Daily Bread Devotional for Today 18th December 2022 Sunday Message. As you study today’s devotional, remember this; “Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 (NLT)
TOPIC: Human Limitations
SCRIPTURE READING: Philippians 2:1-8
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1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
KEY VERSE: Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[a] of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:7
Daily Bread Devotional for Today 18th December 2022 MESSAGE
Every December we celebrate the birth of Jesus. So this month we’ve been wondering about the incarnation—how Jesus is human, as human as any of us.
But Jesus is not just human. He is also God. As one of the church’s ancient creeds puts it, he is “true God from true God.”
Does that put limitations on Jesus’ humanness? Does it put an asterisk next to his name? Is Jesus as human as any of us but not the same as any of us?
Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus left behind the advantages of being God, that he made himself nothing, that he humbled himself by becoming human, and that he suffered a shameful death. It sounds like Jesus embraced his humanness completely.
READ ALSO: Our Daily Bread 18th December 2022 ODB Devotional | The Miracle of Christmas
To be human is to be limited. Yes, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). And yes, we are crowned with glory and honor from God (Psalm 8:5). But we are limited beings. Ultimately, we are limited by death. Whatever our strength and skills, whatever our passions and dreams, death will claim us.
Death claimed Jesus too. Jesus, who is eternal God, died. If he shared that ultimate human limitation with all of us, then maybe he shared the whole array of limitations that are part of being human. That’s worth wondering about.
Jesus, our limitations frustrate us. Some of them even scare us. You know this because you experienced it, even the worst of it, for our sake. Thank you. Amen.
Thank you for reading Daily Bread Devotional for Today written by Bob Arbogast. Bob Arbogast is the pastor of Celebration Fellowship church in Ionia, Michigan. In his spare time, he plays guitar in a West Michigan blues band. He and his wife Jan have been married forty years and have three adult daughters. Bob has been praying the psalms since 2002.. Read More
