The Significance of a Lamb

Starting up this blog again as a way to keep track of thoughts.

Scripture today: 

Luke 2:8-14

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

So the other day I saw a meme talking about how in Old Testament times lambs that were unblemished would be wrapped up and placed in a manger for safe keeping.

So when the shepherds heard about a baby all swaddled up and laying in a manger they would immediately grasp the significance of this.

I have to admit to some skepticism. Would they be amazed at a baby lying swaddled in a manger? Would they immediately have that connotation of an unblemished lamb? Or would their amazement simply have been due to angels having visited them. Being told not to be afraid and to head off to see a newborn baby? Wouldn't that fact alone supercede any other thoughts? Angels came! Angels, terrifying creations of God himself, came to visit humble shepherds out doing their job.

These scary beings told them to go see a baby. Not only that... after the angels told them this a whole host of heavenly beings came praising God audibly. This was not an everyday occurrence for these shepherds. One would think that would be enough to get them off their butts and heading to town to see this baby, this sign from God of a Saviour born to them.

Perhaps those three events together... the angels coming, the heavenly beings praising God, and the baby lying like a swaddled unblemished lamb would put it all into perspective. But the baby alone? That I don't know. Mind... I'm not living in Old Testament times so I don't know exactly how immediately that significance would be grasped.

It did add an extra element of understanding to me though. That those small details show God's glory all the more.

Makes me wonder.... what small details in my life show God's glory?

I'm typing this on a new laptop. My old one died rather spectacularly. So I have a new laptop, and my hubster got my old one to work well enough for HIS needs. So in essence, we both got a new laptop for the price of one. He's needed a new one for a while so it's good that he has one now eh? God at work... if one looks for it eh?

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Faith is Key, Romans 14.

Romans 14:13-23, 10 verses to peruse today.

Therefore... that's a connector word.  Connecting one passage with another. Remember that God is the one that judges?  We can't judge each other, we are all under God's authority.    So what should we do instead? 
¹³ Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 
Make a decision to do this: To not put stumbling blocks in front of each other. Don't hinder each other in our journey of faith. 

Don't Pick Fights Over Little Things

Romans 14: 1-12 is our reading today. 

Love Like You Love Yourself

 Reading today from Romans 13:8-14.

God Gave the Authority

Learning today from Romans 13:1-7.

Gifts Differ By Grace Given

Romans 12:3-8 is our passage for today.

Our Bodies, a Living Sacrifices

I still have the thoughts of Romans 11 floating in my head. How we can't understand how his mind works, but we can give him glory.  

So when I read these first couple of verses of Romans 12, I can't help but wonder, are our bodies a way to give glory to God?

For who has known the mind of the Lord

Today we are reading from Romans 11:25-35.

Stand fast, not proud but fearing

Today we are reading from Romans 11:11-24.

Believe in Your Heart

Today we are learning from Romans 10:5-21

Anguish and God's Choice

Today we are looking at Romans 9:1-29.   I can't say I'll get through the whole section as it's a whole 29 verses.  Let's see how we do eh?

Completely Protected

Today we are looking at Romans 8:31-39.

Do you remember that future hope that we need to wait for patiently?  How God has foreknown us, called us, justified us and glorified us?

 

Can we wait patiently for that future glory?

Today we are reading from Romans 8:18-30.

This morning on facebook I read about a young lady who is going through a hard time medically speaking, and today (or I suppose rather yesterday) it was an emotionally tough one.  One of the commenters mentioned that surgery scars are a sign of a battle fought and shouldn't be seen as ugly but as a sign of victory.  Mourn the need of them us, but truly see them as they are.  With that in mind.. when I read the first verse of this section it makes sense you know?

No Condemnation

Today we are reading from Romans 8:1-11.

 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 
 Oh!   I love this verse don't you?   To think that if we are in Christ, there is no condemnation heaped upon our heads!  Why?  Because we've been freed from slavery to sin!

 ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 
The Law of the Spirit has set us free!  Think on that a spell!   FREEDOM!   No condemnation. That's what the Lord God has wrought for us.  

The Delight vs The Captivity

Today we are reading from Romans 7:8-25.

