February 28, 2024

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4.22-24)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Have we tried to “forgive and forget”? Is it true “out of sight, out of mind”? I believe that only God can do the first. No matter how much we would like to never think again of the wrongs we have done and the negative consequences that were incurred, they are logged into some fold of our brain and slip out; sometimes at the most inappropriate moment. And how we long to believe that our slate is wiped clean and our sinful past is blotted out by the blood of the Lamb who was slain to satisfy the penalty of our sins and usher in the age of forgiveness, mercy and grace. And since we know that no where we can go literally and figuratively is a place where God is not. Many have tried and all have failed. But, Satan would love for us to believe that “out of sight is out of mind.” Are we out of our minds? The immutable and inescapable presence of God is a constant reminder that there is Immanuel, God with us. It is by His Holy Spirit breathed into our souls before we were born so that we might come alive in this world that God knows us from even before the womb. It is by His Holy Spirit upon us with our profession of faith in Jesus as the Christ that we know the wisdom and truth of who we are truly meant to be and the means by which we may obtain it in the fellowship of Christ Himself who is Immanuel. Even if we think God has turned His back on us the truth is that God’s back is evidence that God is with us. We know what it means to be in disfavor. But, we do not know what it means to be “without God.” Even when Jesus was dying on the cross and the darkness of the sins of the world weighed heavily upon Him so that He cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?,” Jesus knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that God was there. He saw life in retrospect to our former lives. He knew what it meant to be without hope. He knew it because the Spirit of God still was in Him and showing Him all things. It also showed Him there was a new life coming when He would entrust His very own Spirit into God’s Hands. In order to grasp on to something new you have to let go of the something old. In order to truly come down from the cross, He had to surrender up His spirit to God. Out of His own hands which clenched in agony the weight of His cross, He opened them wide and declared “Father, into Your Hands I commend My Spirit.” With that ultimate trust out of the depths of near “true death” He was separated from it all into the nearness of “true life.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit spoke us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.