the new nature

phillipians 2:6-8

Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross!

the creator everything stepped into a worthless body and died a sinner’s death. i cant even comprehend that. it is a like a painter stepped into his own painting in order to finish it perfectly (but not even close, really). that shameful death and the beautiful resurrection are the two single greatest things our world has ever witnessed. hallelujah, for our God was humble enough to become a gross human.

amos 4:6-12

⁶ “I gave you empty stomachs ^[b] in every city 
and lack of bread in every town, 
yet you have not returned to me,” 
declares the LORD.

⁷ “I also withheld rain from you 
when the harvest was still three months away. 
I sent rain on one town, 
but withheld it from another. 
One field had rain; 
another had none and dried up.

⁸ People staggered from town to town for water 
but did not get enough to drink, 
yet you have not returned to me,” 
declares the LORD.

⁹ “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, 
I struck them with blight and mildew. 
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, 
yet you have not returned to me,” 
declares the LORD.

¹⁰ “I sent plagues among you 
as I did to Egypt. 
I killed your young men with the sword, 
along with your captured horses. 
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, 
yet you have not returned to me,” 
declares the LORD.

¹¹ “I overthrew some of you 
as I ^[c] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, 
yet you have not returned to me,” 
declares the LORD.

¹² “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, 
and because I will do this to you, 
prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”

God kept jackin’ Israel up, and hoping they would look to him for help. But in true Israel fashion, we think we can fix problems on our own. God finally had enough. If they wouldn’t go to God, then He was going to go to them. As I’m-gonna-destroy-you-cause-i’m-god that sounds, I think it is also a testament of God’s love. He is a jealous God, and he wants us to want him. So when he can’t get our attention, you can bet He’s just going to come and meet with you himself. God is hungry for our gaze to be on him. Don’t make him drop all of his plans to come get you. Just look at him now.

daniel 9:4-19

I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: 
“O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, ⁵ we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

⁷ “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. ⁸ O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. ⁹ The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; ¹⁰ we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. 
“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. ¹² You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³ Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. ¹⁴ The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

¹⁵ “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. ¹⁶ O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

¹⁷ “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

Go Daniel. I read this like 6 times, and the sheer power and and profoundness of this prayer blew me away. Daniel never asked for anything extravagant. His prayer was not ill influenced. He just begged for God’s attention! That is all, that God would look and see and hear his prayer and reign down his mercy and love and forgiveness, for a people that claim the name of the Father, but act against it. I think all of us could use this much honesty in a prayer. We live in a world created by God, that bears the name of God, yet we rebel constantly and we don’t live as we should. This prayer applies more now than ever I truly think. Good stuff, Daniel. You can pray like a hauss.

james 5:19-20

¹⁹My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,²⁰remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

God, I want to be someone who brings people back. I have had so many people bring me back, King, and I pray with all that I am, that I can be the rescuer, just as you have rescued me.

2 peter 3:8-16

⁸But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.^[a]

¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.^[b]That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.¹³But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

¹⁴So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Everyone says they are so ready for Christ to come back, they want to go to heaven, the whole 9 yards, right? I say that too, but after reading this I feel wrongful saying that. That’s basically me saying ” I don’t care about anyone’s salvation but mine, I’m done” THERE IS STILL WORK TO BE DONE! Christ isn’t back yet cause we’re being dumb and worrying about our homework or jobs or hobbies. The day that Christ comes will be a huge shocker, so why don’t we live as if it is tomorrow?! Oh, how many things would we change? Christ, King, I pray that you come back only when you see it fit. I hope that my brothers and sisters in Christ and I will go out, and prepare the coming of our Savior. There is a multitude of things to take care of.

ecclesiastes 12:1-8

¹ Remember your Creator 
in the days of your youth, 
before the days of trouble come 
and the years approach when you will say, 
“I find no pleasure in them”-

² before the sun and the light 
and the moon and the stars grow dark, 
and the clouds return after the rain;

³ when the keepers of the house tremble, 
and the strong men stoop, 
when the grinders cease because they are few, 
and those looking through the windows grow dim;

⁴ when the doors to the street are closed 
and the sound of grinding fades; 
when men rise up at the sound of birds, 
but all their songs grow faint;

⁵ when men are afraid of heights 
and of dangers in the streets; 
when the almond tree blossoms 
and the grasshopper drags himself along 
and desire no longer is stirred. 
Then man goes to his eternal home 
and mourners go about the streets.

⁶ Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, 
or the golden bowl is broken; 
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, 
or the wheel broken at the well,

⁷ and the dust returns to the ground it came from, 
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

⁸ “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. ^[a]
“Everything is meaningless!”

Oh, how true this is! So many things go on in our lives, the monotonous crap we all deal with. But this is very simple. Remember God. Everything else doesn’t matter. Constantly dwell on the God that surrounds everything I do. Everything will die in the end, but God has always been here, and always will be here. Why dwell on things that are so temporary?! I will set my thoughts on the Lord, the Teacher, and these things I love so much will become more and more meaningless as my days go on. Thank you God for being more sufficient that stuff could ever be.

colossians 3:5-11

⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^[a]7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Put. It. To. Death. Why is is that me (and I know everyone else) thinks we don’t have to go that far. We understand it’s bad, so now we do it in secret, or we bend the rules, or we don’t do it as much. Paul is telling us here to cut off from us that which makes us sin! And it’s is not just in our actions but our language, and attitude, and representation. Us continuing in those things is a sure way to feel the wrath of God. If salvation is true in our lives, we will put on our NEW NATURE and be clothed in the knowledge of what we should be. IF we live this way, won’t we be fulfilling our calling?

We tend to think that we are a separate thing from God, that he is so far away somewhere up high. God is in everything we see, touch, smell, say, and do. Christ has his hand in every thing we see and cannot. That may be the single most comforting thing I have ever heard. Christ is all, and is in all. Amen.

john 16:33

³³“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I have a lot of trouble lately. I complain about so many things. So many things go wrong everyday. I get screwed over and things don’t go how I want them to. This is what I can cling to. If Christ has overcome the world, then I have overcome the world through Him. I am no longer a slave to it’s troubles. I need not worry about petty things, for they have no control over me. I am more than a conqueror in Christ. I pray that when life stinks(it always does), that Christ will overcome me, in order for me to overcome this poopy place.