Daily Bread

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped... —Philippians 2:5-6

Thoughts on Today's Verse...
Jesus did not cling to His heavenly glory but surrendered it to save us. He was born in a stable, made His first bed in a manger, and was welcomed to this world by lowly shepherds. His adoptive dad, Joseph, had to flee to Egypt with Mary to protect young Jesus. The Lord made His boyhood home in despised Nazareth, apprenticing in Joseph's carpenter's shop. Paul uses Jesus' surrender of His heavenly glory as an example for us. Paul, God's apostle to the nations, expended his human energy so Jesus would come alive in those who followed Jesus as Lord (Colossians 1:28-29). He reminded all disciples to focus on Jesus, to obey His teaching, and to follow his example. As we do, the Holy Spirit transforms us, with increasing likeness, into our Savior's sacrificial character. Now, we must serve each other as Jesus served. We must think of others' needs before our own comfort, preferences, and rights. Jesus' incarnation, ministry, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection were revolutionary. Now it is our turn to join the revolution and turn our fallen world upside down — a revolution we give our lives to help come to pass!

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" — which means, "God with us." —Matthew 1:22-23

Thoughts on Today's Verse...
God had repeatedly promised His people His presence. During the Wilderness wanderings, He was with them with the cloud during the day, the pillar of fire at night, and in the Holy of Holies above the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle. Men, women, and angels (1 Peter 1:10-12) had long anticipated our receiving God's presence close to them personally. Now, in Jesus, it has happened. God has come to us in His Son. Jesus is Immanuel — Immanu-El, God with us! We live on the visited planet, touched by the very presence of God among us, as one of us, who lived, died, and was raised from the dead for us (see John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:1-3; and Colossians 1:15-23 for the declaration of these truths). And it was just as the prophets of old had said.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. —2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Thoughts on Today's Verse...
In our battle against evil, we utilize the spiritual weapons of God, which enable us to discern the truth, protect ourselves, and deliver us into the freedom that victory brings (Ephesians 6:10-19). The devil's frequent tools are deception, distortion, and death. God's grace enables us to see through these deceptions and break their deceptive grip on the minds of men and women, freeing them from fear and temptation. God's power broke the barrier of death and gave us victory in Jesus Christ. And what is our task in this victory march? To obey our Lord and help others to do the same, finding His grace and power sufficient to help us overcome all that we face that could defeat us.

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." —Luke 9:23

Thoughts on Today's Verse...
Offering ourselves to God isn't a one-time event. We learned that yesterday — we offer ourselves, we offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). We are committing to die to our selfish wills and follow Jesus daily, obeying Him as we live to honor Him. As the Lord Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane with the Father, we must face our daily challenge to "take up [my] cross daily," putting our selfish wills on the cross, and crying out, "Not my will, but yours be done," Abba Father (Luke 22:42).