Do You Have Your ID? | Monday – Week 7
Listen instead of reading
Take a Moment
Ask God what He wants to show you before reading today
Read The Daily
“This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” (Matthew 3:17)
I took my family and my kid’s boyfriends and girlfriends this past summer to Cedar Point. I had it setup where we would go to the park in the morning and then check in at the hotel around 3 pm. They said they would text me and then all I had to do was come to the lobby, show my ID and then go to my room. The problem was that around 2:45 pm, I’m riding a rollercoaster and lost my phone which also holds all of my credit cards and license. My wife also gets the text that our room is ready so we go to the lobby. “Hello Mr. Carpenter, can I see a valid ID please? Me: “No, it’s somewhere in your water park with my phone in a restricted area”. “Ok, no problem, can I see the credit card you used to reserve the room?” Me: “No, it’s somewhere in your water park with my phone in a restricted area”. It was a fun song and dance going back and forth. Long story short, it’s not fun when you don’t have a valid ID. Here’s a more important question. Do you have a valid ID? No, I’m not talking about your driver’s license or passport, but rather your spiritual identity card. In the heart of Jesus’ journey, He received the most profound ID confirmation anyone could ever imagine. After His baptism, as He emerged from the waters, the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove, while a voice from heaven declared, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” That’s an ID you can’t forge, and it’s the foundation of everything that followed in Jesus’ life.
Do you know the first question the enemy asked Jesus just a few verses later? He starts out his questioning with “If you are the Son of God…” Yet, even after this profound affirmation, Jesus found Himself in the wilderness, fasting for forty days. It was in this desolate place that the enemy sought to challenge His identity. He tempted Jesus in the areas of appetite, ambition, and approval, attempting to make Him doubt who He truly was. These are the same areas where many of us stumble in life. Instead of trusting in God’s plan, we often lean on our own understanding, driven by our own appetites, ambitions, and the need for approval. We mistakenly believe that we must achieve and prove ourselves. But here’s the secret: your identity is not based on your accomplishments, it’s rooted in who you are as a beloved child of God.
Prayer for the Day
God what are you showing me? What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.
Read The New Testament In A Year
4 x 6 Plan | Read: Acts 5:12-26 & 1 John 1:5-10