Today's Devotion: 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Col 3:2-3) In this section, Paul is calling us to focus ourselves away from earthly things and on God. Being dead to sin and under Christ, we no longer need to worry about those earthly things that concern our non-Christian Brethren.

Today's Comments: It is interesting how circumstances seem to play into our lives. Many of us Christians believe that such circumstances can really be events that God puts into our lives to assist, teach, comfort, or alert us. One such "circumstance" happened to me today. For the last year or so, up until last weekend, I have been receiving verses of the day from Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Although I do not necessarily agree with all that he says, I thoroughly enjoy his comments, but originate my own comments from the verses that he sends, when I am blogging. Copeland's feed has suddenly stopped. That is probably because I have not sent money to his web site. On the other hand, my good friend from work, Marjean Clements gave me Volume II of Max Lucado's Grace for the Moment. Before Copeland, I used Lucado's Volume I, which had been given to me by my good friend Sandra Schrock, who is now in Alaska. The verse above is from Volume II and is today's devotion.

Lucado points out the fact that being r hidden in Christ, means that, as God looks down upon us, our sins are hidden, or covered by Christ. He illustrates this concept through the Chinese character for the word "righteousness". The Chinese character (word) for righteousness (yi) is formed by putting two other characters in juxtaposition, one on top of the other. The top character (yang) means lamb. The bottom character (wo) means me, self or I. When they are put together, the word righteousness (yi) is formed. True righteousness is gained, therefore, by putting self under the lamb, Christ Jesus.

In two weeks, I am going to be doing a sermon on "Good Shepherd Sunday." Last night, I started doing research on shepherds and sheep. Is it not amazing that I should happen upon this information in Lucado's book on my first use? I think that I have an opportunity to build a very interesting sermon around this material. Thank you, God.