The story is a familiar one: Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem where Jesus is born. Though familiar, it is glorious, for in it we read the second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God “was manifested in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). He was not only born in humble conditions but humbled himself, as the apostle Paul describes it, “he [who] was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6-7). And such a glorious act of God’s love did not happen by accident but according to the providence of God.
Tag Archives: God's Plan
Lawless Deeds, Definite Plan
Sometimes, do the circumstances of life make you wonder: Is God really in control? Perhaps doctrinally you know better, but do your thoughts and actions tell differently? Do you wonder sometimes: If God is good, and if “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28), then do bad things mean that God has lost control? Is he merely a spectator, watching as events unfold? Or, does he wait to respond or react as necessary?
He Is the One; There Is No Other
Belief is not circumstantial but is a gift of God’s grace and must be received as such. You cannot will it to be, and it will never be on your terms. Try harder and do better, exhaust your efforts on the treadmill of works, if you please, but the gift of grace is just that, a gift so that no one may boast.
Planter, Pastor, Preacher 