Apicontent

Day 13

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) 

In this verse, we see the essence of God’s heart toward us. He is not filled with wrath and anger. His thoughts toward us are not about judgment or punishment. His heart is, and always has been, filled with love for us. 

In the Old Testament, we often read of the wrath and judgment of God. People were punished for their sins. But even before He sent His Son, we see that the Father’s kindness and mercy trump His anger. Scripture tells us, “With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you” (Isaiah 54:8). 

Actually, God’s wrath is as much a part of His love as are mercy and forgiveness. God’s love for us is demonstrated in His fierce wrath toward anything that would harm us. God hates sin because it damages you and me and He can’t stand that. The full force of His anger is directed against sin because it hurts us—the “very good” of His creation—the masterpieces of His design. Regardless of the cost—regardless of the sacrifice—He will fight to rid us of sin and death. 

But what is sin? When Jesus died for our sins, what did He die for? 

The Greek word for sin is hamartia. Hamartia means missing the true goal of life. All of us sin, not just in a moral or legal sense, but by missing the mark of living as God designed. When we consider our sin, we usually think of things we know we have done wrong or are doing wrong. But sin goes deeper than that. Hamartia encompasses ways of thinking, feeling and acting that we don’t even know about that block us from living in the relationship with God for which we were created. 

Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus died to free us of the sin keeping us from the Father and preventing us from being the people He created us to be. As the sinless Son of Man, the Son of God took our sin upon Himself and paid the full penalty for it. Jesus took the wrath of God our sins deserved; He took the separation they required. 

Hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me” (Matthew 27:46). And then He descended into hell—the hell we deserved for our sin but, in Christ, will never hold us captive. 

In His death, Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Old Covenant law so that we sinners could know the love of God. In Christ, the Father doesn’t remember your sins. He said, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). In Christ, God sees you washed clean in the blood of His Son. 

But no matter where we are in life, Satan, the “accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10), will pester us with thoughts to keep us from life in the fullness of God’s love. He will try to convince us that we are not “good” enough for God. We may be tempted to think God is mad at us in some way. We may fear that our trials are punishment for our sin. 

Many of us try so hard to pull ourselves up to the level of holiness we think God desires. We work tirelessly to leave our sinful humanity behind. Like modern-day Pharisees, we use religion (including Christianity) to try to improve ourselves. 

You may never be the person you want to be, but that is OK. The Father, Son, and Spirit welcome real people like you and me—with sins we can’t seem to overcome. God loves you as are you are. He sent His Son to restore you to the relationship with God for which you were designed. 

Ponder for a Moment 

Have you sinned in some way that you feel excludes you from God’s love? If so, Explain. 

What conditions might you have placed on God’s unconditional love? 

What does this passage tell you about how God actually sees you?

Day 14

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3) 

Eternal life is not just going to heaven when you die. It is not a one-time gift God gives to you and then He walks away. Eternal life is not a destination to be reached; it is a relationship to be enjoyed. Eternal life is you sharing yourself with God and God sharing Himself with you. It is living as part of the Trinity’s mutual love and goodness. Eternal life is knowing God. 

The Greek word for know is ginosko. Ginosko does not refer to a learning of facts like one might memorize important dates in history or learn about key events in someone’s life. Ginosko means to be connected intimately in experience, like two people come to know each other in marriage. Ginosko implies a deep, honest, relational knowing of the heart. 

There is a chasm of difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing someone in experience. 

A huge gap exists between knowing about God and actually knowing God. We can correctly define God as all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-present—even as loving. These facts are true, but knowing the facts is not the same as knowing Him. Our spiritual journeys can start as intellectual pursuits, but they won’t find fulfillment there. Eternal life cannot be reduced to truths we learn in a Bible study or by reading Scripture. 

All too often, honest, searching people give up on God because religion tells them about God, but discourages them from knowing and experiencing Him. Christianity wasn’t meant to be a religion. It wasn’t meant to be reduced to a set of theological truths. Christianity is knowing Jesus—God made a man you can relate to—in an ongoing, relational way, as you know a spouse or a best friend. 

