Christ is Life

Proverbs 3
My dad taught us verses 5-6 when we were children, and I have come to appreciate these verses very much:

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own
understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which
path to take.

Another verse that jumped out at me today was verse 18: "Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly." Now, I thought the Tree of Life was locked up in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but here it says that "Wisdom is a tree of life..." I think this is interesting considering that Christ Jesus is the Wisdom of God. Hence, if A=B, and C=B, then C=A so that Christ Jesus is our tree of life when we embrace Him. Indeed, Salvation belongs to our God, and Life is granted by Grace, through Faith in Christ Jesus's complete obedience to the Will of the Father. Praise the Lord!

Luke 22
A couple of interesting points occurred to me this morning. Verse 3 is an abrupt statement, "Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot..." I have wondered several times about this idea of Judas being possessed by Satan. The thing I struggle with is, did God choose Judas to be the betrayer, or did Judas do something to lend himself to Satan's control? I guess this gets back to the classic question of predestination versus free-will, just in regard to unbelievers.

In verse 31, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked to "sift him like wheat." But Jesus prayed that his faith would not fall. This is an encouraging example of Christ interceding on our behalf. However, it is the next statement that really got me: "So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers." Jesus knew Peter was going to blow it! I try to think of this conversation from Peter's perspective. "Satan's going to attack me, but Jesus prayed for me, so I'm invincible!" I wonder if Peter really listened to the remainder of the statement, or if it came hammering back into his mind after he denied Christ in verses 54-62. It is so promising that Christ already had a plan for Peter in spite of his failure. He already knew how he was going to use Peter to build up the Church.

Prayer
Lord thank you for being our tree of Life; you are the source of Life - physically and spiritually. Lord I commit my life to you and ask you to lead me according to your will. Thank you that you intercede for me and have a plan for me in spite of my failures. Thank you for taking me back, again and again, and using me in your perfect and pleasing will. Please grow my relationship with you. Amen.