Before You Begin...

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

John 1:32-34

Certain things in life are prerequisite to the journey ahead. You don't begin a road trip without first checking to make sure you have enough gas in the tank, air in the tires, and oil in the engine. Neither do you start a hiking trip wearing only your PJs and house shoes. It's the same with our Christian walk. Before you begin any undertaking for the Lord you should make sure you have what is necessary.

In today's passage we find Jesus about to embark on His public ministry, but before He begins, one thing is necessary. Jesus gets baptized and at His baptism the Spirit descends on Him like a dove and remains on Him. That last point always escaped my notice, but it is important. You see the Spirit's lighting on Jesus is not merely a sign to identify Him as the Messiah. It is much more than that. The Spirit resting on Him is both a symbol of His kingship (kings in the O.T. were often anointed with oil as a symbol of God's Spirit) and an important empowering preparation for His ministry. This is Jesus' Day of Pentecost. He is being filled with the Spirit and empowered to go out and perform His ministry.

If it was necessary and fitting for Jesus' ministry to begin with a Holy Spirit anointing, then how much more is it necessary for us? Notice that none of the gospels record Jesus having a single convert or performing a single miracle before His anointing with the Spirit. Therefore, we must be careful to remember that we are not called to do anything for God, as though we were capable of accomplishing anything of substance without Him. Rather we are called to do great things with God...good works He has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10). How does one get the Spirit? The passage says that it is Jesus who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. Every Christian at their salvation is filled with the Spirit. It is given to all believers to empower and guide them along their journey, but we must learn to walk and minister in it. So before you begin making your own plans today, be sure to ask for God's guidance and blessing through His powerful Spirit.

For further reading...

• Matthew 4:1-11- Several of the gospels follow Jesus' baptism with the Spirit immediately leading him into the desert to face temptation. 
• Romans 8- Life through the Spirit.
• I John 4- How to recognize the Spirit of God.

Debt of Gratitude

...we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

You can't become a Christian without participating in the death of Christ. In order to live the new life that Christ offers, you first must die to your old way of living, to your old self. You must repent of your sin and leave it behind, surrendering your will for obedience to Christ. Only once you have died like this can you be made a new creation in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" This aspect of belief is pictured beautifully in baptism. During baptism, the convert is plunged beneath the water symbolizing her participation in Christ's death. She must be symbolically buried with Him in this way before she can be raised up out of the water to live a new life. But what is the nature of this new life? 

2 Corinthians 5:14 says that Christ died for us that so that we should no longer live for ourselves but for Him. Take the time to really think about this sentence. It is a radical thought! No Christian on earth right now should be living for himself. All of us should be living our lives day in and day out solely for Christ. Imagine how different our world would be if all believers did this! Imagine how different your life would be if you did it. 

I can't help but remember the many movies that have played off a similar theme. Usually it runs something like this: The main hero in the story saves a man's life, and from that moment on the man owes the hero a debt of gratitude. He must follow him around and serve him continuously until he repays the debt. Only, you and I can never repay the debt we owe to Jesus. So we are called to follow Him and serve Him continuously our whole lives out of gratitude. Are you living for Jesus in this way? In what ways are you still living for yourself? For others? What do you need to leave behind or lay down today to really begin living for Jesus? 

Father, help us to live for You!

For further reading... check out the entire book of 2 Corinthians.

Circumcise Your Life

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:11-12

Though circumcision is a graphic analogy, it's one with which the Colossian believers would have been familiar. It is the cutting away of flesh. And in Jewish terms, it is the cutting away of uncleanness. This passage tells us that Christians have undergone a circumcision of our own. Though it is not physical, it is just as real. It is a cutting away of the sinful flesh, the unclean way of life by which we used to live. 

The Bible describes this circumcision in terms of Christian baptism which is a picture of the salvation God works in the heart of every believer. In baptism we are fully submerged beneath the water, symbolic of our participation in the death of Christ. He died on the cross; we die to our old, sinful way of living. Then we are raised out of the water, symbolic of our participation in the resurrection of Christ. Just as He was raised from the dead to live a new kind of life, we are also raised to live a new life. 

God gives us all we need to live this new life out. He has broken the power that sin once had over us by His death and resurrection. We are no longer powerless before our sins and addictions! And He has placed His own powerful Spirit within us to guide and strengthen us. But, it is left up to us to apply this spiritual circumcision to our everyday lives by cutting the old, fleshly ways of living out of our lives. By reading His Word and applying the wisdom and power of His Spirit within us, we determine what is sinful and therefore what needs to be cut out of our lives. And day-by-day as we remove ourselves from sin, we are conformed more and more into the image of Christ. 

What sinful ways of living do you need to cut out of your life? What about your language? Is it pure, focusing only on what is good? How about your media consumption? Would Jesus bother watching the TV shows and movies you watch? What about the music you listen to? You may kid yourself into thinking these things don't matter. But they are like the air you breathe. When you surround yourself with polluted, sinful media, you corrupt your own soul little by little. What about that toxic friend who drags you into sin and ensnares you over and over again? If you aren't strong enough yet to resist the temptation he brings with him, then you need to cut him out of our life. 

Christ paid a high price to remove your sin from you. What are you willing to do to live that circumcision out day by day?

For further reading...

• I Corinthians 7:18-20, Galatians 6:11-18 & Colossians 3:9-12- Physical circumcision no longer means anything. New creation (or spiritual cicrcumcision) is all that counts.
• Romans 2:25-29- Outward circumcision doesn't matter. Circumcision of the heart is all that matters.
• Deuteronomy 10:15-17, 30:5-6, & Jeremiah 9:25-26- Even in the Old Testament circumcision was an outward sign of the inward reality God was calling His people too.