Today’s word in the Big Words of the Bible Devo Series is Gospel. When you think of the word Gospel, what comes to mind? That word, which we toss around often, actually has a lot more packed into it than we realize.

In the first chapter of Romans, Paul writes this to the church there. “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:14-17)

The word gospel literally means good news. But what is that good news? Paul says that is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. He further says that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed and which becomes available to us through faith. Through the good news of God and his invitation to us to make Him Lord of our lives, we find salvation through faith. This salvation cannot be earned, it is available to everyone and it has the power of God to forgive our sin, make us clean, fill us with His Spirit and give us the power to live righteous lives.

Through the gospel we are introduced to everything that God brings to us. In Ephesians one Paul sums up the fullness of this gift of the gospel, this good news that invades our lives. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,  in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3-14)

Here is what we need to grasp. Everything in that long litany of gifts from God to us is part of the gospel. All of it, and as we will see in coming days, more. Never underestimate the amazing gift of the gospel that changes everything for those who choose to believe. Through the good news of the gospel everything changes in the present and in the future. Because now, the power of God, the gifts of God, the call of God and the Destiny that God has for us are all ours.

Father, thank you for the good news of the Gospel that brings to me all of you. Help me understand, appreciate and live out the call of the gospel as I join you in bringing good news to those around us. Amen.

We cannot leave the fall of mankind without understanding the amazing grace of God. In the aftermath of the decision by Adam and Eve to rebel against God’s command, judgment came and everything changed.

“So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)

It seems that serpents were forever destined to crawl on the ground as they became a symbol of Satan who had appeared to Eve in the form of a snake. But more important is what God says about the relationship between Satan and the woman and her offspring. First he says that there will be enmity between Satan and Eve which is understandable, given his part in this terrible event. Eve would never forget the awful event that Satan had enticed her to participate in.

But then God says something more interesting. He will put enmity between Satan’s offspring and hers. There will be enmity between Satan’s minions and the offspring of Eve. But then even more amazing is the last phrase in Genesis 3:15, “he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” 

So catch this. There will be enmity between Satan and Eve. There will be enmity between Satan’s offspring and Eve’s offspring. But, hear this. There will be a single male offspring of Eve who will eventually come and crush Satan’s head once and for all even as Satan strikes his heel. This is the first reference in Scripture to the One who would one day come and defeat Satan. Even on this terrible day that changed all of history, there would be another day that would also change history, the day that a Savior would come and defeat the evil one.

Think about this. From that day forward, Satan knew that he would be defeated by an unknown male offspring of Eve. He lived in eternal fear of who that would be and when that day would come. It is clear he recognized Jesus for who He was when He ministered on earth, which is why Satan tried to entice Him to follow Him in the desert temptations immediately after Jesus’ baptism by John. And, on Good Friday he was ecstatic that God’s Son was crucified! He had won. He had defeated the one who came to defeat him. Little did he count on Resurrection Sunday and on that day he knew he had met his waterloo. He had lost. God had won and all he could do from that day forward was to fight a losing rearguard battle.

How do you explain the amazing grace of our creator? He had created us in His image. We rejected that Image so He sends His Son to die so that the created could once again know the creator. So that he could reimage images gone bad. So that he could bring healing to broken people. So He could make us once again after His image. That is the God we worship. That is His love today. That is His love for you.

Father, Your actions leave me amazed. Help me to understand today your crazy, amazing love for me. Thank you for your work in my life. Reimage me after your heart today. Amen.

Bernie Madoff pulled off the most massive personal fraud in history with his amazing 50 billion dollar ponzi scheme. How had he done it? He was a consummate liar, and like Satan in the garden, promised what he could not deliver: in this case, year after year, returns that were unheard of. And as it turns out, he could only do this by taking money from the next investor to pay off the previous investor.

How has Satan managed to destroy what was good and turn the garden on its head? Very simply he is the consummate liar. Here is Jesus’ description of Satan. “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44)

Jesus called Satan a murderer because the end result of his work is death and destruction. How does he bring his destruction? He lies to us so that we reject God’s truth for his lies. Think about some of the lies that Satan has convinced the world of: 

Materialism brings happiness. Everyone gets to God in their own way. Truth is relative. Life is about me. The ends justify the means. Scripture is simply a set of moral principles. I can live life by my own principles.

