SEPTEMBER 22, 2025 ~ FROM A PASTOR'S HEART

SEPTEMBER 22 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: Philippians 1:3-11

Aren't you glad that the Lord is able to take broken, sinful, hurting people and make something beautiful out of us? For we who are God's children, the truth is that He does not see us the way we see ourselves. When God looks at us He sees us in His Son Jesus...and the Scripture says that we "…have been made perfect in Christ Jesus!" God takes imperfect people and makes them everything He intended for them to be in His Son, Jesus. In Christ we are complete...in Christ we are holy unto God...in Christ we are fully acceptable to God. God has made us joint heirs with Jesus and has adopted us into His eternal family...so we are no longer estranged from Him, no longer at enmity with Him, no longer contrary to Him. We are His very own and when He looks at us He sees the beauty of what He has made us in Christ.

This is so important, because we are inclined to think that we are what we once were, rather than what we are in Christ. Being stuck in the sin and the failings of the past leads us to believe that there is no way God could ever love us, much less ever use us. We are all guilty of sinning against God and going our own way...rejecting His holy way and living apart from Him. And left to our own devices we would be consumed in the ugliness of our sin and failings and ultimately be destroyed. But we have been reconciled to God in Christ Jesus...we have been made new creatures in Christ...we are now clean useful vessels for God's Kingdom work. Our enemy likes to keep reminding us what we once were, but we need to reject his voice and listen to the Spirit of God who tells us what we are now in Jesus!

Please share your thoughts.