Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

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Christ Jesus Lived and Died for You {No Matter What Monday}

January 9, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

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Last week we saw that Jesus gave up the perfection of Heaven to rescue us (Philippians 2:5-7). In the following verse, we learn He didn’t just trade Heaven for Earth. He traded glory for a gruesome execution.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8)

Jesus “humbled Himself by becoming obedient.” He was the only sinless man who has walked this earth. His perfect obedience qualified Him to take your place on the cross. As the only one undeserving of God’s punishment, He became a substitute for you when God poured out His wrath on Him. Jesus lived the perfect life that you cannot live.

Jesus “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” In the first-century Roman empire, crucifixion was regarded as the worst form of execution. The shame of hanging naked in public was nothing compared to the excruciating pain of bones breaking and slow suffocation. This painful, shameful death was reserved for the most heinous criminals.

Jesus humbled Himself for you. There was no other way to save you. You could not save yourself by good works, and you could not meet God’s standard of righteousness. Because of His great love for you, Jesus left the glory of Heaven, lived a perfect life, died an agonizing death, and experienced the wrath of the Father.

Because of His sacrifice, even though you live an imperfect life, you can one day taste the glory that Jesus left behind.

No matter what you face this week, Christ Jesus lived and died for you.

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Why I Stopped Handing Out Parenting Books

February 2, 2015 by Marissa 2 Comments

When my oldest child was a toddler, I read a couple of parenting books and decided I had this parenting thing figured out.  I loved the book Don’t Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman and recommended it to everyone I knew.  I was wholeheartedly on board with the idea of teaching my kids to obey me, just as they need to obey God someday.  If any of my friends encountered parenting struggles, rather than listening and praying with them, I told them to read the book.  (Seriously.  How do I still have friends??!!)

As my kids grew older, parenting got more complicated.  It became less black and white (“don’t run into the street!”) and a little more confusing (“are you supposed to punish them for being irresponsible?”).  And I was introduced to a couple of newer parenting books that talked less about first-time obedience and more about giving your children grace.

These books seemed just as biblically-based as the earlier books I had read and left me confused.  Was I supposed to demand obedience or give grace?  Or both?  And how?

I saw an article posted on social media lately that talked about not giving your kids a warning before expecting them to obey.  There was a lot of backlash in the comments, and people were clearly in two camps:  either agreeing with the article that parents should demand immediate obedience or disagreeing and saying parents need to discipline with grace.

This brought to my mind the division I see among Christian parents today.  There’s the group I will loosely term the “obedience camp” and the group I will call the “grace camp.”  These are probably unfair generalizations–I know that those in the obedience camp often give grace and preach the Gospel to their children.  And those in the grace camp set boundaries and require obedience.  But many parents and authors I know tend to fall more on one side or another.  And we silently (or sometimes not-so-silently) judge those on the other side for being too strict or too lenient.

So I wonder, which camp should I fall in?  I feel a lot of pressure from both sides.  One side has a curriculum called Growing Kids God’s Way.  Of course I want to grow my kids God’s way!  Another book I’ve read is Grace-Based Parenting.  There’s nothing more important that grace, right?  How do I choose between parenting God’s way and basing it on grace?  It’s enough to keep a mom awake at night, and trust me, that’s really saying something!

But what if the obedience camp and the grace camp are both biblically correct?  What if they are both God’s way of showing His grace to our children?

What if God, in His wisdom and sovereignty, gives parents different personalities and preferences and strengths and weaknesses that match the needs of their children? 

What if God loves our children so much that He gave them the parents they would need to grow into what He wants them to be?

What if, rather than following a formula or a book or a list of ten parenting application points, we search the Scriptures to see what God says about how to relate to our children and others?

What if not having all the answers causes us to fall on our knees every morning and beg the Lord for the wisdom to deal with whatever we will face that day as parents?  

I bet that would lead to some grace-based, obedience-demanding, radical Christian parenting.