But, how do you come to know God? 

Relationships don’t happen all at once. They begin gradually and grow over time. 

The Holy Spirit helps make the truth of the Father and the Son a living reality in our lives. He uses our life experiences, character flaws and sins to help us see that God accepts us unconditionally. He reveals God to us through Scripture, answered prayer, dreams, the actions of others … the simple beauty of a flower, a forest or a sunset. The Holy Spirit is wonderfully creative in the ways He opens our eyes and encourages us to trust in Jesus.

Our only part is to come to Jesus. Nothing else is required. He accepts us as the fearful, skeptical, sinful, needy people, we really are. Jesus said, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). 

God created each one of us for eternal life; we are meant to know Him. Without Him we are incomplete. Deep in the soul of every man, woman and child is the need to be appreciated, valued, and loved. This is the need God wants to satisfy. With heartfelt longing the Trinity desire you. 

However, God gives us free choice. He won’t force us into a relationship with Him—into eternal life. He won’t force us … because love, by its very nature, can’t be forced. Love can only be given and received by choice. Think of a young man who loves a certain woman. He wants to be with her. He lavishes her with gifts that he wants her to enjoy. He delights in her and he wants her to feel the same about him. But the young woman doesn’t have to accept his love. Mutual loving relationship is only possible where there is freedom to choose. Our participation is voluntary, not mandatory. 

The passion of the Trinity for us is more than we can fathom. Jesus made the greatest sacrifice for you. Nothing brings heaven greater joy than that you choose Him. 

Ponder for a Moment 

If you desire to have a relationship with Jesus, sincerely say these words, or something similar, to Him. 

Dear Jesus, You are the Son of God. You died on the cross for my sins. You love me just as I am right now. 

Jesus, I welcome You. Be with me in the ups and downs of life. Teach me Your ways and be Lord of my life. 

Thank You Jesus for coming to live in my heart and welcoming me into eternal life with You. Open my eyes and help me to see You as You really are. I want to know You more. 

Day 15

Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Matthew 22:35–39) 

Jesus summed up the most important commands in the Old Covenant by pointing to the importance of love. When asked by a Pharisee about the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus responded, “You shall love the LORD your God….” and, “You shall love your neighbor….” 

Both the Old and New Covenant emphasize that love is to be our highest calling. 

The Apostle John wrote, “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11). He said, “And this is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23). His admonition was, “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Let all that you do be done with love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). He encouraged the Ephesians, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us” (Ephesians 5:1–2). And to the Colossians Paul said, “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14). 

But how do we do the ought John spoke of? How do we walk in love or put on love as Paul encouraged? If we think of these New Testament scriptures as something we are to try in our own strength to do—as commands to be followed in the Old Covenant way—they become impossible to obey. 

And to make their impossibility blatantly clear, Jesus raised the bar on love. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43–44). How can we love like that? 

God is love and we were created in His image—to be like Him—to be part of His family and share agape.

Jesus came to show people what agape looks like in a human form, but His intent was never that we try to copy His actions by designing our own ways to help ourselves become more Christlike. 

Jesus came as the living embodiment of love so we could know and believe the love that God has for us. Jesus freely gives us the love that we share with others. Knowing we are loved allows us to love. We radiate agape because we have received agape. 

But I grew up, as many do, not fully understanding this. Somehow I understood that eternal life was mine despite my sins, but at the same time, I thought life on earth was to be lived by following “good,” “Christian” standards to improve myself. In a distorted way, I believed the law-based system of the Old Covenant was still in effect and that, while I was fully saved by grace, it was my job to live life on earth by trying to be honest, obedient, kind … and most of all loving. 

At the time I had no words or understanding for why I was struggling. I knew something wasn’t working, but I just kept trying harder to make my version of the “Christian” life work 

God, in His mercy, would show me the root of the problem, but it would be a rough and painful journey … 

Ponder for a Moment 

In the past, have you ever felt that something wasn’t right in your life, but had no words or understanding about the root cause? If so, describe such a time. 

