HE GETS IT. HE GETS YOU. Matthew 3:13-17; Hebrews 4:15-16.

In 1995, Joan Osborne sang ONE OF US, a song that asks,

“What if God was one of us?

Just a slob like one of us?

What if God was one of us?

Just a stranger on the bus,

Trying to make his way home?”

Were I a record producer I would have said, “Sorry. It’s been done. Your song is derivative of the entire New Testament. God already became one of us—see, for example, all 29 books of the New Testament. God thought up the Incarnation long, long ago.”

Why did Jesus ask John to baptize him? The baptism was a sign indicating one had turned his back on sin. Jesus had no sin. So why did Jesus ask John to baptize him? And why did God show his approval by sending the Holy Spirit as a dove, and by saying, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased”?

But baptism showed his humanity. He identified himself with us. He was one of them—one of us! Sure, he is FULLY GOD. But he is also FULLY MAN. His baptism shows his humility.

There is something very vulnerable about being dunked and coming up all dripping, your hair flat, hands too wet to grip—it’s a humble moment.

And for Jesus it is another in a long train of humble moments: the God of all creation becomes an infant? Born in a stable or barn or cave? Must run for his life to Egypt? And on it goes….

By being baptized, Jesus showed that he is one of us. Do you get that? It’s not just that he understands or sympathizes.

He literally IS one of us. He made himself human, and will forever REMAIN human. He remains God also, of course. But the point is, he actually IS ONE OF US. He really does understand your life, your problems, your struggles, your sadness and hurt and failures and disappointments. He gets it. He gets you. 

And that’s why you can go to him with all your struggles. Because he loves you and he understands and longs to help and comfort you.

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, and yet is without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” Hebrews 4:15-16.

Jesus, thank you for being baptized and for proving that you really are HUMAN, that you really are one of us, our older brother, ‘the first-born among many brethren.’ Remind us to come boldly to you, to pray with confidence, as you command. Remind us never to flee from you or avoid you, but help us run TO you and come boldly before your throne of grace—what a name: “THRONE OF GRACE.” Help us walk in your grace every day, praying, confessing, thanking, and praising you all day! Amen.

ΑΩ

*This is not a comment on whatWikipedia describes as “the American religious advertising campaign” called ‘He Gets Us’ and operated by HeGetsUSLLC. This devotional was written before that campaign existed. To be more specific, I do not know enough about it to comment one way or the other on the HeGetsUS campaign.

Blessings Follow Obedience. Matthew 3:15

When Jesus approached John for baptism, John hesitated and said, “How can I baptize you? I need you to baptize me.”

And Jesus answered, “Let it be done to fulfill all righteousness.” Matthew 3:15.

John baptized Him, and what happened? The heavens opened, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove and flew down and landed on Jesus, and God the Father spoke: “This is my beloved Son, in whom my soul delights!” Matthew 3:16-17.

This was the most amazing revelation of God since the Creation (those are the only two times the Triune God-head revealed Himself—each was at the beginning of something incredible).

But without the obedience of Jesus and John, it would never have happened. Our lives are the same way. God blesses our obedience. But when we do not obey, the blessings slip on past and we usually have no idea what we have missed. Don’t compromise. Don’t be a casual Christian. Work at it. Think of it as a workout. Your spiritual life requires discipline and structure—a plan with good habits. Make time for prayer every day, and make it a habit. I pray the best in the car—and my trips are pretty long. Make time for reading the Word. For me that is first thing when I get up or the first thing after arriving at work. Write a verse down to memorize. Put it in your car or somewhere and work on it daily.

Blessings follow obedience.

Do you need blessings? (Yes, you do!) And God wants to give them. Commit to radical obedience, to the highest possible standards. Then watch what God does. Speaking of memorizing, the verse I am claiming, praying, thinking about, and memorizing right now applies to my two children. Like all of us, I know that they live in a world of darkness. It gets inside your head.

But I am praying for them and talking to God about John 1:5—”the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.” Pray for His light and truth to defeat the darkness in you and around you.

ΑΩ

ADVANCE TEAM. Mark 1:10-11.