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Broken Cisterns

November 11, 2009 by Marissa 2 Comments

Have you ever noticed a period of time when every Bible study, every sermon, every life experience seems to revolve around the same theme?  It’s as if God tosses subtlety aside and very clearly says, “I want you to learn this!”  This has been happening to me lately.  And the message I’m getting loud and clear is:  Only God can satisfy me and provide the joy and peace that I need.  When I put my trust in other things, they will fail.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a very bad week.  I was sick, the kids were sick, we had a death in the family, and much, much more that I won’t go into now.  Trust me, it was a bad week.  The week was supposed to end with an overnight getaway for my hubby and me for my birthday.  We hadn’t been away overnight in a really long time, which means I hadn’t slept past 7:30 a.m. in a very long time.  So for about two months, I had my eye on October 25 as Sleeping In Day.  (Have I mentioned that I love, love, love sleeping in?)

Well, thanks to a 3-year-old with a high fever, we managed to get away for a few hours but decided to come home before the overnight (and sleeping in) part of the trip.  Rather than sleeping in and enjoying a day of outlet shopping with my hubby, I spent the day sitting at a doc-in-the-box clinic with a kid who had a fever of 104.  Good times .

In the midst of my bad day at the end of a bad week, I sat down to do my BSF lesson.  The lesson was on Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-26).  In John 4:13-14, Jesus tells her:  “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Then I read Jeremiah 2:13:  “For my people have committed two evils:  they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

So the obvious lesson here is:  Marissa is hewing out broken cisterns of sleep that can hold no water.  If Marissa were satisfied in Christ, drinking in His living water, she wouldn’t be devastated by not getting to sleep in.  And you want to know how well I learned this lesson?  So well that 5 days later, when the same child started running a fever a few hours before Getaway Attempt #2, I threw a very impressive adult temper tantrum about it.  (We went anyway, but the sleeping in eluded me as I worried about my sick kid and the poor grandparents who were stuck taking care of him.)

The whole experience (and my awful reaction to it) has me thinking about broken cisterns in my life.  Those things–some good (sleep), some bad (complaining)–that I turn to for comfort when I’m stressed, worried, tired or sad.  Those things seem to make it better for awhile, but then after a few days (or hours, or minutes), I’m right back where I was before.

Here are some questions I’ve been asked by Bible study leaders and pastors in recent month–remember, God has to make a big deal of something these days to get me to notice it:

Do the people around you see that you are completely satisfied in Christ?  If not, then why? (Please, please do not ask Noel or my good friends this question.  Maybe you could ask someone who sees me about once a month with a happy smile on my face and well-behaved children?)

Where do you turn when things get difficult? Food, tv, complaining, gossip, shopping, time to yourself? (Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. and double Yes.)

Where are you placing your trust other than the Lord? (Sleep, money, and myself, just to name a few.)

When I put the answers to these last two questions together, my behavior really shows itself to be ridiculously silly, not to mention sinful.  When things get tough, I want to grab a piece of chocolate cake and take my mind off things with some brainless television.  So basically, I’m saying to the Sovereign, All-knowing, All-powerful Creator of the universe, “Thanks, God, but I think I’ll let this cake and this tv show solve my problem.”  And then I wonder why I struggle with the same thing again the next day.  Because it should be obvious . . . God is bigger than my problems.  Chocolate cake is not. Only God can make me more and more holy, conforming me to the image of Christ so that I can love others and glorify Him.

How I’d love to leave those broken cisterns behind and drink only of the living water, finding my deepest satisfaction in my Savior.  I know it will be a continuing struggle for me, but I’m thankful that God has knocked me over the head with this lesson.  🙂

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Adventures in Couponing

July 11, 2009 by Marissa 2 Comments

Several months ago, my husband started expressing his desire for us to start spending less and saving more.  (This may or may not have coincided with a certain Democrat being elected president and vowing to “reform” health care.  But that is another story for another blog.)  He has repeated this preposterous suggestion many, many times.  And every time, my flesh (sinful nature) has done a good job of ignoring it.  After all, his job is pretty secure, he’s not making less money than he did a year ago–why should we cut back?  Shouldn’t I be doing my part to stimulate the economy and support my local retailers?  (I really want Gymboree to survive this economic turmoil.)  It seemed crazy for my husband to ask me to make sacrifices, and not even so I could use the saved money for something fabulous, like an iPhone or a cleaning lady.  Just for the sake of spending less and saving more.  He must be nuts, right?

