June 7th
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The God of Peace Making Obedience Available to Us
Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
These powerful verses continue our inquiry concerning a life of obedience. They conclude with what results when God is allowed to do His work in our lives. We become "complete in every good work to do His will." This hope is made available to us by "the God of peace."
We all started out in life at war with God. Although we may not have been aware of this fact, we were enemies of God: "You…were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works" (Colossians 1:21). We were disobedient by our very nature: "the sons of disobedience… by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:2-3). Yet, through His Son, God reached out to offer us peace. "For He Himself is our peace, who… abolished in His flesh the enmity… making peace… through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity" (Ephesians 2:14-16). This sacrifice on the cross was effective, because the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead with victory over sin and death: "the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead."
At the cross of Christ, the blood was shed that brings eternal blessings to all who believe in Him: "through the blood of the everlasting covenant." The Lord promised these eternal benefits to His people through the prophets of old. "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me…Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them" (Jeremiah 32:40 and Ezekiel 37:26).
The blood of the new covenant of grace secures these benefits: "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:20). This shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is able to cleanse and forgive forever all who humbly trust in Him. Also, that shed blood of the new covenant (God's new arrangement for living) supplies the adequacy we need from God for the obedient life He has called us to live: "Our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).
Dear God of peace, I praise You for the shed blood of Jesus, changing me from Your enemy to Your friend. I thank You for also making obedience available through this new covenant of grace. I humbly ask that You teach me to live in dependence upon Your sufficiency, Amen.