Today's (or this weeks) Devo is called "The Big Picture."
[SIZE="4"][The Big Picture.01: Of It All][/SIZE]
Today's Verse: "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I willdo all that I please." -God, recorded in Isaiah 46:10
The Devo: God's will, His game and plan for the world, isn't as mystical or as hidden as we seem to think it is. This week we'll zoom out and get the big picture of what God is up to in the world, and what our role is in His plan. Taking a look at God's Big Picture will help put our little pictures into perspective.
So then, [SIZE="3"]What is God's will for the world?[/SIZE]
[LINK] To answer that question, we've got to take a look at the big picture. That means zooming out and looking at the big story of humanity. Let's go all the way back to the garden of Eden. In the beginning, God created Adam And Eve. They lived in a perfect world. They had a perfect relationship with each other and a perfect relationship with God. But God gave them one rule (Genesis 2:16-17), and they broke it. When Adam and Eve broke the rule, their disobedience, that was one imperfection, shattered all of the perfection in the world. The world broke. We still live in this broken, dying, decaying world. Romans 8:21 says our world is in bondage to decay. So are we. Relationships Don't work right, death and disease clam lives, and God feels distant. But, hold on, there's good news, and it's actually the key to the Big Picture of God's will. It's what God is up to in the world. What's the good news? Even though we live in a broken world, God is going to fix it.
[SIZE="3"]What is God's will for the world?[/SIZE]
[THINK] The first stage of God's plan to fix the world has already happened-Jesus' for all sin for all time. But the world is still broken. Thats why there's such tension between the way the world works and the way you know deep down it should work. We know death is wrong, disease is wrong, and sin is wrong. In our hearts, it feels wrong. But we still live with it because we live in a broken world that hasn't been rescued yet. We also live in broken bodies. God has implanted His Spirit into everyone who has accepted Jesus' payment for sin, But the shells we live in, our bodies, are still broken. Our bodies still revolt and rebel against what God wants. Thats why there's so much tension between what you know God wants you to do and what you want to do. Your dead body is battling God's living Spirit. Romans 8:23 says: We ourselves... groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Have you felt the groaning inwardly? Our adoption as God's sons (or daughters) hasn't been completed yet. We're still waiting on our complete redemption and the world's complete redemption-which is in God's plan, His Big Picture. That will happen when Jesus comes back.
[SIZE="3"]What is God's will for the world?[/SIZE]
[LIVE] One day God is going to make everything better. When Jesus comes back, he's going to restore those who have chosen to follow Him. He's going to destroy evil, death, disease, and decay, and He's going to restore everything-creation, our bodies-back to the way He originally intended it to be. But we live in the middle of the story. So what are we supposed to do in the meantime? When Jesus came, He showed us how to live in a fallen world. And when He left He gave us His Spirit who gives us power to follow his example. As students of Jesus, living between His first and second coming, His first rescue and the final rescue, we're called to show people what His love can do. We're called to show the people what the world could look like when it operates according to the principles it was intended to operate by. We will meet resistance, because the world is still broken, but God's Big Picture plan is still the same: to use the power He has given us to bring His life into a broken world.
[SIZE="3"]What is God's will for the world?[/SIZE]
[NEXT LEVEL] In Matthew 5:13-14, Jesus referred to us as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt has a restorative, healing value. Light chases away darkness. Spend time thinking about these two titles Jesus has given us.
I hope you guys liked this.
May you grow closer to God more and more.
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