After some conversations with my wonderful friends (if you don’t have godly, truth-speaking friends in your life, may I suggest you get some immediately?), I realized that this was a huge area of disobedience in my life.  My husband is asking me to do something.  He is not asking me to sin.  In fact, the thing he is asking me to do is perfectly reasonable, probably a good idea, and (gulp) would be glorifying God by thinking less about my own selfish desires.  I knew it was time for the S-word:  submission.  I couldn’t bring myself to submit right away, so I started by praying that God would convict me and enable to submit and obey.  And then I turned to my local expert on honoring your husband by spending less money:  my friend Lynette.

I’ve been giving Lynette my coupons out of the Sunday paper for months.  I had no idea what she was doing with them, but I knew I needed to find out.  I broke the sad news to her that she would no longer be getting my coupons and asked her to share her secrets with me.  Thankfully, she is very supportive of my saving money AND my submitting to my husband!  She taught me a few key strategies:

1.  Stop being married to specific brands.  I was shocked when I compared the shampoo I usually buy with some much cheaper alternatives.  I’ve been having shampoo tunnel vision for months, and my hair doesn’t even look that great.

2.  Track the cost of items that you buy on a regular basis.  When they go on sale, stock up.

3.  Keep your coupons from the Sunday paper, and then use blogs such as Common Sense With Money, Money Saving Mom and Passion for Savings to find out how to maximize your savings by combining coupons with low sale prices.

4.  Don’t be afraid to shop at Aldi.  (I haven’t conquered this one yet.  Maybe when the kids go back to school in the fall, and I don’t have to take three kids with me everywhere I go.)

This concept of combining sales and coupons is amazing!  It is definitely worth spending some time on.  In my first week, check out what I got . . . serious bargain-hunting bloggers always take a photo:

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Pringles for 49 cents, family-size boxes of Special K for $2.50 each, Edy’s ice cream for $1.33 each, and deodorant for 38 cents!  I also got a pint of Starbucks ice cream for 50 cents, but I gave that to my sister-in-law, because seriously, how much ice cream does a girl need when she has baby weight to lose?!?

Back when I was just dipping my toe into the pool of obedience but not ready to jump in, I read on a stay-at-home mom’s blog that she thinks that her job is to save her family as much money as possible.  I thought, “Poor thing.  My job is much more enjoyable–spending our family’s money and having fun doing it.  Oh, wait . . . hmm, maybe that isn’t supposed to be my job . . . oh bummer, this woman is right!”  Now I have a new view on my job description, though sometimes I miss my old job.   I can’t wait to see what my new strategies will accomplish when it comes to lowering our spending, and (more importantly) pleasing my husband and letting him know that what’s important to him is important to me.  I want to honor my husband with my spending, following the example given to us as women in Proverbs 31:

An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.

Proverbs 31:10-11

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marissahenley.com

I write to remind myself of the truth of God's promises. I share my writing here in case you need to be reminded sometimes, too.

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This month we’ve been studying God’s providenc This month we’ve been studying God’s providence—His power to sustain, govern, and direct all things, according to His purpose and without limits. Today we’ll see in the book of Isaiah that God’s providence extends through all eternity in the past, present, and future. 

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” (Isaiah 46:8-11)

Isaiah’s prophecy in the previous chapters wasn’t good news for God’s people in Judah. Isaiah prophesied that they would be taken into exile in Babylon, and God would then work through a Persian king rather than through another king of Israel like David. The people of Judah must have felt dread as they heard these prophecies. 

But then God reminded the people that He is not like other gods. God wanted them to remember the truth about Him and therefore stand firm in their exile. According to Bible scholar J. Alec Motyer, these verses are “Isaiah’s final appeal to Israel to accept the Lord’s will and trust his providence.” 