 ⁸ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Can you see what sin does in a body?  It seizes opportunities. It uses the commands, the laws, to produce covetousness.  A great desire to possess something.  It makes us want something that we don't have.   Can you see that?  The law of God was meant to be freeing, but it wasn't.  The presence of the law revealed the heart...that heart that longs for something more.  BE MINDFUL therefore...what do you covet?  Don't let it deceive you.  Look for what it holy, righteous and good.

Marriage compared to the Law

Today we are reading from Romans 7:1-6.

 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? ² For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. ³ Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
Paul continues to talk about our freedom to not be enslaved to sin.  Now he uses the example of marriage and how in a marriage, while our partner lives we need to stick to the bounds of marriage.  BUT if our partner dies, we are free to live as we choose.   Makes sense right?   

Slaves to Righteousness

Today we are reading from Romans 6:15-23.

¹⁵ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 

What are we to be?  Slaves to sin or Slaves to Righteousness.  That is the question Paul has for us today.

He starts off by asking us.  Should we sin because we live under grace?
He gives us an emphatic answer.  NO.

Why?
Because how we present ourselves in obedience shows who our master is. 
 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 
 We could sin, but it shows that we are on the path to death.  OR we could be obedient to God which leads to righteousness.  What do you want people to see?

¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 
Do you see it?   We can thank God that we don't have to live like we used to.. like slaves to sin!  We've been set free!  You see we've been taught a new way to be... and are committed to it   Obedient from the heart.  That's what we become with good teaching.  And that good teaching helps us to become slaves to righteousness.

 ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
It's like Paul is saying..make a choice!   Will you or won't you... make the choice RIGHT NOW.. to be a slave to righteousness.   To choose to let our bodies be obedient to God.  You once had no real choice right?  Natural limitations and all that, but then God stepped in.  Now you have that choice, so choose to let yourself be bound to the cause of righteousness.  Take the path that leads to sanctification!
 
²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.



We've been set free you know?  Do you really know that?  You don't have to be a slave to sin.  Where it's reward is that of death. NOW, NOW we've been set free.  And if we live by that freedom...the end result is not death, the end result is eternal life in Christ Jesus.




Isn't that awesome?
 
What say you? 
 To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Death to sin, live letting God use us for Good.

 Today we are reading from Romans 6:1-14.

 So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us even more grace? 
I always find this an interesting question.  The thought that it even needs to be raised!  To me it's an automatic no, though in some way I can understand people thinking it, so I guess it did need to be raised.  
 
  ² No! We died to our old sinful lives, so how can we continue living with sin? ³ Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ when we were baptized? We shared his death in our baptism. ⁴ When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life.
Paul gives an emphatic NO.  We shouldn't be running around sinning thinking we're all that, so that God's grace can abound all the more in us.  Seriously dude... when we believe in Christ, in his death on the cross, that means we are part of him.  Do we really want something as ugly as sin to be part of that as well?   ICK when you think about it.  Adding that dirtiness to something so pure.   Paul's point is this though... we have DIED to our old sinful lives, so why would we want to deliberately choose to continue living in that sin.  Just as Christ was raised to a new life through God's power, so we can have that new life as well.   Don't live in the past!
  
⁵ Christ died, and we have been joined with him by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from the dead as he did. ⁶ We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin. ⁷ Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control.
Oh.. I like this line.  " Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control."  To be free of sin's control.  It's such a battle you know?   To always want to live in the past, with what I know so well. And yet seeing that brighter future and possibility. Fighting for that.  You know what I mean?   Paul gives us hope here.  He tells what the new reality is.  We have DIED to the old way.  God's power is there to help us live a new life.   Take that power!  Use it.  Remember that sin doesn't have control of us anymore. 

⁸ If we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. ⁹ Christ was raised from the dead, and we know that he cannot die again. Death has no power over him now. ¹⁰ Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time—enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God. ¹¹ In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive with God through Christ Jesus.
Paul spells it out for us.
We died with Christ (if we believe in him).   That means we also LIVE with Christ.
Christ, raised from the dead.   We live with him.
He can't die again.  Death has no power over him.   
Think about that.  We live with Christ...one that death has no power over, he can't die again.  We live with him.   That's a surety don't you find?  A surety of hope, of sin no longer having the upper hand.
I need to see this more clearly in my life, what about you?   To see God's power to keep me in the new life.
 
