Peace is God’s desire for us. His peace, beyond our understanding, is not restricted by our circumstances but is available in all situations through His Spirit.
James 1:9-10 (ESV) "Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away."
Jesus is the Creator and sustainer of the universe. He is the Son over his own house to which house we belong as believers. Today if we hear the voice of Holy Spirit and do not harden our hearts He will guide us in the way of Jesus. Christ allows us to help build His house with our good works.
John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
God detests unbelief. God the Son suffered and died for us for our sins. His glory will not be shared with those who see the truth and count it worthless.
Our passage today reveals James' heart for these brothers and sisters in the faith. Although the upper-class members of their culture may have disregarded them as poor and insignificant, God had chosen them to be "rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom" (James 2:5).
Next, James exhorted those in a high position to boast of their "humiliation," or low position. The word translated as "humiliation" in James 1:10 comes from the same Greek root word used for "lowly" in James 1:9. In other words, wealthy believers also needed to see themselves through God's eternal eyes: humbly realizing that all their earthly riches would not make them any more or less valuable to Him.
Jesus also taught about the eternal Kingdom of God where "the last will be first, and the first last" (Matthew 20:16). Clearly, humility is valued in God's Kingdom.
Whether rich or poor by the standards of the world, those who love Jesus are "heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17). There is no greater wealth or inheritance. First5
…God is here.
In this moment.
In this conversation.
In this embrace.
In this connection.
In this relationship.
And yes, even in the confusion.
Even in the untidiness.
I love Sister Joan Chittister’s confirmation, "There are two ways to do anything. We can do it in order to make life better for me, or we can do it in order to make life better for someone else, as well as for me. The first way gets the thing done; the second way gets the thing done and makes life a sacrament." Sabbath Moments
“Yesterday I had a good morning. Once again when I recollect myself, I again find the same simple demands of God: gentleness, humility, charity, interior simplicity; nothing else is asked of me. And suddenly I saw clearly why these virtues are demanded, because through them the soul becomes inhabitable for God and for one's neighbor in an intimate and permanent way. Hardness and pride repel, complexity disquiets. But humility and gentleness welcome, and simplicity reassures.” (Raissa Maritain’s journal entry from the early 1900s)
Bread of Life? Jesus lived up to the title. But you know, an unopened loaf does a person no good. Have you received the bread? Have you received God’s forgiveness? Max Lucado
John 20:21–23
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” The New King James Version
This is a reference to the Holy Spirit’s work within people. The Holy Spirit is the one who forgives and uses believers to deliver His words and message, carrying out God’s will. This fits with the Spirit’s role as an advocate for sinners. Also the work of the Spirit. Faithlife Study Bible
The ministry to which Jesus called the disciples required spiritual power. The reference here is to a special preparation of the apostles who were to become the foundation of the church at Pentecost. Here Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples. At Pentecost the Spirit unified the believers into one body and empowered them to testify of Jesus. The reception of the Spirit here is reminiscent of the creative breath of God into Adam in Genesis 2:7. Yet the gift here was not a human spirit, but the Spirit of the living God. The apostles did not take Jesus’ words to mean that they had the power to forgive sins. They knew that only God could forgive sins. Neither the apostles nor the church had the power to forgive specific sins or to prevent forgiveness for any individual. Fundamentally Jesus was speaking of the responsibility of the church to declare the gospel to all the world, so that those who believe in Jesus can find the precious gift of forgiveness. The NKJV Study Bible
When He manifests his love to believers by the comforts of his Spirit, he assures them that because he lives, they shall live also. A sight of Christ will gladden the heart of a disciple at any time; and the more we see of Jesus, the more we shall rejoice. He said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, thus showing that their spiritual life, as well as all their ability for their work, would be derived from him, and depended upon him. Every word of Christ which is received in the heart by faith, comes accompanied by this Divine breathing; and without this there is neither light nor life. Nothing is seen, known, discerned, or felt of God, but through this. After this, Christ directed the apostles to declare the only method by which sin would be forgiven. This power did not exist at all in the apostles as a power to give judgment, but only as a power to declare the character of those whom God would accept or reject in the day of judgment. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Matthew 16:19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 18:18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
John 17:18–19 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
John 20:19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
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