This appeal is made based on what is true about God: 

“There is none like me . . .”— Only the Lord has the power to rule providentially in this world He created. He’s not battling for control; He’s in control. 

“declaring the end from the beginning . . . “ — He orchestrates all of history, from the very beginning to the very end, all by the power of His word. 

“I have purposed, and I will do it.” — The Lord accomplishes all His purposes. If He wills it, He will do it. 

Whether you’re anxious today about global events or the cells in your own body, whether you’re concerned with your past mistakes or the future for your great-grandchildren, remember this and stand firm: No matter what you face this week, God’s providence extends to every event of history and eternity.
A few days ago, I was telling someone how I planne A few days ago, I was telling someone how I planned to avoid some potential problems that could derail our summer travel plans. She replied, “It sounds like you have a backup plan and a backup plan to that backup plan.” Yep, that’s my MO. I love to have a plan, including as many backup plans as possible, just in case. And still my plans are often thwarted by changes I didn’t expect - ugh, that makes me crazy! 

God is not like me. My limited knowledge and limited control cause my plans - and even my backup plans - to sometimes fail. But God has the wisdom, power, and sovereignty to bring about all of His plans. 

Last week we started a series on God’s providence, which refers to His sustaining power that preserves, governs, and directs everything in creation. Today we’ll see that there is no limit to His providence. It extends to all creation in all places and all situations. There is nothing beyond His providential control. 

“For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.” (Psalm 135:5–7)

In these verses, the psalmists highlights four truths about God. He is the great God above all other gods. He does whatever He pleases. His providential work extends to all of His creation- that means everything! And even the wind and rain aren’t random or purely natural occurrences - they are the providential work of our Creator. 
 
This truth brings comfort because we know we will never encounter circumstances beyond God’s providential care for us. He is good and faithful, and He always accomplishes His purposes. He not only brings forth the wind from His storehouses; He also sent His Son to die for us. We may not understand our suffering or the suffering of those we love, but we can trust God’s unlimited providence. 

No matter what you face this week, God’s providence has no limits.
Last week, I felt overwhelmed with anxiety about e Last week, I felt overwhelmed with anxiety about events happening with all three of my teenagers. (Being the mom of teens is tough, y’all!) As I sat across from them at lunchtime, I silently repeated words paraphrased from the Heidelberg Catechism to remind myself that they are not mine, but belong with body and soul, in life and in death, to their faithful Savior Jesus Christ. 

The truth of God’s providence is the only reason those words bring any comfort to this mama’s heart. I’ve heard people say that the suffering in our lives is due to random chance, but when it happens, God steps in with comfort. If that’s true, God is a supportive friend, but He’s not really God. If our faithful Savior is powerless over the fallen world we live in, then maybe we have a glorious future ahead, but we’re basically left on our own for now. Thankfully, God’s Word teaches us that He is powerfully and providentially ruling here and now. 

God’s providence refers to His sustaining power that preserves and governs everything in the world. He didn’t just create the world like a watchmaker winding a clock and then let it run until Christ returns. He actively rules over His creation in every moment, and He does so according to His perfect will, which is rooted in His unfailing knowledge, wisdom, goodness, and justice. 

We find God’s providence proclaimed in many places in the Bible, but these verses are some of my favorites: 

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” (Eph 1:11-12) 

In this passage, Paul is specifically talking about our salvation. We’ve been saved according to God’s purpose and given this amazing inheritance in Christ. But God’s purpose doesn’t only extend to our salvation. He works all things according to His will for the praise of His glory. 

We’ll look at God’s providence in more detail over the next few weeks. But for today, let’s find comfort in this truth: No matter what you face this week, your faithful Savior sustains, preserves, and governs every moment.
I have a confession to make: I love to tell people I have a confession to make: I love to tell people what to do. I’m a bossy person, and this character flaw revealed itself early in my childhood. My siblings often told me, “You’re not the boss of me!” Our poor brother had two older sisters telling him what to do, and one day, he snapped, “I don’t need three mommies!” 

