August 3, 2015: SOAP #2069:

Scripture: John (NIV) 5:16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Observation: I am just as much human as my father is human. Jesus is just as much God as His Father is God. Jesus was born of a virgin impregnated by the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus is God, the Son. Yet he lived on earth as the Son of Man. That is how he most often referred to Himself.

Application: There is no mistake that we are given four gospels. The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, show us how God the Father wants us to live on earth as mankind. Jesus laid aside his God-ness and lived on earth as the Son of Man anointed and led by God the Spirit—the same Holy Spirit that lives in me. The gospels show me how to deal with the circumstances that I face every day.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, as you lived and moved in Jesus, I need you to do the same in me. And as Jesus was careful to follow your leading, may you find me just as careful. Amen