Every human being, each of us, has been directly or indirectly impacted by the lies that Satan has perpetuated. God brings pure truth while Satan brings pure lies. In every way he twists and distorts God’s truth that make it believable. His greatest lie is that God is not good – his lie to Eve in the Garden.

 In John 10:10, Jesus makes one of the most profound statements about Satan: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” His main mission and deepest passion is to steal what is good from us, to kill people and to destroy people’s lives, homes, marriages, dignity, sexuality, relationships, and even entire nations.

Where does this malevolent, unrelenting and passionate evil come from? It stems directly from his utter hatred of God. He cannot get at God directly but he can indirectly for God made people in His image. Every human being is an image bearer of God, even if separated from God and even if that image has been deeply tarnished. Therefore, Satan has chosen the only route to destroy God that He can – by destroying His perfect creation, especially men, women, and children who are made in His image.

Every heartache we have suffered, every fear, every setback, every funeral we have attended, every sadness we feel, depression we suffer from, sin we struggle with, physical ailment we deal with, emotions we struggle with – it all goes back to the image being broken in the fall. It was in every way a very far fall, a fall so far that it is impossible to adequately describe its impact. It was an eternal fall as people destined for life with God became absolutely separated from God. It was a massive fall as hearts that once embraced God now rejected Him. It was a fearful fall as people who once treated one another with love now used people for their own purposes. A perfect image became a ruined facsimile of its original form.

Here is an amazing thought. Before creation. Before creating men and woman in His image, He knew that those He created would rebel. He knew that it would take the death of His Son to bring people back into fellowship with Him. Knowing that, He created us in His image. 

All of history, from the awful day of the fall has been a story of redemption as God, out of amazing love for rebellious people, put in place His divine rescue operation that would climax with the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus and culminate in a New Heavens and New Earth where God and His redeemed will live for all eternity. You are a product of that love.

Father, thank you for your amazing love that you would create me in Your image, and then when that image was broken, give your Son to re-image me and bring me into relationship with you. Amen.

How did our world get from the Garden of Eden to the evil we see in our world today? Evil that drives wholesale destruction in places like Ukraine but closer to home, evil that lurks in our own hearts which we struggle with on a daily basis. How did a perfect creation become such a ruin? How did we get from peace and tranquility to conflict, relational disconnect and the effects of brokenness we see all around us?

The answer lies in the greatest fraud perpetrated in the history of mankind by the greatest deceiver: Satan. We are all familiar with the story of Eve and the serpents (Satan in disguise) discussion followed by Eve and Adam eating of the one tree in the entire Garden that was forbidden to them. What is important to understand is what lay behind the conversation between Satan and Eve and the consequences of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

The Woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

This discussion reveals the methodology of Satan’s fraud perpetrated in the Garden and what he does with us. Satan questions and twists God’s words: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” He knew all too well what God had said but in raising doubts about God’s instructions, he was intentionally raising doubts about God in the mind of Eve.

When Eve corrects him by saying that there was only one tree that was forbidden to them on pain of death, Satan directly challenges God’s word. “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Not only is God not telling the truth, says Satan, but by keeping the fruit of this one tree from you, He is holding something back from you. God has tricked you and held out on you. In fact, if you eat the fruit it you will not only be like Him but you will know both good and evil.

It was a grand lie, for not only would Adam and Eve not be like God but the consequence of eating from the tree would be separation from God. Part of his promise was true: now they would know good and evil when previously they had known only good. But where his implication was that this would be positive for Adam and Eve, that one act of rebellion brought sin and evil into Adam and Eve’s world and into ours. It literally brought us from the garden to the brokenness we experience in our world and in our own lives. It was a massive, pain filled, fraud that has infected our world from that moment to this.

At the root of Satan’s lie to Eve was this: God is not really good and His word is not entirely true. Once we believe that, all truth is relative. And once all truth is relative, how we live our lives is our choice. And the more that happens the more broken our lives and world becomes.

Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God is called the fall because in that one act, the image they had been given was broken and they fell out of fellowship with God. 

Paul puts the affair this way. “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of t

Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “In His Image - part 3.”