If you could give your emotional/thought life to a friend, would they want what you have? How would they describe that life? 

Day 16

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1–3) 

The truth of those words crashed down upon me one hot, August morning. It had been about ten years since God had poured out His love on me that unforgettable evening as I lay on the floor of the church. 

From Scripture, I understood the importance of loving God and neighbor. So, like a “good” Christian, I was trying my hardest to do what I absolutely knew God wanted me to do—to be kind, caring, and compassionate like He was. 

But in the years since that night at church, I’d failed miserably. I’d had an affair. How could I have done such a terrible thing—especially after experiencing God’s love in such a dramatic way? I felt as though I’d spit in God’s face and told Him He wasn’t enough. I had sinned horribly. I felt like I didn’t deserve to be loved. 

“God is love.” I knew that intellectually. But I simply couldn’t accept it personally—down in the core of myself. I felt that I needed to clean myself up before I could be acceptable to God. So I shut myself off from relationship—receiving what I felt I absolutely did not deserve. 

In order to keep from sinning in such a horrible way again, I put all sorts of additional, Christian-sounding rules on myself: “Mary, you have to pray more.” “You have to walk in the Spirit.” “Don’t ever be alone with a man except your husband.” Like a modern-day Pharisee, I plastered myself with rules to prevent sin from coming out. 

I couldn’t fathom that, after what I’d done, God could still love me. In my twisted thinking, I believed I had to earn God’s love by obeying His commands … so I could prove I loved Him … so He would then want to be in relationship with me. I had no understanding of the spirit, soul, and body, and that the core need of my soul was to know God’s love—the very love I had shut myself off from by thinking my sin disqualified me. 

This was the condition of my life that hot, August day … when during a morning Bible study with a dear, older friend, she leaned forward and said, “Mary, can I tell you something?” The intensity of her eyes told me it was important.

“Yes,” I said. 

Her blue eyes looked into mine. “Mary, you don’t love.” 

The words hit me like a freight train. It was true—horribly true. I didn’t love. The first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13 flashed through my mind. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.…” I didn’t love and love was the most important thing. I was nothing—nothing but a loud, irritating noise-maker. 

I was failing miserably at the most important thing in life. The affair had ended years ago. I’d told my husband and he had forgiven me. We were going to church as a family and had youth group meetings in our home. Multiple Sclerosis was less of an issue for me and I was able to care for our children and do volunteer work for a mission organization. I was trying so hard to be good and love God and others. But life wasn’t working and I didn’t know why. 

I came out of my chair and lay face down on the living room carpet. What was wrong with me anyway? Why couldn’t I love? 

In total desperation, a prayer gushed out. “God, fix the wrong in me. I want to love. Whatever it takes.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

Consider a time in your life when you felt you didn’t deserve to be loved. What made you feel that way? 

Do you think God agreed with your opinion of yourself as being undeserving of love? Why or why not?

Day 17

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (John 13:34) 

Two years had passed since I’d prayed on my friend’s living room carpet: “God, fix what is wrong with me. I want to love. Whatever it takes.” 

In those years, “Whatever it takes” had taken a lot—so much, that had I known what was entailed, I would not have prayed those words. My marriage of 24 years had ended in divorce. My oldest son, a brilliant student-athlete, had fallen into alcohol abuse, dropped out of Harvard, and ended up in a mental hospital. The grief was almost more than I could bear. All my attempts to maintain the shiny façade of my “good Christian” life (and “help” those around me maintain the façade as well) had come to a painful end. My self-inflicted, rule-based version of Christianity had failed. 

I was broken and desperate … when one Sunday I heard a freeing truth. 

“What is the most important command that Jesus gives?” the visiting speaker began by asking. My pastor raised his hand: “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’ and ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37– 39). I would have responded similarly. 

