

The LORD is good. His faithful love endures forever. Let those who fear the LORD say so. Let them sing so.

He is our song! Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.

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Our Identity

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Pete

Identity. It gets a lot of play these days. Who am I? What am I? Am I what I think I am? Or am I something other than I think I am? Such confusion.

This morning, I’m grateful for some grounding in a single statement that reminds me who I am.

Now you too, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.

(Galatians 4:28 CSB)

Like Isaac, I am a child of promise. Born not because of his parents’ virility or fertility — in fact his dad was so old he was a good as dead and his mom’s womb had been barren for most of a century (Rom. 4:19). But “born as a result of the Spirit” (Gal. 4:29). Born not of man’s will (Jn. 1:12-13) but because of God’s promise that children from dead beginnings would be born unto eternal life. I’m a child of promise.

But I am not an only child. I have brothers. I have sisters. And we are children of promise.

To be overly focused on who I am misses the greater calling as to who we are — a family. A family born of the Spirit, living by the Spirit, “making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3a). Born again as individuals but knit together as family “so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens” Eph. 3:10). Born of promise. Born to make much of the Promiser.

Sometimes it’s good to remember who I am. Especially if it causes me to remember who we are.

It’s not just about Me. In fact, my identity is fully realized only in the context of our identity.

We are children of promise.

Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.

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