Daily Bread 2010
Matthew 3
16As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
We all long to hear those words from our Father, “You are my son (daughter) with whom I love, and am well pleased.” Studies show if kids don’t get this when they are young, there will be a hole in their hearts that they will try to fill with other things. We don’t know much about Jesus’ life growing up, except that he worked with his hands as a carpenter, and when he was a teenager he was found in the temple teaching at a very high level that astounded the elders of the church.
And in chapter 3, we see two different kinds of baptism. A baptism of repentance to prepare the way for Jesus, that John the Baptist preached. And the actual baptism where Jesus heard these words from God the Father, and began his earthly ministry. The first baptism involved turning from a life that relies one’s self and bears little fruit, to one that bears fruit as a result of change of mind.
But Jesus’ baptism involved much more. It was a filling of the Holy Spirit. Of course as Jesus was the Son of God, He possessed the Holy Spirit. But as he comes up out of the water, the Spirit comes on him and in him in a new way, in bodily form. It is right after this “Spirit-Filling”, that Jesus begins his ministry, as we will see tomorrow being led by this same Spirit into the wilderness to be tested.
Later on in Ephesians, Paul will remind all of us to be “filled with the Spirit”. Again, that doesn’t mean we didn’t have it before, but that we often need more of the Spirit. In this time of New Year’s resolution making, we often set out to change many things about ourselves that we don’t like. But without the guidance and help of the Spirit, we are not likely to make much progress. Maybe the best New Year’s resolution would be, “God fill me with Your Spirit so I can walk in the way that Jesus did.”
Prayer: God help us to decrease so you can increase in our lives. Fill us with your Spirit so the world can see less of us and more of You. Help us to repent from relying on our own self-effort to change. and not enough on the power you have given us in our Baptism and through power of Your Holy Spirit. Baptize us with Your Fire and Power, so we might be able to hear the word of approval and sending into the world, Amen.
16As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
We all long to hear those words from our Father, “You are my son (daughter) with whom I love, and am well pleased.” Studies show if kids don’t get this when they are young, there will be a hole in their hearts that they will try to fill with other things. We don’t know much about Jesus’ life growing up, except that he worked with his hands as a carpenter, and when he was a teenager he was found in the temple teaching at a very high level that astounded the elders of the church.
And in chapter 3, we see two different kinds of baptism. A baptism of repentance to prepare the way for Jesus, that John the Baptist preached. And the actual baptism where Jesus heard these words from God the Father, and began his earthly ministry. The first baptism involved turning from a life that relies one’s self and bears little fruit, to one that bears fruit as a result of change of mind.
But Jesus’ baptism involved much more. It was a filling of the Holy Spirit. Of course as Jesus was the Son of God, He possessed the Holy Spirit. But as he comes up out of the water, the Spirit comes on him and in him in a new way, in bodily form. It is right after this “Spirit-Filling”, that Jesus begins his ministry, as we will see tomorrow being led by this same Spirit into the wilderness to be tested.
Later on in Ephesians, Paul will remind all of us to be “filled with the Spirit”. Again, that doesn’t mean we didn’t have it before, but that we often need more of the Spirit. In this time of New Year’s resolution making, we often set out to change many things about ourselves that we don’t like. But without the guidance and help of the Spirit, we are not likely to make much progress. Maybe the best New Year’s resolution would be, “God fill me with Your Spirit so I can walk in the way that Jesus did.”
Prayer: God help us to decrease so you can increase in our lives. Fill us with your Spirit so the world can see less of us and more of You. Help us to repent from relying on our own self-effort to change. and not enough on the power you have given us in our Baptism and through power of Your Holy Spirit. Baptize us with Your Fire and Power, so we might be able to hear the word of approval and sending into the world, Amen.
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