Verses: Matthew 3:1-12
My thoughts about the
verses:
Think back to the time
of John. John was preaching something
that no one had ever heard. They were
told to ask God to forgive their sins and come to the water to be
baptized. The baptism would be a way to
show their commitment to a new life dedicated to God.
John though understood
that there was one coming that would be much more important than he was. He knew that Jesus would come and he taught
that he would not even be worthy enough to even carry his sandals. He was showing his humbleness to God.
He continued to say that
the Messiah would bring the gift of forgiveness and new life through the Holy
Spirit. Imagine the thoughts going
through the people’s head. Their King was
coming he would come in and wipe out these foreigners off their land and allow
them to rule their selves again. It had
to be true that God would once save them like he had done so many times. They had to be thinking back to Egypt and
Babylon. They felt the same way about
Rome. If they could push this power ort
they would be able to live free.
Yet, John knew and
understood that this was not what the Messiah would do. It wasn’t the Kingdom that needed to be
forgiven. The forgiveness that was
coming was for each and every individual who would be willing to accept
it. When you look back to the stories
that led up to the exodus and March to Babylon God had forgiven the people more
than once. The people would become
disobedient by not putting God first. They
would suffer and then realize what they would do and rededicate their
life. God would forgive them. Then the cycle would be repeated over and
over again.
Jesus was no longer
coming for one community. Yes, they were
still God’s chosen people, but there was something bigger on the agenda. God was coming to give forgiveness to
all. The forgiveness would expand to
each and every person no matter nationality, race, sex, gender identity,
disability, sexual orientation basically any and all things that we label
people.
God does not identify us
with these labels. God looks at the
world with rose colored glasses. Those
that have accepted Christ are seen by God to be totally forgiven of all sins
that they have or will ever commit.
Those that have not accepted Christ are seen by God as the children that
need to accept the love that is freely given.
See God sees our sins before we accept Christ. Yet, God wants to cover our sins with the
blood that was shed on the cross.
God wants us to accept
the grace of salvation and ask the Holy Spirit to come into our life. Going to the pool to be baptized in the water
is a sign and a proclamation of our faith.
Yet, that isn’t the end of what happens in our life. The Holy Spirit comes to live in our
life. The Spirit then becomes our
guide. The Holy Spirit leads us daily to
share our story to others.
We become one like John
calling out in the wilderness to come and repent of our sins. We are to encourage helping others proclaim a
new life in Jesus. Yet, we need to remember
that we are just a voice calling out. We
have to remember that it is the Holy Spirit is the gift that we cannot ever
give people. We can lead them to the
edge of the water. Yet, it is up to
people to ask God into their life.
Prayer:
We love you God. We thank you for helping us come into the
water. We thank you for accepting us
when we were not worthy. We ask that you
cleanse us of our sins. We ask that the
Holy Spirit come into our life to guide us.
Help us share your word so that they others may find you. In the name of the Holy Spirit and Savior we
pray. Amen
Questions:
Have you given your life over to God? Have you accepted the calling placed on your
heart? Are you willing to go to the
water and ask God into your life? Are
you willing to be a voice calling out in the wilderness leading others to the
cross of Christ?
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