An ADVANCE TEAM is a group of staff sent ahead of a politician’s appearance to prepare the location. Advance Teams “specialize in the art of stagecraft that governs every public appearance, photo op, and televised moment in politics—often referred to as the ‘optics’ … They ensure that politicians … never arrive anywhere that isn’t perfectly prepped.”[1]

Advance Teams set to work a year before Britain’s royal family travels. There are meetings, memos, and phone calls to ensure every detail is addressed, every problem anticipated. Someone will scout every location to be certain it is large and luxurious. Members of the Royal Protection Service will also take an advance tour to address security. Even clothing will garner a great deal of consideration: is the nation hot or cold? How much walking will there be? What about local etiquette for sleeve length, hemlines, and necklines? Can the royal family show respect by wearing symbolic colors from the local flag? What is the national flower and how can it be incorporated into the women’s dresses? Once the ADVANCE TEAM has answered these questions, they will be “distilled down into a ‘Tour Bible’ as thick and glossy as a magazine.”[2]

Jesus was not a politician. But He was a KING—and the greatest ADVANCE TEAM ever assembled handled His entry into our world.

Aspects of His birth, ministry, and death were announced in advance to or by at least a dozen prophets across the centuries, including Job, Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah, Daniel, and Zechariah. Then angels spoke of His arrival to Mary, Joseph, and Mary’s uncle Zechariah. Soon the sky filled with “a multitude of the heavenly host” who announced His birth to the shepherds, and a supernatural star announced His coming to the nations of the East. Even Herod’s “Slaughter of the Innocents” fulfilled prophecy, showing not only the hatred our enemy has for the Baby born without sin, but arguably foreshadowing His death—another sign this Child was indeed the ‘CHILD OF PROMISE.’ Then John the Baptist became “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His path straight’” Luke 3:4. God’s people flocked to John, being baptized and preparing their hearts for the One whose sandals John was not worthy to untie. Finally, John baptized Jesus and saw “the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending to Him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: You are My beloved Son, in whom My Soul delights!” Mark 1:10-11. 

Sure, Jesus was reputed to be illegitimate. Yes, he was born in a barn and rushed across the border into Egypt a fugitive or “illegal alien.”

But consider His Advance Team and you cannot deny He is the King of Kings: His arrival was predicted by the world’s greatest prophets, by multitudes of angels, by a star no one can explain, and by John, “the greatest among those born to women” (Matthew 11:11). Praise God for the humble child who was born the KING OF KINGS.

ΑΩ

[1] https://www.popsugar.com/news/what-advance-team-politics-42193567

[2] https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a10309303/royal-tour-planning-process/

TRUTH CLAIMS. John 1:1-3.

Every religion or philosophy claims truth.

Even those who believe in nothing insist their view is right.

Agnosticism pretends to make no truth claims but merely to demand proof from others. Yet devotion to skepticism is a truth claim of its own, taking the rash words of Doubting Thomas at his lowest moment and erecting a belief system around them: I won’t believe it until I see it.

There comes a moment when a man driving a car must admit he is lost, turn around, and retrace his path.

Thomas knew when to yield–when to stop doubting. When Jesus spoke to him, he dropped his plan to examine the Master’s wounds. Thomas saw Jesus and fell to his knees.

The apostles SAW EVERYTHING. They are EYEWITNESSES. Even a court of law could not deny their testimony. Jewish law required that all facts be established by not one but TWO eyewitnesses. That law was satisfied.

“What was from the beginning, what we have HEARD, what we have SEEN with our eyes, what we have OBSERVED and TOUCHED with our hands concerning the Word of life—that life was revealed, and we have SEEN it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—what we have SEEN and HEARD we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” John 1:1-3.

Consider the beliefs around you. Were there eyewitnesses to corroborate the claims of Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam? Are there witnesses to today’s Western belief in nothing, usually walked out as ‘we evolved from an amoeba, when we die we will push up daisies, and in between we should try to be good (but we secretly know it doesn’t make much difference)’?

Only Christianity is based in historical fact and the testimony of multiple eyewitnesses. Only Christianity can withstand judicial scrutiny. This is a belief system—more accurately, a PERSON—in whom you can place ALL your faith.

Doubting Thomas knew when to yield–when to stop doubting. Do you?