It’s a natural human tendency to wonder who’s in charge. Some of us also have the strong desire to be the one in charge; others are looking for someone to follow. But we all understand that someone needs to be the boss. 

For the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at reasons Jesus came. We’ve seen how He is our redeeming Sacrifice, our reconciling Savior, and our righteous Advocate. Scripture also tells us that Jesus Christ is our reigning King. 

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11) 

God the Father has highly exalted the risen Son. His name is above every name, proving there is no one greater. Ephesians 1:21 tells us that God has seated Him “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Paul pulls out every extreme phrase he can find, but the human language can’t adequately describe the supremacy of Christ’s reign. 

At Christ’s first coming, only a few knelt in worship—a handful of shepherds and a some traveling kings. The angels sang His praise, but much of the world was silent. As word spread about His birth, the reigning king of His time sought to kill the infant Messiah. 

But at His second coming, every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. God will be glorified as all creation sees what we know is true today: Jesus reigns. 

No matter what you face this week, Jesus came to be your reigning King.
In an episode from the first season of The West Wi In an episode from the first season of The West Wing, White House Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn is on his way out of the office for a weekend away when he runs back to his desk to answer one last phone call. It’s an old high school acquaintance, now a defense attorney, calling to plead the case of a federal death row inmate seeking a stay of execution. 

The defense attorney needs someone with the ear of the President, so he calls Sam. The condemned man doesn’t just need an advocate, he needs an advocate with power and influence to present persuasive arguments to the one man who can grant a reprieve. 

We need an advocate, too. We are condemned by our sin, and the punishment we deserve is death (Romans 6:23). But the Lamb of God who was the redeeming sacrifice for us and reconciled us to God is now seated at the right hand of the Father. What is He doing as He sits there? He’s advocating for us. 

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)

Jesus has the evidence needed for our forgiveness. John describes our advocate as “Jesus Christ the righteous.” Jesus is not only our redeeming sacrifice, He covers us with His righteousness. He advocates for us to the Father based on the perfect life He lived for us, not any good that we have done. 

Jesus not only has the righteousness needed, He also has the ear of the Father. Romans 8:34 tells us that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. The Father has given the Son the exalted place at His right hand, and we benefit from it. We have a Savior who has the ear of the Creator and Judge, saying, “She’s mine. She’s covered.”

Because of our righteous advocate, “when we enter into the presence of God, we go not to hear his justice prosecute us but to hear his love plead for us” (William Barclay, The Letter to the Hebrews, p. 19). 

No matter what you face this week, Jesus Christ came to be your righteous Advocate.
I got my first credit card when I was in college. I got my first credit card when I was in college. It was meant for emergencies only, but I became very relaxed with my definition of “emergency.” Is going out to dinner with friends an emergency? What about not having something to wear for a special occasion?

By the time I graduated, I racked up more than $1000 in credit card debt and had no way to pay it. The debt weighed on me—I felt the burden of it every day. Finally, I had to tell my soon-to-be husband that he was marrying into this debt. He was gracious about it, and we used wedding gifts to pay it off. But I regretted starting married life with nothing positive to offer our financial situation. 

Last week we saw that Jesus came to be a redeeming sacrifice for us. Our relationship with God was broken because we couldn’t pay the debt our sin required. But Jesus didn’t just wipe the slate clean, put us back at zero, and leave us to prove ourselves to God on our own. In His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ did all that was necessary to fully reconcile us to God: 

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:19–20)

We have peace with God because of the blood Jesus shed on the cross. This is why the baby was born in the stable—to pay our debt and fix the devastation our sin caused in our relationship with God. These verses tell us that His redeeming sacrifice had the power to reconcile all things on earth or in heaven. 

Because the fullness of God dwells in Him, Jesus Christ has the power to reconcile you to God. You don’t need to worry about paying your own debt of sin or getting yourself on God’s positive side with your good works. Christ’s work is sufficient to bring you into a reconciled relationship with your Heavenly Father. 

