Spending Christmas with a baby in the house has been fabulous. Of course, the fact that she is my granddaughter doesn’t hurt.
Now, Felicity has her moments. She has cried, fussed, woken up in the night….after all, she is a baby….
I’m thinking again about the birth of the Baby we just celebrated.
He “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
Flesh – meaning that He had all the urges that we have:
The urge to snap someone’s head off for no reason.
The urge to stuff one more bite of food into His mouth when His belly was already full.
The urge to correct someone just for the sake of being right.
He was “tempted in every way, just as we are” (Hebrews 4:15).
Golly – and to have those urges day after day for 33 years – and yet to not trip up on any point. (Whew….how exhausting!)
But then again, maybe not. That’s where the power of the Spirit comes in.
His prayer in Gethsemene wasn’t unique. It’s just recorded. He had been praying “not My will, but Your’s God” 24/7 for His entire life (Luke 22:42, Hebrews 5:7).
See, He doesn’t expect us to “try harder” to make those perfect decisions. No, He is willing to do the hard part (Titus 2:14). It’s just our responsibility to hand Him the options.
It’s kinda like pulling the electrical cords off our on fleshly desires and asking that the energy come from Him instead (Ephesians 4:22-24). We just have to faithe the surge (Romans 6:17).
“Lord, open our hearts up to the Truth that You were flesh, just as we are.
“May we see that because You dealt daily with fleshly instincts, so we can come boldly to You Who perfectly understands what the weakness feels like.
“ As I come to You, I can do so without being ashamed of my weakness and without being afraid of Your condemnation (Romans 8:1) The Spirit of Remembrance within You keeps the memories of Your own struggles ever before You.
“Because of these memories, You are ever ready to have compassion upon me. I come to You for the purpose of receiving what I will need for the troubles of the day ahead. You know just what that will be.
“I’ll receive what You offer with thankfulness. You are amazing. With the authority I have in Christ I pray, Amen.”
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