ΑΩ

The Family of JESUS. John 1:29-31.

Being born in a stable allows the lowliest of people to know that Jesus understands their hut or dirt floor or jungle situation. And Jesus was rumored to be a bastard child—a heavy burden in most cultures.

But Jesus was from a good family. Mary was a descendant of David’s son Solomon, and Joseph was a descendant of David’s son Nathan. Jesus had an uncle, Zechariah, who was acting in his role as priest when an angel appeared to him and told him his wife would bear a son, John.

And when Mary came to visit her aunt Elizabeth, both women being pregnant—though Elizabeth did not yet know about Mary—the unborn John leaped for joy in his mother’s womb, because he was already filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit gets excited about anything that gives GLORY TO JESUS!

And it gets interesting. For a short few years, John was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3 and John 1:23). He was the prophet preparing Israel for the Messiah. And his life’s work would be fulfilled quickly. (When Herod had John beheaded, his ministry would be cut short just as Jesus’s would two years later.)

Surely John had no memory of leaping in his mother’s womb. Nor, I believe, did his mother tell him. Because though the Messiah was his own first cousin, John did not know it. Anne Rice wrote a novel about the boy Jesus called JESUS THE CHRIST, in which John spends a lot of time staring quietly at his cousin Jesus, saying very little. It makes the reader wonder.

But I suspect John and Jesus were like any cousins—playing, wrestling, doing what cousins do. Years later, when both of them were 30, their paths crossed, Jesus asked John to baptize him, and John fell to his knees, realizing for the first time who this cousin of his really was.

“John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!… I DIDN’T KNOW HIM, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed. I watched the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him. I DIDN’T KNOW HIM, but … I have seen, and tell you He is the Son of God!’” John 1:29-31.

ΑΩ

THE TRINITY. John 1:32-34.

Is the Trinity in the Bible?

Historically, some have argued Christians are pantheists because we do not worship “One God,” but three. But Christian scholars call God “Three-in-One.” The point is, God’s very nature is RELATIONSHIP. Nothing is more important than relationships. God possessed relationships before there was anything outside Himself.

Critics point out that the Bible does not use the word, “Trinity.” And even our best analogy is not Biblical, but Irish: Saint Patrick used a three-leaf clover to demonstrate that God is “three persons with one essence.”

But the Bible DOES offer evidence of the Trinity. All four gospels include stories of Jesus being baptized by His cousin, John the Baptist. And when He emerges from the water, “the heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. And there came a voice from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I delight!” Matthew 3:16.

John reports the same:

“I watched the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him….He who sent me … told me, ‘The One you see the Spirit descending and resting on, He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God!” John 1:32-34.

Do you see each Member of the Trinity?

(1) The Father speaks, and identifies

(2) His Son, and

(3) the Spirit takes the form of a dove and lands on the Son’s shoulder.

All four gospels—three books that are not as similar as you might think—include this story. Yes, God is a Trinity. He exists in an eternal relationship that began before us and is complete without us. But He loves us infinitely—otherwise, He would not have become one of us and punished Himself for our sins. God is all about relationships, and invites us into a joy-filled relationship with Him. You were born from God’s Joy:

“You were born out of the laughter of the Trinity.” German theologian Meister Eckhart, 1260-1328.

ΑΩ

NOT AN EASY LIFE. Luke 2:34-35.

When I was a child, I decided everyone gets an equal amount of hurt and happiness—that our pleasures and pains balance out. My parents told me I was crazy. Both of them went on about how much worse some people had it. What if no one loved you? What if you were paralyzed? What if you got cancer as a child and spent years in pain then died before you were ten years old?

They were right. Our lives do not even out. There is no real justice on earth. Justice comes in heaven, where God’s grace makes all things new.

One person who had a harder life than most was Jesus. Consider this prophecy:

“This child will cause the rise and fall of many in Israel. In the end, He will lay bare the secrets thoughts of many hearts. He will be a significant person whom many will oppose. Mary, a sword will pierce even your own soul” Luke 2:34-35.

Why would people oppose Jesus? They thought he was conceived out of wedlock. Many were jealous when He had so many followers. Others were angered by the things He said publicly. Still others were angry He did not do enough to oppose Roman rule.

