Devotional - week of December 21, 2008

JESUS CAME TO BEGIN A NEW RACE

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR {God's} OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light 1 Peter 2:9 NASB

Simon Peter tells his readers who have received Jesus as their Savior and Lord that they are a “chosen race.” It is widespread knowledge that Adam is the head of the human race. Jesus is referred to as “The Last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45.

Jesus came to earth to start a new race. We are born into that race by receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord. We have qualities of life that non-believers do not have.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul writes that those who are “in Christ” are new creations. Scores of times in the New Testament it is declared that those who have received Jesus as their Savior and Lord are “in Christ.” Those who have been baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit have been baptized into His crucifixion, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). What has happened to Jesus physically has happened to His believers spiritually. Being new creations makes us different.

Also, God inhabits the lives of believers in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit was with them and would be in them (John 14:17). The Holy Spirit was with them because He was in Jesus. Since the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been in believers. Jesus’ resource for life has become theirs. This makes us different.

When we experience our spiritual crucifixion, burial and resurrection, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. He becomes our life. Two times in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Christ.”

Christmas is a season of gift giving. All believers should give Jesus a gift that would bring Him great pleasure. He wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When we are, He lives again on planet earth through us to spread love, light and life.

Jesus began the new race to change the world.

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