Understanding the blessings of the Trinity
2 Corinthians 13:14 “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
So how much do you know about what the Bible teaches about the Trinity? The whole teaching of “one God revealed in 3 persons” can be rather confusing and even difficult. That is why as the Christian Church celebrates the Festival of the Trinity today and our verse for this week is a familiar blessing which shares with us what the Trinity does on our behalf, let’s not focus so much on the teaching of the Trinity as we instead seek to better understand the blessings which are ours through the Trinity.
Let’s focus on 3 words from our verse for this week which reminds us of the blessings we receive from our Triune God: grace, love and fellowship.
Grace can be one of those Bible words which is confusing or sounds too technical. Many Christians define grace as “God’s underserved love for us as sinners”. Sometimes the letters of the word are used as an acronym to define and explain the word God’s riches at Christ’s expense. To put it simply – grace is the blessings we have because Jesus lived, died on the cross, rose and ascended for us. How easily we take for granted those blessings: forgiveness of all our sins, the assurance that Jesus has personally prepared a place for us in heaven and that he continues to work on our behalf and guide and bless us each day.
In contrast to the somewhat uncommon word “grace”, love is a very common word which has taken on all sorts of meanings and connotations. Look at the word in the context it is used here “the love of God”. It would take a long, long time to list all the ways God has shown his love to you, personally. Please take a moment and reflect on the ways God has shown his love to you individually.
The final word we are focusing on from our verse for this week is another word which is not commonly used – fellowship. It is basically a word which emphasizes the common bond which people share and what brings them together. Don’t just think of that as the common bond we share as a part of TLHA. Think further of the common bond we share as we have the joy and privilege to “share Christ’s love as we serve the spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional needs of people entrusted to our care and others whose lives we touch”. How well do you do individually, how well do we do together in showing and expressing fellowship we share? Do we make our residents, their families and every last person who walks through our doors feel like they are a part of the fellowship we share in Christ’s love? What can we do better to let that fellowship show and let people feel a part of it?
So the next time you hear one of our chaplains use this blessing or you hear it in a church service, please don’t let it become one of those familiar sayings which you just gloss over. Whether it is focusing on the 3 words which we have in this devotion or by focusing on the blessing as a whole, stop and think of the incredible blessings God gives which you are reminded of which you are reminded of as you have this blessing spoken to you!
2 Corinthians 13:14 “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
So how much do you know about what the Bible teaches about the Trinity? The whole teaching of “one God revealed in 3 persons” can be rather confusing and even difficult. That is why as the Christian Church celebrates the Festival of the Trinity today and our verse for this week is a familiar blessing which shares with us what the Trinity does on our behalf, let’s not focus so much on the teaching of the Trinity as we instead seek to better understand the blessings which are ours through the Trinity.
Let’s focus on 3 words from our verse for this week which reminds us of the blessings we receive from our Triune God: grace, love and fellowship.
Grace can be one of those Bible words which is confusing or sounds too technical. Many Christians define grace as “God’s underserved love for us as sinners”. Sometimes the letters of the word are used as an acronym to define and explain the word God’s riches at Christ’s expense. To put it simply – grace is the blessings we have because Jesus lived, died on the cross, rose and ascended for us. How easily we take for granted those blessings: forgiveness of all our sins, the assurance that Jesus has personally prepared a place for us in heaven and that he continues to work on our behalf and guide and bless us each day.
In contrast to the somewhat uncommon word “grace”, love is a very common word which has taken on all sorts of meanings and connotations. Look at the word in the context it is used here “the love of God”. It would take a long, long time to list all the ways God has shown his love to you, personally. Please take a moment and reflect on the ways God has shown his love to you individually.
The final word we are focusing on from our verse for this week is another word which is not commonly used – fellowship. It is basically a word which emphasizes the common bond which people share and what brings them together. Don’t just think of that as the common bond we share as a part of TLHA. Think further of the common bond we share as we have the joy and privilege to “share Christ’s love as we serve the spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional needs of people entrusted to our care and others whose lives we touch”. How well do you do individually, how well do we do together in showing and expressing fellowship we share? Do we make our residents, their families and every last person who walks through our doors feel like they are a part of the fellowship we share in Christ’s love? What can we do better to let that fellowship show and let people feel a part of it?
So the next time you hear one of our chaplains use this blessing or you hear it in a church service, please don’t let it become one of those familiar sayings which you just gloss over. Whether it is focusing on the 3 words which we have in this devotion or by focusing on the blessing as a whole, stop and think of the incredible blessings God gives which you are reminded of which you are reminded of as you have this blessing spoken to you!