08-26-24-DAILY READING-ENG.

EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT

                                       GIFTED TO SERVE

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him. — LUKE 3:21-22 The nature of Jesus as the divine Son of God is an inspiration to all who put their faith in Him. Yet there are some who set aside His example as unattainable. After all, Jesus is God and we're not. But before you dismiss the example of Jesus as something you can never experience, examine more closely the life He led. It's true He came to earth as our Savior, but He also came as our example. As He served the heavenly Father, He needed help. That's right. He had to be “gifted” to serve. And that same divine enabling is available to you. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Have you noticed that the gospel writers never mention any of Jesus’ physical attributes? Nor do they speak at all about His human talents or abilities.

Instead they write about the wisdom and power displayed through His life. They talk about the work of the Holy Spirit in Him as He fulfilled the Father's purpose. The key to understanding the life of Christ is to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in that life. Once you see the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you'll understand how the Spirit will also work in your life. For the Spirit who gifted Jesus to serve His heavenly Father is the same one who will also gift you for service. Jesus humbled Himself when He was made a man. It's hard for us to fully comprehend the distance from the throne room of heaven to the stable in Bethlehem. It's even harder for us to know what it means for the God of the universe to be confined to the limited and fragile body of a human being. The incarnation was an extreme example of God's love, that Jesus would take upon Himself the humble state of man. In that startling event, eternity intersected with time, the heavens with the earth, and God with man. This moment was described a thousand years earlier by David in Psalm 8:4-5: “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels.” The King of kings took a place lower than the servants in heavens throne room. More than that, He came to earth not as a ruler of the people, but as a common person, the son of a carpenter. The writer of Hebrews reflected with awe on the humble estate of this one “who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death…that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”

We read further how God, in order to bring “many sons to glory,” saw fit “to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (2:9-11). The coming of Christ was nothing less than amazing, and the circumstances surrounding His birth fully reflected the wonder of it all. The scene was something only God could have planned. We read that angels—heavenly beings, superior to us in wisdom and power—came to converse with lowly shepherds. Angels came from the throne room of a holy God to a field full of sheep. Angels, who look upon God's splendor and glory, came to a world of sin and darkness.

Angels, who serve God, announced to the shepherds that God is coming to serve them by meeting mankind's greatest need. Have you ever wondered what was going on in the minds of the angels that very first Christmas? They came to make an announcement they could hardly believe. As servants of God, they aren't omniscient like God; they don't know all things. But they must have known prophecies of old, and they understood what was about to happen. I can't help but think it was a glorious moment. The God whom they served in the heavenlies was coming to earth in the form of a baby! Could it be true? Imagine how absurd that might seem to an angel who understands exactly how powerful God is—and how weak a human being is. But that's the genius of God. He knew that the humble condition of Jesus would be our hope. The world would finally see what it looks like for a man to walk with God. They would see the life we were meant to live.