But these verses indicate “He will lay bare the secret thoughts of many hearts.” People hated Jesus because His life and words proved them to be frauds and hypocrites. They could not stand that. So they killed him.

Even Mary would suffer: “a sword will pierce your very soul.”

But Jesus was a truth-teller. It was because of His integrity that He suffered: He had the courage to speak the truth and He was hated for it.

We will also be opposed when we speak the truth. We must use wisdom and love in our speech, and sometimes we should ask for godly advice before saying something that will make enemies of friends.

But we must speak truth—even if it causes us to face opposition. Be a truth-teller.

ΑΩ

PARENTING FAIL. Luke 2:44-52.

Every parent has them: moments of failure you wish you could get back. I’ve made mistakes. Still, there are fails I have not committed. For example, I have never lost one of my kids … like, you know, Mary and Joseph.

The “Holy Family” lost Jesus! The Godly couple that was chosen to raise the Messiah—they LOST HIM!

“Assuming He was in the traveling party, they went a day’s journey. Then they began looking for Him. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem. After three days, they found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening and asking questions. And all those who heard Him were astounded at His understanding” Luke 2:44-47.

What do you think Mom and Dad said? Maybe: “Yeah, yeah, he’s great with the Bible stuff… whatever, we’re going home now, young man!”

No, of course not. They were raising a different type of child—one who never disobeyed His parents. In fact, that was probably why they lost Him—because He was so reliable, they did not check on Him the way they would any other 12-year-old boy. And instead of fussing, they would also have been astounded, if not by His brilliance (which they were used to, perhaps) then by the reaction of the “professional” Bible students and teachers.

Jesus said, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be about My Father’s business?” Luke 2:49.

Jesus went home, and “His mother pondered these things in her heart” Luke 2:51. Parents should pay attention to what God may be doing.

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” Luke 2:48-52.

Pray about the deep wisdom here:

God, give parents grace in failure, grace for our kids, and help us watch and think hard about what You are doing in their lives. Help us to be “about Your business” for us and to go ALL-IN with You to fulfill Your will. Only then will we truly grow in wisdom and in favor with God and man.

ΑΩ

Mary pondered these things in her heart. Luke 2:18-19

One interesting line in the Christmas story is the conclusion in Luke 2:19: Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart.

What does that mean? This line comes after Luke narrates the well-known events of Luke chapter 2: Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to pay taxes, she gave birth, laid Him in a manger, shepherds arrived with an astounding tale about a sky filled with angels who announced the birth of a Savior who is Christ the Lord or “the anointed one who is God.”

“And all who heard about it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart” Luke 2: 18-19.

Again, what does it mean that Mary “pondered things in her heart”—and is that something we should do?

Other translations use other phrases, writing that Mary treasured these things—

  • meditating on them
  • trying to understand them
  • wondering what they meant
  • always thought about them and kept on thinking about them
  • thought deeply about them, turning them over in her mind.

“Pondering these things in her heart” appears to mean that Mary thought about these things and kept on thinking about them all the time.

And isn’t that what she should do? I mean, if God shows up in your life and sends angels to foretell your future, shouldn’t you pay attention? You should pay attention like never before! If God ever, EVER gets involved in your life, there is NOTHING more important than that. (Of course, you need to be 100% certain it is God—pray and beg Him for clarity.) But once you know it is Him, you must absolutely pay attention, and then spend the rest of your life reflecting back on it, remembering it and thinking about it and pondering it all the time forever. (You may have noticed that your mother and I always return to the same set of stories about things God has done in our lives.) The acts of God will become the most significant stories you will ever tell. Henry Blackaby writes that you should write them down, making a written list of the “spiritual markers” in your life. Pay attention! If God did it, nothing will ever matter more.

But I think there is a second truth to be learned from Mary. She pondered these things, but she did not draw conclusions. We love to draw conclusions. We love to look at one thing God did and plan our entire future based on that. For example, God helped me succeed in algebra after many failures, so maybe God was calling me to be a math teacher. (I never fell for that outrageous notion, but you get the idea!) If God gives you success with children, do you automatically conclude you will be a children’s worker? If God gives you success with sports, must you then conclude you will work in sports? If God helps you to be a peacemaker, does that mean He is calling you to work for the US State Department? If God makes you the class president, does that mean He is calling you to a life of politics? You can see how drawing premature conclusions is often an error.