But the speaker opened his Bible and pointed out that these were Old Covenant commands. Jesus had spoken in answer to a question posed by a Pharisee, “Teacher which is the greatest commandment of the law?” (Matthew 22:36). And then, to make it extra clear that these were Old Covenant commands, Jesus had concluded by saying, “On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). 

God intends that we live with Him in love. But the purpose of the Old Covenant wasn’t to get us back into loving relationship. Even before He gave the law through Moses, God knew that His commandments would be impossible to always obey. Rather, the purpose of the law was to make it abundantly clear that people were incapable of keeping the commandments. 

God’s intent was that the law would help us realize that our best efforts are not enough. We need help. We need a Savior! “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). 

Jesus brought a New Covenant with a new commandment to replace the Old Covenant with its Ten Commandments. On the night of the last supper, He took a cup of wine and shared it with the disciples saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Then He gave one “new commandment” to go with the New Covenant. He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” 

Wow! A new commandment—a new way to love—made possible by Jesus! I could hardly believe what I was hearing. 

Without realizing it, I had wrongly assumed that because I’d accepted Jesus, I was living in the New Covenant. Yet really, I’d been trying to meet the impossible demands of the Old Covenant. 

But this new command was different. It wasn’t about trying to love God and my neighbor out of my own strength. It was believing that Jesus loved me. Knowing God’s great love for us allows us to love others. God Himself is the source of the love. Believing Jesus’ love for us fulfills the command. 

This was why I wasn’t loving. Because I wasn’t letting myself receive God’s love (because I didn’t feel worthy … because I’d sinned so horribly), I had nothing to give away except a cheap imitation of “love” dressed in “good-Christian” façade. 

Dear brother, dear sister, God didn’t intend that Christianity be just another religion with impossible rules to obey. Trying to follow rules, do the right things, and love God and others in your own strength doesn’t work. God is the source of the love you get to freely receive … and freely give. 

Ponder for a Moment 

In what ways might you be trying to live in both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant at the same time? 

What connection do you personally feel between knowing you are loved and loving others? 

Day 18

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. (1 John 4:10) 

We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) 

We are born to be loved. The soul of each and every one of us carries this foundational need. If we dig down deep enough past the temporary satisfactions that come from worldly pleasures, we will find it. If we let ourselves feel the need we try to cover up through addictions and busyness, we will find it. 

We all need love: God preprogrammed us this way. We can’t be the people He intends without knowing we are treasured, valued, and accepted. It is as if God made us with holes in our hearts that can only be filled in loving relationship. 

It isn’t enough to supply a child with food and shelter. Babies need to be cuddled and cherished. From birth, we are made to be cooed at and fussed over, held close and carried about. We are meant to know from early on that we are special and adored. 

Research has shown this to be true over and over again. Children reared in understaffed orphanages or by inattentive caregivers struggle throughout life. Newborns who do not receive nurturing care grow up to be socially and emotionally distant. Relating to others—even caring others—is difficult. Rather than feeling connected and secure, they feel anxious and uneasy. These same infants often grow up to be poor parents themselves. They can’t give what they haven’t received. 

God created us to be loved … and so, “He first loved us.” 

Think of a good father with his newborn. He holds the baby close to his chest. He strokes her tiny head with his fingers. When the little one opens her eyes the father smiles and coos. He rocks the baby and sings to her. What joy the father experiences in just being with his child. 

Through spit-ups, dirty diapers, and crying in the night, the good father treasures and adores his baby. Nothing can shake that love. 

Think about it. The father doesn’t demand that the baby love him. The father doesn’t hold the little one at arm’s length and say, “Love me, baby. Love me with everything in you. Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love me and I will love you in return. Just be good and I will love you.” No. The father doesn’t do that.

And neither does God. How could God’s love for us be any less than a good father’s love for his child? 

Yet somehow we often act like it is. It is easy to fall into the trap of trying to love God or others without first really knowing (not just intellectually, but experientially) that our Father loves us. The impossible demands of the Old Covenant law ring in our ears. “You shall love the LORD your God.… You shall love your neighbor….” (Matthew 22:37, 39). 

