Integrity- People of God

Great love was shown toward us when Jesus laid aside His Royalty and Majesty on High to become part of humanity on earth. He laid aside being called the Prince and Son of God in heaven to being called One conceived out of wedlock, having another Father, and not being Joseph’s child. He lived a life of sorrow, rejected by men and died on a cross. All this He endured because of His love and compassion for you, for us. Hedid this to redeem humanity from this fallen world system and introduce a new government and to become our Sovereign King in the kingdom of God on earth.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Childe is born Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. NKJ

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, and He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. NKJ

Many people see Jesus’ life as one filled with all glorious times until the crucifixion, but in reality Jesus humbled Himself and lived a life of rejection and confrontation with the irreligious people of His day. Jesus being Deity, The Creator and Sustainer of this world allowed Himself to become an infant, confined in the womb of a woman for nine months. He was raised asMary’s child living in the home with His stepfather and stepbrother’s and stepsisters. Jesus was rejected and taunted by men and attacked by Satan, yet He kept His eyes on the love He had for us, to rescues us from eternal death and to bring us into the family of God.

1 Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. NKJ

Mark 6:3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him. NKJ

God’s love is so great and His plan was so intricate and so complex that it was put into place to save us before the foundation of the world was laid. God foresaw our needs and fore-planned how He would come and rescue, release and saveus from our wickedness, depravity and sin. Jesus’ birth was announced with great majesty in the heavens but was revealed in meekness and humbleness on earth being born an illegitimate child of Mary in a stable.  Jesus’ life was threatened even as a child as Herod tried to kill Him and His family but they fledtheir home into another country to save His life. 

Ephesians 1:4 Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. NKJ

Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” NKJ

Jesus lived 30 years preparing for a three-year public ministry that would be filled with confrontation and hatred from men,with spiritual attacks from Satan followed by His death on the cross.   It was God’s love for us that was displayed in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. 

Throughout His ministry they said Jesus had a devil spirit; he was a friend of sinners and called a winebibber or habitual drinker of alcohol. The irreligious of His day even tried to stone Him because they were offended by His truth.  

Luke7:34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! KJV

Jesus despised the shame and humiliation that He went through but He focused on the joy that it would bring to mankindthrough salvation. Through faith, we who believed in Jesuswould become children of God and adopted into the family and kingdom of God. As true followers of Christ, when hardships and attacks come, we should press into the presence of God to see the spiritual view of these situations. Through meekness we too may see how lives could be saved or changed if we endured the shame as Christ did for the joy of possibly saving someone’s soul. 

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and shas sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. NKJ

Some people lose heart and give up because of hardships and the things they have had to endure. Whether we give up hope,or stand in faith, will depend on what we allow our focus to be centered on. When our eyes are on Christ and the eternal souls of mankind, these temporary afflictions and hardships will seem light and brief in comparison to entity. 

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the thins which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. NKJ

As followers of Christ we must train our eyes to look at the spiritual and eternal things rather than the natural and temporal. This is a practiced skill that takes time in God’s word and in the presence of God with a concerted effort to think on the things of God.  We all were born and raised to focus on the natural things of life, where much value was placed on the fleeting and passing things of this world.  Once we are born into the government of God’s kingdom, we are given the Spirit of God and we learn to esteem and discern the spiritual things of Godabove those of this world. 

Unto us a Child was born, to die a death He did not deserve. Unto us a Son was given to live a life of rejection in a worldly system to bring us into a kingdom where we may live accepted in the commonwealth of God’s government. We were once aliens but now we are His Beloved and adopted into the royal family of God in His kingdom on earth.  

Ephesians 2:12-13 That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. NKJ

As we look at the circumstance of Jesus’ birth, life and death and all that He went through, we see He did not allow any situation deter Him from His God given purpose. In celebrating Jesus, we are thankful for the way He stood steadfast on our behalf and look to Him as our example, our Prince of Peace and Joy.