2020-09-18
Good Morning Dear Ones,
GA 5: 22-23 reveals the gifts of the Holy Spirit. “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.” The Paradigm set for us by Jesus Christ sets Him apart from any other being, either during His earthly incarnation or from the time He rejoined the Father in heaven. No human really knew what love was until He modeled it by physically-- dying for all our sins. COL 1: 22, “But now, by means of the physical death of His Son, God has made you His friends. In order to bring you holy, pure, and faultless into His presence.” Christ’s willingness to be scourged, humiliated, and crucified (die physically over three days of torture on the cross for all who believe in Him) are the quintessential acts of faithful obedience to the Father. Without the Atonement of our Lord Jesus, we would not have eternal forgiveness for our sins, justification (being deemed acceptable to the Father), and have the opportunity for eternal life and sweet fellowship with God.
Christ experienced joy in knowing that all who believe in Him have been made whole. He knows what joy is or He wouldn’t have put 1 THESS 5: 16-18 in Paul’s mind to pass on to the people of Thessalonica. “Be joyful always; pray at all times. Be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.” Except for rare circumstances when Christ exhibited anger or tears, His is a peaceful personality. It was He Who gave the great Sermon on the Mount, which included the Beatitudes. Peace [shalom in Hebrew] was very important to our Lord. MT 5: 9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for God will call them His children.” The disciples didn’t always understand their “Rabboni’s” [Hebrew for Rabbi] patience in long-suffering. Christ set an example for accepting whatever circumstances God allowed to come to Him. When Jesus was brought before the Council, they asked Him, “Are you the Son of God? The Lord replied, “You say I am.” Without due respect, they said, “We don’t need any more witnesses! We ourselves have heard what He said’” [LK 22: 70-71].
Christ’s way of dealing with Peter showed real kindness. Since Jesus possesses all of God’s qualities, He would have already known that Peter would deny Him three times before the cock crows. He also saw the impetuous Peter take his sword at the time of the Lord’s arrest and use it to cut off the High Priest’s slave, Malcus’, ear. Jesus exclaimed, “’Enough of this!’ Then, He touched the place where the ear had been, restoring it” [LK 22: 49b-51]. When Jesus came down the hill from praying, He encountered a man with a “dreaded disease” [Leprosy or Hansen’s Disease]. “’Sir, the man said, can you make me clean?’ The Lord reached out and touched him. He said, ‘I do want to make you clean.’ He touched the man, and the disease disappeared [MT 8: 1-3].” This is only one of many examples of Jesus’ goodness. Yet another gift of the Holy Spirit is faithfulness, and the Lord Jesus was always doing the Father’s will. In the part of the Sermon on the Mount where Christ speaks of salt and light, He teaches, in MT 5: 16, “In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.” Our Lord was gentle in His ways as an example to us. No doubt, it was Christ, Who through the Holy Spirit, put ideas for teaching in Peter’s mind. 1 PET 3: 15-16 was Peter’s teaching about suffering for doing right. “But have reverence for Christ in your hearts and honor Him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect.” There is no question that Christ was tempted by the evil one during his earthly incarnation. Jesus was tempted by the devil for 40 days in the desert. The evil one questioned Christ’s teaching. Christ said, ‘The Scriptures say worship the Lord, your God, and serve only Him!’ At the end of their exchange, Christ reminded the devil, ‘The Scriptures say, ‘Do not put your God to the test!’ [DT 6: 13; LK 4: 8; DT 6: 16, LK 4: 12]. All during this test, Christ never lost His temper and showed complete self-control. These are only a few of the ways our Lord demonstrated the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: O Lord, the examples of Christ’s faithful obedience to You and His willingness to be the One perfect sin-sacrifice for all who believe in Him are demonstrations of His loyalty and service to You. As we study the events of His earthly life, we can’t help but see the ideal You set for us, so that our best eternal interests are served. Your love for Your human creation is unparalleled and sweet. We are being taught to enumerate our many blessings and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The traits You will us to have are saving us from the negative consequences of our sinfulness and are improving the quality of our lives. You allow us to go through challenges, losses, and trials that strengthen us. Illness and trouble in our lives are allowed to demonstrate to us qualities You want us to discover, that give us wisdom and strength we didn’t know we could have. Every day, You watch over us and direct our thinking, so that we can make good decisions and take righteous actions. We offer You praise, thanks, love, and loyalty for all the good things You do. You deserve for us to worship only You, and we do. We offer this prayer in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Christ led the “crucified life” -a life of goodness and righteousness like His own. His relationship to the Father and the Holy Spirit are like wood dovetailed at the corner of a drawer. Next week, we will begin with EPH 2: 20-22 and look into the characteristics of a crucified life, at the behest of the Holy Spirit.
More than anything else, we should want to be faithfully obedient to our Creator. Every day, He goes to considerable trouble to see that we are directed and blessed. Our overarching goal is to give up our physical lives with a smooth transition to eternal life in heaven with Him. The legacy we leave behind us is very important, if we have lived the “crucified life.” The Father decided which skill sets we should have before He created us. He led us to them and allowed us to be His arms, legs, brain, etc. in doing His work on earth. The number of people we have benefitted and influenced for Him throughout our lives matters. He gifted us with the Holy Spirit to be our Counselor-- the Personality of the Trinity Who guides our decisions and actions, Who helps us know what pleases the Father and what doesn’t, and Who takes us through our journey of discovery of our potential. He gives us our family and moreover, He solidifies valuable friendships that strengthen our faith. We are indeed a blessed people! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2020. All Rights Reserved.
<-- Back to Archives