Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a poignant video of Fernando Ortega, singing … Just Give Me Jesus, proclaiming what should be the pursuit of all during this Advent season … Jesus!
Highlight Passage: Romans 3: 23-24 [NKJV] …
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ...
... No, not one!
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Highlight Context – Roman 3: 19-26 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… None of us are what He is … perfect!
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Reference Passage #1 - Philippians 1: 6 [NKJV] …
6 … He who has begun a good work in you will complete if unto the day of Jesus Christ: …
… Made perfect … completed … only in Christ.
Reference Passage #2 - Hebrews 10:14 [NKJV] …
14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
… And our only perfection [i.e., righteousness] is found in our salvation and sanctification.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Julie Ackerman Link, reminds her devotional readers (me) that this holiday season can produce much frustration and anxiety. … She writes, Christmas is the time of year when the pressure to be perfect intensifies. We imagine the perfect celebration and then put forth our best effort to make it happen. We shop for the perfect gifts. We plan the perfect Christmas Day meal. We choose the perfect greeting cards or write the perfect family letter. But our striving leads to discouragement and disappointment when our ability to imagine perfection exceeds our ability to implement it.
All the hustle and bustle to buy perfect stuff or to be perfect in the eyes of others; and according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 3: 23, we all fall short. However, also from God, through Paul and the Author of Hebrews (see also today’s highlight passage and Hebrews 10:14), we will only find our perfection (i.e., completion) as we are sanctified in the perfection of Christ. As our ODB author, Julie Link, puts it, Instead of being discouraged, however, we can use our disappointment to remind ourselves of the reason Christmas is so important. We need Christmas because none of us is or can be all that we want to be—not for a month, a week, or even a day.
So, let’s cut ourselves some slack this season, dear one; and in this Advent season let’s just celebrate the reality and truth that God, the Father, when He sees you and me, He views the perfection of the Robes of Righteousness which we’ve chosen - in faith - to wear because of the blood of the perfect One Who died for our sins and shed His blood to cover our imperfection.
And so I pray …
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Thank you, Lord, for sending us Your Son to be our righteousness forever. … 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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