Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please take the time to take in the lyrics and hear a congregation at Martin Luther College singing the old hymn The Church’s One Foundation. worshipping God and singing of the truth of Christ’s sacrifice to create His Bride, THE one united Church, which will prevail against all for eternity.
Highlight Passage - NKJV Ephesians 2: 10 …
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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Highlight Context - NKJV: Ephesians 2: 10-22 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK … The church was built by Christ’s blood and sacrifice
Reference Passage #1… Romans 12: 1 [NKJV] ... Becoming the living sacrifice Christ desires of all His disciples
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Reference Passage #2… Ephesians 2: 16, 21 — GO TO THIS LINK … Jesus shed His blood in sacrifice on the cross to become the Cornerstone of His Church, creating and building His Church, (i.e., His Bride) who will prevail forevermore
Reference Passage #3… Revelation 19: 7-8 — GO TO THIS LINK … When Jesus comes for His Bride, we, His Church, needs to be ready with our linens prepared for the wedding feast of the Lamb
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Julie Ackerman Link, used an interesting illustration to bring across the point of Christ’s blood sacrifice in creating His Bride, the Church. Ms. Link wrote of a mosaic depiction of Christ on the cross, created by the artist, Mia Tavonatti in 2011 [see the attached photo].
The mosaic is created out of thousands of tiny pieces of colored glass, and Julie Link learned that in creating the 9ft X 13ft masterpiece, Tavonatti, often shed her own blood from fingers of love in the process of placing the tiny shards of glass into the depiction of Christ on the cross. It took over 2500 hours of blood-letting sacrifice to create the mosaic; and about the work of art, ODB author Link writes …
“As I gazed at the beautiful rendition of what was a horrific event, I saw more than a representation of the crucifixion. — I saw a picture of the church, the body of Christ. In each piece of glass I saw an individual believer, beautifully shaped by Christ to fit together into the whole (Eph. 2:16, 21). In the artist’s story, I recognized the shedding of Jesus’ blood so that this unity could take place. And in the finished artwork, I saw the act of love required to complete the project despite pain and sacrifice.”
And the thought of the artist, Tavonatti, creating this work of art, shedding her own blood to do so, inspires me to do all I can to become the “living sacrifice” and “workmanship” Paul wrote about in Romans 12: 1 and Ephesians 2: 10. And as the Bride of Christ, all in the Church He built with His shed blood, should be willing to prepare our purified linens in preparation for His coming again for His bride and for the wedding feast of the Lamb (see Revelation 19: 7-8)
And the old, old hymn I’ve selected for my journal entry today, speaks of that as well. So, I exhort any reading here to take in the photo, the song, and today’s highlight and reference passages and see if we aren’t more motivated to go out today and do a work of sacrifice for the Lord.
My Prayer for Today … Lord; … TODAY … help me to be Your living sacrifice, preparing my linens as Your Bride for Your return. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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