Confident identity - a time for everything *

NORSK
Today, I feel very fortunate to be able to participate in a "Confirmation". It is our oldest grandson, Adam, who will be confirmed as loved by God and of us who appreciate him and love him as the good boy he has been and the great man he has become.

It is important for every individual to be confident in his identity. I believe that Jesus’s confidence in his identity made it possible for him was fulfill the mission he had come to accomplish. In the passage I have been studying in the past week, Jesus says:

“I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
John 16:28

He had just told the disciples that “the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God”. Through their faith in him, they had helped to confirm him. At the same time, Jesus knew that they would ‘be scattered, each to his own home and leave me all alone’ (2). They would therefore fail in the crucial moment.

• We seek confirmation from people around us, but people will not always be there for us.
• We seek confirmation in what we do, but we will not always be able to do what we want.
• We seek confirmation in what we have, but what we have can never confirm us as human beings.

Therefore, it becomes so important where I have my identity, and I want to have my identity in Christ. That is my greatest wish for Adam as well. Of course, I hope that he receives material gifts and provisions for what he needs every day; opportunities to be affirmed through exciting and challenging jobs; and not the least, that he will continue to be confirmed by people who love him. However, the only affirmation that comes with a durability guarantee is the confirmation in Christ.

‘Manna’ for today:

Where do I have my identity?

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(1) Adam, you came as a blessing, have been a blessing and are a blessing. We pray God's continued blessings upon your life!

(2) John 16:32
* 'A time for everything' is connected with the Bible's teaching about a 'season for every activity' Eccl 3 This series is about the teaching in the ime between Easter and Pentecost  

Affirmation and accountability

NORSK
I feel that I know Paul well, and although I have read the letters he wrote to Timothy many times, I'm looking forward to getting to know Timothy better in the weeks to come. Paul called him:

"my true son in the faith"
1 Tim 1:2a

If I translate the Greek directly, it reads ‘my legitimate child’, but most translations prefer to use "my true son in the faith." It is evident that Paul and Timothy knew each other well, and it is likely that Timothy viewed Paul as his spiritual father. Paul and Barnabas came to Lystra on the first missionary journey, and it is not unlikely that Timothy and members of his family came to faith in Jesus during the first visit.

When Paul again came to Lystra with Silas, Timothy was already a disciple, and Paul wanted him to join the team of missionaries. The fact that Paul, because of the Jews, chose to circumcise Timothy because of his Greek father, supports the thesis that the two knew one another and that Timothy had deep respect for the decisions Paul made (1). The strange thing with the circumcision of Timothy is that one of the tasks that Timothy should do, was to convey "the Statutes for the Gentiles" which had been approved at the Council of Jerusalem. These statutes announced that there was no need for 'Gentiles' to be circumcised. It shows how Paul put mission first and used pragmatism as his strategy (2).
 
Although Paul calls Timothy for his true son in the faith, this does not necessarily mean that he was the one who led Timothy to faith in Jesus. Paul's way of addressing him in this way, may have rested on his desire to affirm Timothy in the faith as his mentor - in the same way as a father affirms a son:

But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
Phil 2:22 

The letters Paul wrote to Timothy are full of affirmations, but also of exhortations and reminders about the good habits. That is why they form a good basis for a study of discipleship as journey of renewal. A journey that lasts a lifetime. Affirmation and accountability are the keys to make this happen. Regarding affirmation, I can hardly imagine anything better than being affirmed as "a true child in the faith."

Today 'manna':

The mentor must hold the disciple accountable through affirmation.

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(1) Acts 16:1-3
(2) See: "Fanaticism and pragmatism"

It is about confirmation of the blood

NORSK
As a young Bible-reader it was refreshing reading the Scriptures from page 1, but I must admit that it was a struggle when I had a go at the third book for the first time. Leviticus is full of regulation and procedures to be used under different circumstances, but the book gives quite a few interesting pieces of information that can throw some light on spiritual principles.

Yesterday I wrote that I would give some more information about the function of the anointing in connection with healing. The story of the blood-sacrifice and the oil in connection with the cleansing of a leper, gives interesting food for the thought. It is found in

See: Lev 14:12-18

The regulation is that the priest shall touch the clean leper first with the blood, and then with the oil, in a sequence: the right ear-lobe, thumb and the big toe - the choice of these three parts of the body, may have a deeper meaning, but I will leave that for later. 

Today it is about the blood and the oil. The blood is associated with Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice. The oil is associated with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will always confirm Jesus, the cross and the
resurrection. Jesus and the Spirit are mutual in their confirmation of one another:

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 14:26

This is also a key in holiness. There will be no holiness without the sacrifice of Christ and the confirmation by the Holy Spirit 

It is the same with healing. If I believe that I am healed "by his wounds" (1), the Holy Spirit will confirm that. Not necessarily with an instant healing, but with an assurance that my prayers have been heard and I feel that I can rest in the fact that it will happen in His time. I have experienced both the instant healing, and the rest in the assurance that in him, I am healed even though no physical change has yet taken place.

'Manna' for today:

In in His time!

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(1) Isa 53:5