Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”
Our Bible verse for today: “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “God cares more about what you become than what you do.”
God the Father spoke the words recorded in Matthew 3:17 about His Son Jesus at the time He was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. In her book “Anonymous – Jesus’ hidden years … and yours”, author Alicia Britt Chole notes that the truly interesting thing about this scene is that God the Father spoke these words of approval over Jesus before Jesus had actually done anything. At this point Jesus had preached no sermons, He had spoken no parables, He had not restored the sight of any blind people, He had healed no lepers, He had saved no souls. And yet, God the Father was already pleased with Him.
Most of the previous thirty years of Jesus’ life had been what we call “The Hidden Years”. There is little recorded about them in the Bible, and Jesus was not in ministry per se at during that time. These were quiet years of devotion and preparation. Jesus was living a simple and humble life as He grew and matured and was prepared by God for the short three year ministry that was yet to come.
When we read in Matthew 3:17 that God the Father was already pleased with His Son, it must mean that He was pleased with what the human Jesus had become during those quiet hidden years. Chole writes:
“In unseen places over underestimated years, Jesus had been making unrecorded, unapplauded choices that had prepared him for everything to come. And Father God – who values the seen and the unseen alike – was very, very pleased.”
The same is true for us. God is much more concerned about what we become than what we do. In fact, the “becoming” must take place before the “doing” will amount to a hill of beans. That’s why soul-care is so important. If you attend to the health of your soul you will already be in a condition that pleases the Father very much, even before you serve a single person, teach a single Bible study, lead anyone to Christ, or even before you ever even get out of bed in the morning.
God cares much more about what you become than about what you do, and taking care of your soul is how the “becoming” happens.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 