Hebrews 1:5-11.
 5For to which of the  angels did God ever say,
 “You are my Son; today I have become your Father Or again,“I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? 6And again, when God  brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7In speaking of the  angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” 8But about the Son he  says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9You have loved  righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” 10He also says,“In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 11They will perish,  but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment." 

    Sorry about all the colors but I needed to draw a clear distinction between angels and Jesus. Some may ask why?  I am sure I know the difference between the angels and Jesus, well good but in case someone ever tells you different (like Jehovah's witnesses and or seventh day adventists) you can have proof to back it up.
    Here in our text we have God speaking of the angels and also speaking of Jesus the Son. The context opens in the first chapter of Hebrews speaking about Jesus and then for some reason asks this Question (green): to which of the angels did God ever say "today you are MY SON". Answer is...... NONE, God only declares one his Son and that is Jesus. But to answer without a reference is just cliche, so the writer writes about the angels worshiping (only GOD is allowed to be worshiped) the Son born into the world and then gives further example how The Father about the Son Say's " Your throne, O God," (blue). I need to pause because God just called Jesus God. Yeah thats right, Jesus is God according to God who is the only reliable source in these matters(red). So God is Jesus, Jesus is God and no angel can make this claim. So please if someone tells you Jesus was an angel, was created, or any of this other nonsense about Jesus not being God, Please taske them to Hebrews chapter 1 and just start reading. God bless.

Lord thank you for being my God so knowable and yet mysterious, you are so much more than I could ever understand or perceive. Father give us courage to defend our faith. To be proud of the real true Son Jesus, and relate to others he and you are the same loving and kind God of the old and the new.Amen
                                         Justdust.

     But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. Galatians 5:5-6 (NLT)


    Did you know living by the Spirit is one of the true marks of a real believer. The Spirit if you notice is capitalized signifying lordship, so living by the spirit is not living by your spirit, but His(God's). Also this is not talking about living BY His Spirit in the sense that only those who live near a church are living by the Spirit, But simply that those who are in a REALationship with God are these people. Now these very same people(us) need to and should be waiting for righteousness, a righteousness promised by God. Oh hold on, I think we missed something, well I did purposefully; we are supposed to be waiting EAGERLY by FAITH. 

      So far you probably think OK I love God, I trust God, I got this down give me something new. Sure. What are you letting God do in your life right now? Eagerly waiting is an active patience that is coupled with hope focused on the fulfillment of a definite promise. It is one thing to make war on your sin and make yourself look and feel righteous, than to trust that God is already doing it. We need not focus on ourselves and our sin but rather place our faith, time, and energy in Jesus and trust that he is already doing it. 
 
     The word say's that “he who started this Good work is able to complete it” (referring to His work in our lives) meaning just that, that God will complete His work in our lives. This is why the last part of Galatians 5:6 states what is really important and where our focus should be and that is our love, the only thing God ever asked of us. Jesus said the only commandment we needed to obey was “love your God and love your neighbor, in these two all of God's requirements are fulfilled.” So focus on loving God and those around you and Let God do the rest.


     Dear Lord, please be patient with us as we learn to let you lead. Father we have seen your hand guiding and protecting us and we want to eagerly and patiently wait for your completed work in our lives. Teach us how to love Jesus, just as you do. Amen

 

John 13:1-5  1 “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. 2 He had loved his disciples to during his ministry on earth, and now loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him."

Why was Jesus so humble? Doesn't he know he is the son of God? What is the purpose of him washing his followers’ feet? Doesn't he realize he is about to die? Was he not aware that he was about to be betrayed? These are valid questions. But they only scratch the surface of who God is revealing himself to be. This short passage is a true look into the sovereign ways of our Lord and also a look at how we to are supposed to conduct ourselves; in the conforming of ourselves to Christ.

              Let us first take the context of this situation into consideration. Jesus had just returned to Jerusalem four days prior, in a triumphant entry, fit for a king. (This is also known as Palm Sunday.) People were praising him as the messiah and finally recognizing him as Son of God. This was a time of glory and honor for Jesus. It was also during the time of the massive Passover celebration of the Jewish people. This was a time where thousands would travel from far to join in the celebration and feasts. And this is no doubt why the disciples had thought they were returning to Jerusalem.

            With these thoughts taken into consideration let us now examine our first part of the text, "Jesus knew that his hour had come" Crazy right. He knew death was literally around the corner and he was just as peaceful as ever, simply dwelling on the love he had for his friends. This is rarely seen, except for men on death row, or extremely ill persons awaiting their final hours in a hospital bed. Any normal human being, who had the ability to escape death, would definitely defy their grim end and run. Oh friends we all know we would, but not so for our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. He was preparing. He was setting his mind on the outcome of those who were following him. Even when the evil of this world was arraying itself about our God he was simply consumed with love for those he had walked with. We too enjoy this same love from Christ, when we walk with him, and spend time at his feet like Mary in John 12:3. Although we all can experience this love not all of us do, some of us on the other hand choose to be a Judas instead of a Mary.   

            Judas was one of the original twelve disciples, and just so happened to also be the tax collector. In verse two of our text we learn Judas was already preparing in his heart to betray Jesus. We know from chapter fourteen of the gospel of John that it was his love for money that drove him to this point of betrayal. With this being noted, we are once again invited to examine the inner heart of God and to see his love displayed; No doubt Jesus was aware of this very fact and still included him in the fellowship of his last night on earth; To sit, break bread, laugh and most important, to be cleansed. God is so awesome, He would still rather reconcile with you, then to cast you out and forget you. You want to know why... It is because he is above petty things, like money and position. He prefers to humble himself for our sake then to see another soul lost. That folks is the God we serve. And this is also his example to us. That we need to be humble enough to wash the feet of the hand that would betray us; even to death.

            If we did not know, that this passage was speaking about Jesus, our earthly mind would readily receive it. I mean to say that if this was a servant or even a child, in this position it would make sense. The lower blesses the higher, right, but it is not so in the Kingdom of God. If we now look at rest of our passage from John thirteen, focusing on verse three, you should notice that it's like Jesus remembers (not that he forgot) what his trip down to earth was all about....US! You might say I don't see that anywhere. Well let me show you. In the first half of the verse it says that Jesus "knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God" Right there Jesus thought about when he had given up his Glory in heaven. In the next part of the verse he sees the end result that He "would return to God." There is no way that Jesus didn't see his death in this. Truly Christ was well aware of His rightful position. He knew he was the divine ruler of the universe and that he should be showered with praise, waited on hand and foot, that He should be lifted up above all those before him, but He doesn't does He. No He smiled at the thought of his death, knowing that it would be redeeming the lost and takes it a step further. Verses four and five tell us "So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him." Like it is not enough that he would simply die for us, he humbles himself to the lowest position of the house and washes the dirty feet of his disciples. Which one of us is ready to set aside everything we have achieved and accomplished, all that we deserve, and all that we want; just so someone else can reap all the benefits. Christ did and we should too.

            Jesus is the pinnacle of perfection. No one can dispute this. He did not love sparingly. He did not boast of his might or power. He was not angry with any ones shortcomings. He never looked down on anyone. He couldn't tell a lie to save his life. He couldn't stand by idle while there were feet to be cleaned. And He did not die in vain.

I pray today, that we Stand up and serve our God, because he would serve us, I pray we stand up and serve others because Christ did and I pray most of all that we do it out of love. Amen and God bless.

Justdust.