But without first knowing we are loved, it is impossible to follow these commands. Just like children raised in understaffed orphanages, we can’t give what we haven’t first received. 

Jesus came to earth to make a new way—to forge a New Covenant. God as a baby in a manger— God as a man nailed to the cross—is the source and supply of the love we all so desperately need. 

God loves you first. You are valuable and precious. You don’t need to do anything to earn it. You don’t need to hold a certain set of beliefs. You don’t need to be anything different than you are right now. Every bit of God loves every bit of you. He is for you in every way. God loves you despite…. He treasures you always…. He cherishes you just because…. Jesus came to fill the holes in your heart—the holes designed to be filled with love. 

Ponder for a Moment 

How do you explain the source of your desire to belong and be accepted, to be appreciated and valued? 

In what ways might early life experiences have made it difficult for you to receive care and affection from others? from God? 

Day 19

Search me, O God and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23–24) 

“Search me.” “Know my heart.” “Try me.” “Lead me.” This is David’s cry. He is asking for God to shine His light into his deepest thoughts and feelings—into the depths of his heart. There is no hiding, bargaining, or game-playing. David lays his heart—the organ of spirit and soul together— open for God to renew anything that is not right within. David is serious about letting God do His work, whatever it takes. 

What enabled David to pray this prayer? What enabled him to be so honest and vulnerable before God? 

David could approach the Lord like this because he understood God’s nature. He knew God would not be put off by his sins or wrong thinking. He knew God would not reject, despise or shame him. This gave David confidence to return again and again to God, in times of failure or triumph, sadness or joy. 

After Samuel confronted King David about his affair with Bathsheba, David prayed, “Have mercy upon me. O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.” “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:1, 10). 

King Saul wasn’t like this. When he sinned, he ran from God and hid behind excuses. When he failed to wait for Samuel and presented the offering to the Lord himself, he gave excuses. “The people were scattered … you did not come … the Philistines gathered” (1 Samuel 13:11). 

We also see this difference between Peter and Judas. Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. But he was so eager to be with Him again that he leaped out of the fishing boat and swam to meet Jesus on the shore. Judas, on the other hand, betrayed Jesus and then went away and hung himself. 

The difference between David and Saul, between Peter and Judas, was not that one sinned less than the other. Each and every one of us sins in too many ways to count. The difference was that David and Peter turned toward God even in failure, whereas Saul and Judas turned away. 

After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve hid from God and that has been the default position of the human race ever since. Our “opened” eyes do not see God as He really is. We avoid the One who wants to be with us and help us. We run from the One who forgives and restores. 

Knowing that God is for us gives us the confidence to come to Him and let Him do the searching. Now we can be vulnerable and welcome Him into thoughts and feelings hidden even from ourselves. We all have distorted thinking patterns that warp our minds and twist our feelings and actions in ways of which we are unaware. God knows these things and He will bring His freeing truth to us. 

When we welcome Him, the Holy Spirit will search, He will find and He will uproot what is not right. He will cleanse us of hurtful ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. When David said, “See if there be any wicked way in me,” the words wicked way actually mean way of pain, stress, brokenness, and misunderstanding. David gave God permission to look for deep-seated patterns of thoughts and their associated feelings that were causing him to be less than the man God intended. 

Trusting God to have His way in us allows Him to do the work of changing us from the inside out. We come to know God as we let Him know us. As we share our thoughts and feelings with Him, we experience Him in our ups and downs, our healings and hurts, our victories and sins. 

Ponder for a Moment 

“Search me, O God and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

Let David’s prayer be yours today. 

Day 20

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24) 

God designed us in His image. He wants us to know and radiate His nature of lovingkindness. We are called to be like Jesus in this world. 

So, how does God intend that we function? How did God make us to be like Him? 

We are made up of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. Each has a different and vital function, but God designed that the parts work together in agreement with Him. 

