Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Hebrews 13

Glory Forever And Ever

Glory Forever And Ever

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Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 

Hebrews 13:20-21 

Who gets the glory for our development and the good works we do in the will of God? Christ does. God gets the glory in the sense that He perfects us, but what He does to equip us is through Christ. Therefore, when it comes down to the final analysis, Christ gets the glory. Why does that matter? It matters because God’s whole purpose is to bring us to Christ, to bind us to Him in an indissoluble union; to make us the Body of which He is the Head; to make us the bride to Him, the Bridegroom. He is the brightness of God’s glory. He is the express image of His Person. God has magnified Christ, His living Word, above all His name. Therefore when we are equipped to do His will and perform the Christlike works which He has for us to do, Christ gets the glory. Our cry is, ‘Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth.’ We cannot take the credit or appropriate any glory to ourselves because of any good work we do. Christ has done in us what is necessary for us to do the will of God. He has set the good works before us to do. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.  

Our Great God and our Savior, 
we rejoice at all Your works. 
We praise You that You lead us, 
to do what will bring You the most glory. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Well Pleasing

Well Pleasing

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Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 

Hebrews 13:20-21 

What is well pleasing in the sight of God? Within the context, the writer of Hebrews is speaking of God’s equipping of us to engage in good works which are His will for us.  In order to perfect us, He must do works of grace in us. Thus He, through the Spirit of Christ, renews us in our whole person after the image of Christ and enables us to die more and more unto sin and to live unto righteousness. When He equips us, the end result is well pleasing in His sight because He has conformed us to the image of Christ and prepared us to do good works which are like what he did. Christ said this would be so. ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.’ God is well pleased with what He has done in us to conform us to Christ’s likeness, because He is using us as the Body of Christ on earth as well as preparing us to spend eternity in His Presence. This equipping of us is an ongoing work of grace which continues throughout our lifetime. He is well pleased with where we are today and will be well pleased with where He brings us every step of our pilgrim pathway.  

Our Holy and Wise God, 
we praise You that You continue Your work in us. 
We rejoice that you will conform us to what 
is most pleasing in Your sight.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
In Every Good Work

In Every Good Work

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Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 

Hebrews 13:20-21 

If God perfects us in every good work to do His will, what will our life look like? Christ gives us a good idea when He describes the life of those who are on His right hand at His Throne of Judgment. He says to them, ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’  Every one of these are good works which would be in the will of God. Certainly there are many other actions which the Scripture points out as good works which would be in His will, but He Himself lists these. If God perfects us to every good work, they will at least be these to which He refers, regardless of whatever else we might do. All these good works to which He refers are practical, everyday things which are so simple the people who did them barely recognized them as being particularly noteworthy. When God perfects us, He does so in order that we may closely imitate Christ. This imitation of Christ will be effective in every good work to do His will. Before us lies an abundance of opportunity. Oh, that God would perfect us in every good work.  

Our Good and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that there are people all around us, 
 to whom we can do good. 
We pray that You will guide us every day, 
in the imitation of Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Complete

Complete

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Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 

Hebrews 13:20-21 

God does what is necessary to perfect us. The writer of Hebrews is pronouncing his benediction upon his readers. He wants God to do what is important for their spiritual well-being. He is calling upon the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant to perfect them. This would mean they would be prepared fully to imitate Christ in good works, in doing the will of God, and in becoming, in every way, the people who have all the qualities that are well pleasing in His sight. This is that person whom God has sanctified. This is the one who most closely resembles Christ. If we are going to desire anything good for others, this is the highest good. This provides us with abundant material with which we may intercede for those who are near and dear to us. We desire that God should make them complete; that He would perfect them into the very image of Christ. If this is God’s will for them, and we know it is, it should be our prayer that He would make it so.  

Great God of Wonders, 
we rejoice that You are always working. 
We praise You that You will do Your will 
to conform us to the image of Christ.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Through The Blood

Through The Blood

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Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 

Hebrews 13:20-21 

The blood of Christ is a sacred thing. From Abel’s sacrifice onward blood sacrifices have been part of our relationship to God. The whole system of sacrifices in the Old Testament leads us to this conclusion. What we learn from the writer of Hebrews is that all those sacrifices were paving the way for the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ, which was, of necessity, a blood sacrifice. The writer tells us, ‘For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.’ By contrast, he tells us, ‘Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.’ The contrast is between the blood of the old sacrifices, which were types, and symbols and the blood of Christ toward which they all pointed. We cannot speak properly about the death of Christ or the sacrifice of Christ without speaking of the blood of Christ. His is the blood of the everlasting covenant. Without it we have no salvation; no peace with God; no hope for eternity. With the blood of Christ we have forgiveness of sins; acceptance from God; hope for time, and for eternity. Therefore we make much of Christ, and of the blood of Christ. It is the blood of the everlasting covenant.  

Our Loving Savior and our God, 
we rejoice that You were willing to shed Your blood for us. 
We praise You that with Your stripes 
we are healed. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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