Birthday Verse 3:18

This post is late today. Sometimes I wonder if the devil blocks my path or if I allow my distractions to call the shots. Maybe it’s a combination of both. Thankfully, it’s always the time to turn around and go in the direction you know is the right one for you.

Today’s birthdate was chosen with three special people in mind: my dad, one of my sisters, and my first born son. With that trinity of souls, maybe I should consider that God has a message for me among the books of the bible that contain chapter three-verse 18. More than one of them talked about “changing your ways” and “suffering for Christ.” And I just know God was laughing when I turned to Colossians 3:18 and read “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord.” My first reaction to this verse was not favorable. I’ve come to understand–and not find it offensive–since then.

But the majority of 3:18 verses spoke of positive matters, such as the Letter of James who encouraged us to be peacemakers, and 1 Timothy that says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.”

And so I chose the following three verses for my sister (I’ll have a different blog for my son on Thursday):

For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit.

1 Peter 3:18

Wow! On your birthdate, you get “the” message of the faith–that God wants you in heaven with Him–delivered by none other than the first Pope! How do you feel, hearing that Jesus suffered so much to clear the path for you to find Him?

All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

How does it make you feel to have the Bible state that if you face the Lord–whether you live up to all He asks of you or not, but if you try–you are being transformed by the Spirit? No need to compare yourself to the world’s standard of “good” and “holy.” The rule beyond the world is God’s willingness to transform you.

[.. that you, rooted and grounded in love,] may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:18

How wonderful to have a birthday verse that is one of the most lyrical pronouncements of God’s love! Again, how do you feel hearing that God wants to fill you with personal knowledge of how wide and deep, how large and beyond measure is God’s love for you?

Thanks for visiting this blog today. I hope you’ll take time to answer the questions. It helps you know yourself but more importantly, it’s a simple way to visit with God.

God bless.