No matter what you face this week, Jesus Christ came to fully reconcile you to God.
The week after Thanksgiving, most of us fall into The week after Thanksgiving, most of us fall into one of three groups: those who are feeling great about our Christmas preparations, those who are trying not to panic, and those who are blissfully optimistic that Santa and his elves will make, wrap, and deliver the perfect gifts for their loved ones on Christmas Eve. 

When you’re buried neck-deep in shopping lists, tangled tiny lights, and wrapping paper, it’s easy to lose sight of why God the Son came to earth and was born in that Bethlehem stable. 

I’ve got good news for you—He didn’t come just to give you more to do every December. Over the next few Mondays, we’ll look at some of the reasons Jesus came. We’ve been in John 1 for the past few weeks, so let’s start there in John 1:29: 

“The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29)

In this verse, John the Baptist proclaims one reason the Son of God walked on earth—to be the Lamb of God who takes away our sin. 

The Lamb of God lived the perfect life. God’s justice requires a perfect sacrifice—a spotless lamb without blemish. Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed His Father and met the standard of righteousness that we fail to reach. 

The Lamb of God died for you. Romans 8:32 says God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all. After living the perfect life, Jesus Christ took the punishment for your sin as He suffered and died on the cross. 

The Lamb of God rose again. First Corinthians 15:55 reminds us that the Lamb of God defeated death for us: “Oh death, where is your victory?” When Jesus Christ rose again, He proved His power to give eternal life to His redeemed people. 

In His life, death, and resurrection, the Lamb of God accomplished all that was required for your redemption. He came with a mission, and He completed it. Now that’s a reason to rejoice as we prepare to celebrate His birth! 

No matter what you face this week, Jesus came to be a redeeming sacrifice for you.
For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been studyin For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been studying John’s description of Jesus in John 1. We’ve seen that God’s Son is eternal and all things were created through Him and for Him. Today we see that He brings light and life to a world in bondage to darkness and death:

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it . . . The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:4-5, 9)

Again, John wants us to make a connection to the creation story in Genesis 1. God created light and separated light from darkness (Genesis 1:3-4). He made the sun and the stars to give us light (Genesis 1:14-18). He created man and “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). God is the giver of light and life.

Because of sin, the world God made was lost in darkness and destined for death. God sent His Son to bring the light of life:

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12)

Now light and life could be heard, seen, and touched in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As an eyewitness to Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, John testifies about the “word of life”—that “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands” (1 John 1:1).

God is the giver of light and life. In Jesus Christ, God shines the light in our darkness, that we may see our sin and confess our need for the Savior who died to give us eternal life. The darkness cannot overcome the light Christ brings. He has met our greatest need—our need to be saved from sin and death—so we can trust Him with every other need we have.

No matter what you face this week, Jesus gives you the light of life.
Last week we started studying John 1 and its evide Last week we started studying John 1 and its evidence for why we can trust the eternal, divine Son of God, Jesus Christ. Today we learn more about what the Son was doing in the beginning of time: 

“He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:2-3)

The Son wasn’t a passive observer of creation—all things were made through Him. We read the words “God said” over and over in Genesis 1. With each act of creation, God spoke something into existence by the power of His Word. (See Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29.) John wants us to make the connection that this Word is the Son who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). 

What difference does this truth make in our daily lives when we struggle to trust Christ through difficult circumstances? Elsewhere in Scripture, we see the Son’s creative work tied closely with His sustaining reign over all things. Paul writes in Colossians that all things were created by, through, and for the Son: 

“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17) 

In Hebrews, we see this strong statement about the sustaining power of the Son: 

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:3a) 

God the Son was there in the beginning. All things were made through Him and for Him. Nothing He has made can spin out of His control—He upholds it all by His power. 

This same Word is your Savior who gave His life for you. He is your good Shepherd, and He cares for you. His faithful care is unlimited because of His divine power—all of creation answers to Him. 

No matter what you face this week, you can trust God’s Son because all things were made through Him and for Him.
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