Jesus is the reason for all things. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. All times and seasons belong to him, because by his holy cross, he has redeemed the world…
I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of god, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Rom 12:1-2
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, 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. Phil 2:4-11
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great
and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a child quieted at its mother’s breast;
like a child that is quieted is my soul.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and for evermore. Ps 131:1-3
The Father draws us to himself, and he wants us to root our life in his love and to be completely taken over, seized…
If only we could grasp with what intensity the Father is inviting us to live his own life and to love only the one whom he loves!
With Open Hands 