Living in the Spirit
August 18, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:18-29

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. –Hebrews 12:22-24

The other side of this statement of God’s all-powerful nature is recorded by the Psalmist Chapter 8: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals that you care for them?

 Perfect power is love. One of my kindergarten-teacher nieces, I have two, forwarded a Facebook message at the start of the school year that simply said something to the effect that children with special needs want the same outcomes in life as anyone else and simply want to be treated with that in mind. What may be perceived by some as imperfect attains perfection in love. Christ desires the perfection of our love and enables it through his love.

This human has a long way to go toward perfect love and takes great solace in knowing that the very source of love has my back as I engage a world, God’s world, struggling to love like Jesus loves. When lesser gods try to entice me with instant gratification or personal gain or attaining power, I can be transformed by God’s perfect love as can all humans.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for sending Jesus as a perfect example of love and for sustaining his work through the gift of the Spirit. Hold fast to we leafs on your vine who need such nourishment each day. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.