Think of the amazing gift we have been given in being made in His image, in being “image bearers” of the Lord of the universe:

      We were created for eternity with an eternal soul

      We were made for a relationship with our creator

      We were given the gift of relationships with one another

      We were granted the gift of moral freedom

      We were given the amazing capacity to create

      We were given the ability to love deeply

The apostle Paul puts all this in perspective in Ephesians 2:10. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The word “workmanship” means a unique work of art, a one of a kind. As unique works of God we were created for a personal relationship with him in Christ Jesus, in order to join him in His work in this world (good works) which God prepared for each of us “in advance.”

In endowing us with His image, He gave something of Himself to mankind. Our very ability to know and love him and one another is part of that gift. I can adore and love my spouse and my children and have meaningful relationships with others because He chose to make me in His image. I can know Him, serve Him, join Him in His work in this world because he made me in His image. I can use all my creativity in loving and caring and serving and living because He made me in His image.

Seen in that light, we cannot ignore the spiritual and human needs around us or of our world and truly be like Jesus. Life is precious. People are precious. Even the most broken individual is a potential son or daughter of the king because all were stamped with His image. No other part of God’s creation was endowed with an eternal soul or an eternal destiny. To care for people and their situations is to see people as Jesus sees them and to love them as He loves them. To live selfishly, immune from the suffering of others, is to reject the nobility God placed within man, even though sin has made much so ignoble.

This should change the way we see people: not through our categories but through God’s eyes. Every individual has God’s divine imprint, is an object of His love, and a potential recipient of His grace and forgiveness if they come to Him. How can we despise what God does not despise? How can we withhold concern for those that Jesus does not withhold concern? How can we turn our backs on those that Jesus would not turn His back to? The fact that we are all made in His image changes the equation for how we view people and their brokenness. We cannot be like Jesus and turn our backs on anyone.

Every time we go out of our way to bring life to a situation, we make the heart of God glad. Each word that encourages, touch that shows love, help that brings hope, or Good News that speaks to the soul mirrors the heart of God toward those He created. None are beyond His grace and none are too broken for his healing.

Father, thank you for creating me in your image. I cannot fathom the implications of that but I thank you and ask that you would help me to treat all who come across our path as those also made in your image. Amen.

Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “In His Image - part 2.”

When God created Adam and breathed His breath into him, it was not just life that came to be. After all, animals and trees and fish and birds also have life. It was the breathing of His breath into man and woman. He was imparting to them something even more precious than life itself – an eternal soul which set man apart from the rest of creation. Men and women were designed for eternity.

The soul is that invisible part of us, given by God and that transcends our physical life and lives on into and for eternity. Anyone who has been with a loved one who passed away knows that at the moment of death, it is not just the absence of life that takes place but the very person who was there is no longer there. They have departed and left an empty shell of a body. The essence of the individual, their God-given soul, has left their body. This is the soul that every human being possesses unlike any other part of creation. 

Why is human life sacred? Because God imbued it with an eternal soul! This is part of what it means to be made in His image. This is why God was so angry when Cain killed Abel. In the world’s first homicide he had taken the life of a living person with an eternal soul who was made in God’s image. That eternal soul is a reflection of God’s eternal being and when we treat it without the greatest dignity we demean God Himself. How we treat other human beings matters because they are made in His image. 

It was the early Christians who fought against the infanticide of unwanted infants in the Roman Empire based on their understanding of the sacredness of life. It was Christians who cared for those dying of the plague throughout history, at the risk of their own lives, because they understood the sacredness of life. This is why Christians established orphanages, hospitals, homes for the elderly, and cared for the disabled. Human life is sacred! It possesses an eternal God given soul. It is to be honored, cared for, and treated with dignity and respect. Anything that detracts from the dignity of human life is to be resisted for it has within it His image.

There are many who see men and women as simply more sophisticated members of the animal kingdom, a natural view if one accepts a Darwinian view of the world. But Genesis 1 and 2 are clear that men and women are qualitatively different from the rest of creation in that they are made image bearers of Him. We possess eternal souls.

God created men and women specifically to have a relationship with him as their creator. In fact, it says that in the cool of the evening God would physically stroll in the garden with Adam and Eve. He took great pleasure in their company. A common view of God for many is that we should be afraid of Him. Yet, the creation account indicates that God delights in the fellowship of His created.

Here is the mystery of God’s heart: That he would want to create us in order to have fellowship with us - to love us and be loved by us. He delights in our worship of Him and in showing His love to us. Of the created order, only mankind has this great privilege! 