Our spirit is designed to be the resting place for God. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). When we believe in Jesus, He comes to live in our spirit and we are “born again” into eternal life. 

But our life in Christ isn’t meant to stop there. Our soul and body also need restoring. 

Our soul is composed of our mind, will, and emotions; it is our unique self. God made our mind, will, and emotions to be filled with Him—permeated by His thoughts and feelings. We are meant to be led by His Spirit in our spirit. But we have free will. Our soul can do as it pleases. It can agree with the Spirit or it can hold to thoughts and emotions that oppose God. It can choose its own will over God’s. 

As we grow in relationship with God, we surrender the ways of our independent soul and let Him lead. Untrue, hurtful thoughts and feelings we learned from trying to survive on our own in a messed-up world die away as we grow in agreement with Him.

We don’t lose our unique self as we grow in Christ. Our personality is a lasting gift God gives to each one of us. We may still enjoy painting or playing soccer, for example. We may still tend to be quiet and reserved or talkative and outgoing. But now God’s nature flows through our unique personality. 

Our body is the house for the inward, hidden spirit and soul. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The body keeps us alive on earth. It eats, drinks and interfaces with the physical world. In God’s design, our body expresses our mind, will, and emotions. When our soul is renewed, as we paint, we portray the beauty of the earth He created or the compassion of a mother for her baby. When our soul is renewed, we treat other soccer players with the same care and compassion God has for us. It is the contents of our soul—not our spirit directly—that causes our body to act as it does. 

We are not meant to forge our own way in life by relying on the strength of our independent soul and trying to make ourselves look “right” on the outside. God’s intent is that we be led by the Spirit—not the soul (no matter the “good” or religious nature of its intentions). God’s design is that we know His love deep inside of us and radiate Him from the inside out. Our spirit is made alive with His Spirit. Our soul is renewed so that we come to think and feel about ourselves and others as God does. And our body manifests the contents of our soul, giving God expression on earth. 

In this way, God is seen and heard through each and every one of His children. He is the source of His image in us. Just as God showed Himself through Jesus Christ, He shows Himself through us. He is the source of love and we are the spirit-soul-body channels that express His love on earth. 

It is a promise. The God of peace will sanctify us completely in spirit, soul, and body. “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

In what ways does this understanding of how God created you—spirit, soul, and body—bring clarity to your struggles and/or purpose in life? Explain. 

Day 21

Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane…and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death, stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:36–39) 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus fought the greatest war of eternity. The souls of every man, woman, and child who had ever lived and who would ever live were at stake. Jesus battled for us all that night. His agony of soul was for you and for me. 

God created humankind to live in relationship with Him and to reign over the earth in keeping with His lovingkindness. God intended that we express His will on earth. He intended that the soul (the mind, will, and emotions) of humanity be under His guidance because that is what is best for us. 

But, in the Garden of Eden, Adam fell for Satan’s temptation and chose his own will over God’s. He cut himself off from relationship—from life in God’s goodness. After the fall, humans, with their “opened” eyes and new-found knowledge of good and evil, had to make their own decisions. Now the independent soul, separated from God, reigned over earth. 

The Father sent His Son as a man to accomplish in the last garden (Gethsemane) what Adam had fallen from in the first (Eden). He came to win back our place in union with God. 

In this passage, we see the intensity of the battle that raged in the last garden. Jesus asked for the cup to pass … but nevertheless willed His suffering soul to hold fast to God’s will. “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death…. O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” 

We cannot grasp the anguish. As he battled in the garden, Jesus sweat drops of blood knowing what lay before Him. 

Scripture records the horrid physical events that followed in vivid detail. Jesus was betrayed, falsely accused, whipped, spat upon and cursed. He stumbled along a path lined with mockers to a hill called Golgotha. A crown of thorns was pressed upon His head. Onlookers despised the “King of the Jews” nailed to the cross for their sins. 