Mary did not draw conclusions.

She knew the child came from God. So would He be an earthly king? If so, why did Simeon prophecy to her that “a sword will pierce even your own soul”? And though God had blessed her and Joseph and performed an amazing miracle of the virgin birth, could she conclude that her life was now going to be easy and trouble-free? How could she make that assumption? From the beginning, everyone—EVERYONE—would assume she had sinned with Joseph. They would heap deep shame on both of them and their child. Would even her own parents believe her? That shame would follow their family for the rest of their lives. Then the baby was born in a barn full of manure, surrounded by the smell of urine-soaked hay. Then Herod wanted to murder their baby and they had to run away to Egypt, refugees without a homeland, raising the Messiah in a pagan land full of sun-worshipers. How was Mary supposed to feel about that?

I don’t know. And Mary did not know.

In THE TWO TOWERS, Sam Wise Gamgee asks, “I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?”

And Frodo answers, “I don’t know. And that’s the way of a real tale… The people in it don’t know.”

Following God often means not knowing where your story is going.

It means not knowing the future. It means walking into a dark future BY FAITH, not by sight. You watch what He does. You get involved and work at serving Him wherever He leads you. You pray and say, like Mary, “behold the bondservant of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word.” And you let God do His work.

And you do not draw conclusions. The story remains open-ended. We do not know what God will do. But we do know what He has already done, and so we treasure those things in our hearts, and we ponder them and think about them all the time. Because the things God has done will give perspective and insight as you move into the future. Your past may guide you—but it will not predict your future.

Pray. Dear God, thank you for loving us enough to get involved in our lives. Thank you for speaking to us, leading us, and working in us. Thank you for using us—what an AMAZING privilege. Help us to watch you at work, to remember every detail. Remind us to write down the works of God in our lives—to record our spiritual markers. And help us ponder them like Mary, reflecting on your work and being led by it. But remind us to be open-minded, to avoid drawing false conclusions. We are open, God. We give you free reign. Do your work in our lives. Do your will—whatever you want to do, we are available. We love you. We are here to serve you. We trust you with the dark, unknown days of the future, just as Mary did. We too want to pray, “Behold, the bondservant of the Lord; be it done unto me according to Thy word.”

ΑΩ

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE: Sex is not an Action But a Knowing. Luke 1:34.

The phrase “carnal knowledge” has a negative connotation, being a euphemism for sex. But literally it means knowledge of the flesh. The Bible always speaks of sex in terms of KNOWLEDGE. “Adam knew his wife, and she conceived a son,” for example. 

In our culture, people speak of sex as a happening, an event. It is a thing that a person DOES, then it is over. But Biblical language conveys something more like a thing a person BECOMES, and after that, they are forever changed. 

Consider what Mary says to the angel who informs her of her coming pregnancy–

“How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Luke 1:34.

She speaks of that knowledge in the present tense. It’s not, “I have not known a man previously,” but “I do not presently KNOW a man.” That’s because in Mary’s world, a marriage unites two people to each other, making them ONE for life. And as a virgin, she is not yet bound to a man that way, that is, she does not presently KNOW a man.

This is a deeper and wiser view of sex, or of the deep bond God creates in a marriage. The act of sex is not the point, as though life were some candy store and the goal is to consume the sugar. Sex is an expression of a much deeper, more personal connection—it means UNDERSTANDING the candy store. Two married people are tied, knit together on a soul level. They are ONE, bound by an ongoing connection. They do not “know” each other during moments of their marriage, but they know each other always and forever, till death parts them. 

It’s not about the event, but about the commitment and the oneness. 

And THAT is a picture of the way we will know Christ in heaven. On earth, we are His betrothed. In heaven, He will marry his bride. We will see him, know him, and be one with him. 

Dear God, deliver us from a secular view that makes sex no more valuable than a drug trip or a roller coaster ride. Help us understand it is not primarily a physical pleasure, but an intimate connection with another soul. And give us insight into what it means to be your Bride.

ΑΩ