We often think that we have an obligation to spend time with God: that somehow by doing so we gain God’s favor. Here is the truth: God delights and finds great joy in our presence with Him. It is hard to understand but He, complete as He is in Himself, loves to be in our presence. We were designed for Him! It is integral to being made in His image.

This is why the longings of our hearts are never completely satisfied by anything else – or anyone else. As image bearers we are never complete until we are connected in heart relationship with the One who created us and the closer that relationship the more complete we become. Only God can ultimately fill our souls with meaning. We try to fill it with all kinds of activities, pleasure, and relationships but in the end it is God who satisfies because He designed us for

Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “In His Image.”

The last day of creation, when God created male and female, reveals the heart of our amazing and incomprehensible God. Think about this. God is complete in Himself. Long before creation He had the worship of the heavenly hosts but they were created to worship. Was the heart of God restless? We cannot know what was in the mind of God except by what He has revealed to us in His word and the echoes of his creation.

Here is what we do know. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:26-28.

We exist because of God’s love-filled heart. It is a heart made for fellowship and worship. Why God would crave the fellowship of others is hard to fathom but that is His heart, to give and to receive love. The very fact that we exist is testimony to the loving heart of God who chose and delighted to give us life. He did not need mankind but he chose to bless us with life so that we could live in fellowship with Him. Without His love we would not be.

Here is the amazing part. You and I were made in the Image of God. You and I and every human who has ever walked this earth are image bearers of our creator! Think about that. You are made in God’s image. You were deliberately created by God in His image. In some important and amazing way you bear His likeness. He is the God of the universe and you are imaged after Him. Even after the fall when Adam and Eve fell into sin, remnants of that image remained.

Tomorrow we will look at what this means, to the extent that we can understand it. But for now, for today, reflect on the fact that in creating you, God planted something of Him in you. You are made in His image. This separates you from the rest of creation. There is a nobility to men and women because we are made in His image. 

Solomon made note of this in Ecclesiastes 3:11 where he says, God, “has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” This is why our hearts have a hole that can only be filled by God Himself. As people made in His image, He has placed eternity in our hearts: a yearning for something more, for our real home and our real destiny here and for eternity and that is always with the One who Created us. If you long for something more that you find elusive, this is why! The only way to satisfy that longing as an image bearer is to know the image maker.

Father, thank you for loving me and making me in your Image. My heart does long for something more because of that eternal seed you planted in my heart. Help me to find the fullness of life in you because you made me for you. Amen.

Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “Creation.”

Before the universe was, there was nothing: a vast dark infinity without time, beginning, light or sound. Except, in that place known as heaven where God resided, One in three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in perfect fellowship, surrounded by multitudes of angelic beings worshiping their God day and night. Here there was the light, delight and joy of God, the music of the heavenly hosts and perfect peace.

God has no beginning but our universe does. Genesis 1:1-2 records, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, Let there be light and there was light. And God said, let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear. And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from night. And God said, let the water teem with living creatures and let birds fly across the earth across the expanse of the sky. And God said, Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” 

These simple words contain within them the amazing heart of God. In creating the universe and fashioning our planet, in setting the stars in place with its billions of numbers, in carving out the seas and forming the mountain heights, God showed his creativity.

Into that setting he brought the life of flora and fauna that brings beauty to our days and food for our bodies. The animals of the land, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea reflect not only His creativity but His sense of humor. What child is not delighted to go to the zoo and marvel at the amazing faces that stare back at them and laugh at the antics of chimpanzees or the impossibly long necks of giraffes!

This is no Darwinian saga but the creativity of our amazing God. What do you think He was thinking when He created the kangaroo? Or the peacock? Or playful dolphins and funny looking penguins? Or the dinosaur? Anyone who thinks God does not have a sense of humor has not looked carefully at His creation!

Was creation six literal days? Perhaps. It could also be six longer periods of time as the word for day in Hebrew can mean either day or age. What matters is that our world is a creation of our amazing God who only needed to speak to bring into existence what was not. And to fashion it into the amazing world we live in. And after each act of creation he said, It was good. And after the creation of man and woman said, “It is very good.”