Yet the internal horror is hidden from view. The suffering of the “cup” was far greater than we can comprehend. It was as if Jesus’ heart was being torn in two. Throughout His life, He had always done His Father’s will … and known He was pleasing to His Father. But now, doing God’s will meant not unity, but separation; it meant experiencing the Father’s judgment and wrath. 

When Jesus surrendered His will and took the sin of the human race upon Himself, the relationship He knew with His Father was severed. In agony of soul He cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). Our Savior bore the punishment of separation and wrath our sin deserved. 

In the last garden, Jesus chose His Father’s will over His own. Our restored relationship with God—our acceptance and embrace—came through Jesus’ loss of these very things. Jesus took the wrath we deserved for our sin and gave us instead His life in union with God. In this way, Jesus became the perfect expression—the unbroken channel—for God’s love on earth. 

Dearly beloved, let your soul rest in Jesus’ sacrifice. He chose to lay down His life, becoming in His death the greatest expression of love the world will ever know. He bore the penalty for your sin; He took the separation you deserved. Jesus reconciles you, as you really are, to the Father, as He really is. This is the vastness of His love for you. 

Ponder for a Moment 

Consider Jesus’ struggle to surrender His will to the will of His Father. What does this mean to you personally? 

Day 22

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder.” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8–10) 

Obedience to the Old Covenant law is not the basis of God’s acceptance of us; and it is not the means by which we come to enjoy eternal life. Following rules and regulations, even those based on Scripture, will never get us back to God. 

The Ten Commandments clearly spell out the good to do and the evil to avoid, but the law doesn’t provide the ability to actually do what it says. The knowledge of good and evil (as clearly defined by the Old Covenant law) drives us to try and become like God by doing good and avoiding evil. But our independent soul, separated from God, simply cannot do the “good” it intends; religion doesn’t work. 

When God gave the Ten Commandments, He knew that in our fallen nature, obedience was impossible. But He gave the Old Covenant anyway … so we could learn that fact for ourselves. He gave the law to show us our utter inability to obey the law … so we would come to the end of ourselves … give up on our independent soul-led living … and find life in Jesus. “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). 

Voices in our heads may tell us differently. Satan is a legalist; he will whisper condemning thoughts based on our failures to measure up to the standards we hold. He will tell us things like, “You lied again.” “Shame on you.” “You won’t ever be good enough!” 

Don’t listen to these lies. God’s lovingkindness is the basis of your acceptance. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The love of the Father, Son, and Spirit is the firm, unshakable foundation of your eternal life. It’s not about your sins keeping you away; it’s about God keeping you close. It’s not about your exclusion and failure under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; it’s about your inclusion in Jesus’ victory. 

God doesn’t love you because you are good. He makes you good because He loves you. 

As we come to know God’s love, we become naturally obedient. When we know we are loved, we treat others with that same love. And, the one “who loves another has fulfilled the law.” If we love someone, we won’t commit adultery, murder, or steal. We will honor them, respect them and want what is best for them. Knowing we are loved makes us good so that we radiate His lovingkindness from the inside out. 

Scripture doesn’t say, “Love abolishes the law.” Love doesn’t do away with the law. It doesn’t make stealing or adultery OK. Love isn’t lawless. Rather, love verifies that the law is right. Love fulfills the law; it makes the commandments naturally doable for the soul at rest in God’s love. 

We live out the life God desires and promised for us, not by putting external rules on ourselves to stifle “bad” behaviors, but by truly becoming good from the inside out. Our soul isn’t meant to try and live by obeying rules. It is meant to live by obeying the Spirit—by living in agreement with God who is love. 

With our spirit alive with His Spirit, our soul abiding in Jesus’ love and our body naturally expressing that, the law is fulfilled! “Love is the fulfillment of the law.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

What thoughts and feelings arise in you as you consider the statement: “God doesn’t love you because you are good. He makes you good because He loves you.” 

What thoughts and feelings arise in you as you consider the Scripture, “Love is the fulfillment of the law”? 

In some way might you have been thinking God desires your obedience or holiness more than He desires you? Explain your answer.