¹² So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants to do. ¹³ Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good. ¹⁴ Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law but under God’s grace.
Hear Paul's Words to us.   Do not let sin control your life.   Don't let parts of your body be used for evil.   Don't let that sinful self do what it wants.  Remember.. we died to sin's control.

Instead do this:
Offer your body up to do good.   Give it up to God.  You are under God's grace, not under the law of sin.   So let God use your body to do good.  I see choice in these words.  People can choose to live the old way, the way they died to.  OR they can choose to let God use their body for good. and live   Follow the old way.. or choose to let God work in you.   Let us today make that right choice eh?

What say you? 

 To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Adam's Disobedience, Christ's Obedience

 Today we are reading from Romans 5:12-21.

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Remember from Genesis, how sin came into the world?  The temptation of the devil, Adam falling into it?  Sin was brought into the world through one person.  And so it spread to all mankind through that one person.  I found this line interesting "for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law".  So I thought I'd check out other translations NCV says it this way "Sin was in the world before the law of Moses, but sin is not counted against us as breaking a command when there is no law."
So until the law of Moses was set into place, sin was not counted against the people, even though it existed.   And since sin existed... so did death.  Adam was a type of the one who is to come (being Jesus) we know from the rest of the New Testament.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. ¹⁶ And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Then God's free gift happened. And it wasn't like the result of Adam's action.  It caused the death of many BUT Christ's redemptive work.. resulted in grace and life to so many more!  This free gift brought about justification, and life to so many more.
 
¹⁸ Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ¹⁹ For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is what we have
One trespass = condemnation for all men.
One act of righteousness = justification and life for all people.
One person's disobedience created sinners.
One person's obedience created righteous people. 
Then the law showed all the more sin, but where we saw more sin we also see something else now.. MORE GRACE!  Grace abounding!

Sin reigns in death.
BUT grace.. see grace reigns in righteousness that leads to eternal life though Jesus Christ our Lord.

 To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here. 

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Rejoice! Stand in THIS Grace.

 Today our passage is Romans 5:1-11.

  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

You know what that word therefore means right?   It means that remember what you have just learned.. keep that in mind..  cause now there will be a new thing to add in.

Remember that we have been justified because of our faith.  Got that right?
The result of that is this:  we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And not only that. 

•  access to the grace in which we stand 
• we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God
• we can rejoice in our sufferings BECAUSE suffering eventually leads to hope, a hope because of God's love. 

I have to admit that I don't get this all.  I don't.  How does one live in the God's grace?  How does one stand within that grace?  I looked it up in other translations and that was no help.
So I leaned on hubby who helped me understand that it's grace, a tangible thing that we see in our hope, and in how we deal with suffering and build character and overall live within that hope of God's glory.   It's is not just God's kindness, but it THE GRACE...the grace that is God and is a tangible thing that we can hold on to.  And I'm probably not explaining it well, but it's real and it's there and it's what helps us rejoice in our sufferings because we can see the end result of it  all.

⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

These verses point out to us that Christ died at just the right time.  God knew you know?  How all these cultures would merge in Rome. The Passover which brings people into Jerusalem so all these people would see the mighty work that God had done.  God's timing was perfect.

Our weakness was still there, a people so prone to turning away from God, a people so ungodly. A people full of sin. BUT read this: but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners.  Showing love to us.. sinners!  And we already know how God sees sin right?  God sent his son to DIE for us. 

 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Since we've been justified by his blood, we are also saved from the wrath of God. Think about what that means.  While we were in that horrible icky state, enemies of God, and he chose to reconcile us to him by the death of his Son.    So now we've been made right with God just think about how much more we will be saved by his life.  Just think about that!  We have that reconciliation.  We have the joy in God. What am I saying.. doesn't all this give you reason, give me reason to REJOICE in the Lord God.  That tremendous gift he gave us in reconciliation.   We were horrible in our sin and God knew that and yet, and yet he chose to bring us back to himself.   If that isn't a reason to rejoice what is?
 
 To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites