Listen

He says above, You didn’t want and you weren’t pleased with a sacrifice or an offering or with entirely burned offerings or a purification offering, which are offered because the Law requires them. Then he said, Look, I’ve come to do your will. He puts an end to the first to establish the second. We have been made holy by God’s will through the offering of Jesus Christ’s body once for all.

Hebrews 10:8-10

Think

A friend recently came over to help me organize my kitchen. My system wasn’t working, but it was all I knew to do. I needed someone to come along who could replace my inadequate system with a workable one.

This is something Jesus did for us. The law required certain sacrifices and burnt offerings, but this system we built didn’t please God and couldn’t make us holy. It pointed people to God but was ultimately unable to accomplish what was needed. The second system is established through Jesus and his perfect obedience to God’s will.

None of us will ever be able to perfectly follow God’s will for our lives. But sometimes we look for the easiest path to obedience. We try to find a minimal amount of time or resources to give to God that won’t interfere with some other part of our “real” life. These sorts of trade-offs are the old system, a legalistic way to look at God and faith. This is the system that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus replaced.

Jennifer Hawks

Question to Ponder:

What would fully surrendering to God’s will look like in your life?

Pray

God, systems are all around me. Show me which systems I need to challenge as part of doing your will. Help me to build systems that bring justice, healing, and restoration. Amen.

Go

God sees your worth even if the world can’t. Each and every day, God chooses you. May God’s strength and mercy shine through you today so that you can share God’s love with those around you.