Jeremiah 17:7-8 English Standard Version

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes,  for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

We live in an ever changing world. It seems to be more and more difficult to remain consistent when everything around us is spinning out of control. Everything in the world tells us to adapt or die. So why is consistency important?

For those who love us and have strong ties, inconsistency is a sign to others that something is wrong with us. It can be physical or it could be spiritual. As these writings deal with spiritual matters more than the physical, let me explain.

Jesus went off each night to commune with the Father. His ability to stay focused on the task at hand in the midst of all the attacks against Him came from that time spent alone with the Father. He was consistent in the one thing that the world had never seen before, the love of the Father in a man.

John 5:37,6:46,14:9 (in part) And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

Jesus showed the lost and dying world the Father and how Jesus was in the world is how God the Father is in the world for those who are rooted and grounded in love. Jesus never faltered in showing the love of the Father to us. He showed us how love acts. Jesus was consistent.

We can look at the fear and doubt of His disciples and relate to their lack of understanding of what was going on. Even when Jesus spoke to them plainly about what he was about to accomplish, they did not want Him to do it, they didn’t want Him to go to the cross.

Philippians 2:8 English Standard Version (ESV) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

How Jesus knew what to do came to Him in His quiet time.

John 3:6 English Standard Version (ESV) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Romans 5:17 English Standard Version (ESV) For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:2 English Standard Version (ESV) For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[a] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:10 English Standard Version (ESV) But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:17 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

I hope these passages are enough to remind everyone that when we are born again we inherit life in Christ. If not there are many more passages that speak to this new life.

When we come up out of the water into this new birth we all feel like we haven’t changed and for the most part we have not. God did not destroy us but rather entered into a new covenant with us by which He will transform us.

The first thing that happens is that the Holy Spirit is given to us as a guide in this new life. At first, like any new born, the eyes of awareness only see shapes and nothing comes into focus. The Holy Spirit, who is God in the third person, is gentle and kind. It is His job to bring us along the path in this life in Christ. His job is to be gentle and not scare us away from the blessing that is this renewed relationship with the Father.

While scriptures speak about adoption so that we might understand in earthly terms, the truth is we were always His but just had no way to commune with Him. Now we do.