At the center of this creation story was Christ. Paul writes in Colossians 1:15-16, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” 

Christ created, Christ redeemed when sin entered the world, Christ offers you and I a relationship with Him, and Christ walks with us every day through every situation. From the beginning until He returns, the story is about Him. He is the author of creation.

Father, I thank you that you are at the center of this amazing world. Creator, redeemer, my savior and my forever friend. Help me to see creation through your eyes today. Amen.

I remember dinner conversations at our house with my two boys. From time to time they would interrupt our conversation and say, “That’s a BIG word.” In fact, they loved it when I used big words that they didn’t know and they would say, “what does it mean?” Or, they would go look it up. 

Well, the Bible is full of Big words. They are theological words, like sin, salvation, justification and sanctification. They are important big words because they describe something about our human condition but, more importantly, something about God or His work in our lives. So the Big Words of the Bible Devotional series is designed to help us understand those important, but big, words. 

Each of these words has implications for us. If we understand them we start to understand God’s work in our lives in a better way. Did you know, for instance, that once you accept Christ as your personal savior that when He looks at you he sees you as clean, even though you continue to sin? There is a word for that in Scripture called Justification.

And did you know that God is on a journey to help your character become like His character? The word “sanctification” has a whole treasure of information about what God is up to in our lives. Or why do we talk about the “fall” of Adam and Eve and how does it impact us all these eons later? We will unwrap that mystery.

At Christmas we talk about the “incarnation.” Sure, we know baby Jesus came to earth but what does the “incarnation” mean? Actually, it is an amazing story where God chooses to come and “be with us.”

We like to say about our technology needs, “There’s an App for that.” Well, when it comes to our understanding of God and His work with us, there’s a Word for that and those words help us unpack the work and love of God in our world and in our lives.

So I hope you will join me in exploring the Big Words of the Bible. As you read your Bible and come across those Big words, underline them. We will probably cover them in this several part series. And remember, this is not about what we know but, more importantly, it is about how God is working in our lives and how He is working in our world to bring people to Himself and re-image us back to what He created us to be. 

And tomorrow, that is where we will start. What does it mean that we are made in His Image? We will find out and we will start our journey. 

Father, thank you for what you are doing in my life and in our world to bring hope to a broken and hurting world. Help us understand you better as we examine the Big words in your word. Amen.

Central to all the fruits of the Spirit is the last one, self-control. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness are all contingent on our ability, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to control our emotions and behaviors.

We often get ourselves into trouble when we react to people and situations rather than responding to them. A reaction is often emotional and unduly harsh. I react when someone who irritates me punches an emotional button. I react when something causes fear in my heart. I react when something happens that creates anxiety. Reactions are often fight or flight responses that we regret after the fact. Consider words you have spoken, for instance, that you wish you could take back but they were said in the heat of the moment.

The fruit of self-control is an antidote to unhealthy reactions. When practiced, it allows us to respond rather than react. A response is a measured reaction, not one driven by hijacked emotions. The Greek word for self-control, egkrateia, is derived from two words, “in” and “strength” or “power.” Thus, it is living with personal discipline - personal power - that allows us to respond to people and situations in a measured, controlled way and ways which are consistent with the character of God. It means that we have power over ourselves, rather than being driven by our emotions and passions.

This is one of the fruits of the Spirit that requires constant attention for me. When triggered, and we all are, I immediately try to ask the Spirit for the ability to respond rather than react. And to respond with the love, kindness, gentleness, patience, and goodness that the other fruits describe. Our lower nature wants to take us other places. The woman or man who has self-control manages their responses so that they reflect God’s character. It is a daily challenge.

Remember with all of the fruit of the Spirit that these emulate from God who lives within us through the Spirit, giving us power and the ability to live as He calls us to live. We don’t have to do this on our own and cannot. These are spiritual qualities that we can access any time because we have Christ living in us. Think about that. Our secret weapon is not that we have knowledge of truth but we have the author of truth resident in our hearts. That is a game changer.

One of the reasons I keep a journal is to track my spiritual progress or lack of it in the stuff of real life. I can reflect on wins and challenges and remind myself of the power that is available to me. It helps me be more aware of how I am living out the life of Christ.

Father, thank you for the gift of your Spirit resident in my life. Give me an extra dose of self-control so I can respond rather than react. Help me, when triggered, to respond in ways that please you. Amen.