5 My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You.

6 Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

— Job 42:5-6

So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.

— Zechariah 4:6

12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

— Philippians 2:12-13

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

19 that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

— 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and salvation from Christ to you.

Knowing God compels us to obey Him. Understanding who God is demolishes our pride and self-will. We learn about God and desire to obey Him, surrendering our agenda for His. Obeying God’s standards comes not by our sweaty toil but through the Holy Spirit, who enables us to follow Christ. Like the Israelites who lived as Babylonian exiles, believers live as aliens on earth and we are called to return to God and live for Him.

By dismantling the barrier of sin and offering reconciliation with God, Jesus opens the door for us to know, love, and obey God and live as citizens of a heavenly kingdom rather than entrenched in an earthly one. We praise God that through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, we believers are “born again” into a new identity, which shifts our ultimate allegiance from temporary earthly powers to the eternal Kingdom of God!