Jesus' Journey, Part Three

 First I would like to apologize for the delay on the posting of the third part of Jesus' Journey. 

Never the less, here it is. 

 

Matthew 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

 ¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea ²and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." ³This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
   "A voice of one calling in the desert,
   'Prepare the way for the Lord,
      make straight paths for him.' "^{[a]  4}John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
 ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
 ¹¹"I baptize you with^[b] water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

The Baptism of Jesus

 ¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"  ¹⁵Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
 ¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

John the Baptist in the Jordan River

John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.

I would like you to look at this verse and ponder over it for a moment, hopefully two or three moments.

  
⁴John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 

Now I will start off by saying that I would be fine with the honey, however my first reaction to the locusts was "Yucky!" I do have to admit that if I had to survive off the land, I would eat a bug. I hear their actually very nutritious. Eww though. I think it would have to be dead before I could attempt to digest the little guy..


In reading this, I am suddenly more grateful for the roman noodles that are stale in the cupboard. I am going to make it a point to be more grateful for the food that I do have. Also instead of complaining that I am sick of my wardrobe, I will remember that John the baptist wore clothes made of camels hair and I will think to myself... "Cotton that I am tired of looking at, is better than camels hair. Thank you Jesus for my wardrobe."


 Now let's look at these verses.

The Baptism of Jesus

 ¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"  ¹⁵Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
 ¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."


What a beautiful display of how humble our savior is. It's fairly self explanatory as to why.

John the Baptist preaching

As always, thank you all fellow believers for stepping into my thoughts with me for a moment. I pray you take away a greater appreciation for the things that you do have. Next time you find yourself frustrated about the lake of things you have deemed a necessity, just take a deep breath and think about the things that actually matter. Things of realistic value. Not even money value. I am speaking of the kind of value that, in my eyes, the Lord would deem necessary. Nutritional value, moral value and especially spiritual value.

I bid you all a wonderful day/evening/night. Please remember to speak to our Lord. Remind yourself that he is in your heart. He wants us to spread his word across the nations. Please consider that even a brief conversation with a stranger could inspire years of study/worship/devotion...



                                                    Stephie


P.S.
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."