Tag: christianity

Surfside

James HoganLeave a comment

I have so much I could write about…but so little time…hence, I shall log my latest read(already a few days late on this!):

25. The Works of John Owen, Vol 3: The Holy Spirit by John Owen. And there you go. After more than a year(not exactly sure when I started it, but I think it was in 2017??), with gaps where I took time to read other theological works…I have finished Vol 3 of Owen’s Works. What a masterpiece of a book. I’m not sure how often I’ve written of Owen here, so I guess I should be brief. This book was all about the Holy Spirit and His work (mostly in our lives as Christians – but not exclusively!). Apparently this volume was not big enough to contain all of Owen’s thoughts on the Spirit though…as Volume 4 is called “The Work of the Spirit”! But this book was very encouraging to my soul. I very much hesitate to recommend Owen, as he’s a difficult read at the best of times, and most would probably not get much out of it. I tend to read so quickly though, that when reading many books, I miss out on the truth within because I’m just reading so fast! With Owen though…because of his dense and obtuse writing style, I’m forced to read slower and analyse carefully what he’s saying…and so in a weird way, I am more greatly benefited by his Puritan language than I am by more modern authors(like a Keller or a Piper…both of whom for some reason I’m not really either edified or moved by as much…). But reading Owen’s words on the Spirit of God – and how He indeed actively works in our lives and how this knowledge should drive us to holiness and dependence on God for all things…indeed humbling and thrilling all at the same time. I’m rambling a bit, I know, so I shall close. But one of my takeaways from this hefty tome is the beauty and sheer necessity of our holiness as Christians. When we sin before God, we show God that we despise Him and His words. Is that what we want? As we know that we are sons and daughters of God…as we know that we are a temple of the Holy Spirit…our driving passion should be to honour our Lord God in every word we speak and every step we take. Be holy, as our Father in heaven is holy. We are God’s children, fellow heirs with Christ Himself. Meditate today on what it means to truly abide in Christ. Remain at peace in the love of God, which burns brighter and hotter and more beautifully than anything we can even begin to imagine.

A somewhat Odd phenomenon In this Early morning

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So very quickly I write!! Just wanted to comment briefly on some words I read this morning in 1 Samuel 2. Sobering words, but God’s Word nonetheless. Was reading about the sons of Eli, who were…not nice men. As is made abundantly clear. The text describes some of their sins against God, against the people who brought sacrifices, and against women. I shall not go into all that here. But we do see these lines, “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord.” And again a few verses later, “Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord”. Chilling words. Now eventually their father Eli heard about his sons’ reputation. Why he didn’t already know about their wicked behaviour and terrible sins, I know not. I don’t think Eli can be held up as a model father, that is for sure. But we see that he learned through various rumors and reports about what his sons were up to and we see that he (finally!!) talked to his sons and chastised them and made it clear that what they were doing was “evil” and that they were sinning “against the Lord”. But what does the text say next? “But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death.” Right then. This is a hard verse to understand…could not the Lord show mercy and give them a chance to repent? But it seems clear that their hearts were hardened and God had judged them for their sins and now despite the warning of their father…they could not hear nor could they repent, nor desired they to repent – because God’s judgment was incoming and could not be turned away. These are fearsome words. At the end of the day, we do not understand all of God’s ways, but we must rest in His sovereignty and His goodness. God is just in all His ways, so do we all confess. So do I confess.

And so what can we learn from these words? Firstly, to sin against the Lord and to disobey His commands is most grievous indeed and worthy of all judgment, worthy of eternal horror and death. Do not take lightly the commands of God. Holiness is greatly prized by God, for God is holy and He desires that we all be holy before Him. Secondly, be warned that to reject God and His commands is a very serious thing, for as you reject God, so shall God reject you. Thirdly and finally – I must end on a note of hope, so the hope that I offer is that because we are all utterly wicked apart from God, so does God offer a pure and perfect sacrifice of His only Son, who can make us right before God. Only through Jesus can we find peace with God. And peace with God…there is nothing greater than that. Flee to Christ this day. Before it is too late and before the words of this passage could be applied to you – “for the Lord desired to put them to death”. Flee to Christ, cry out for your salvation. For God is truly merciful and compassionate and desires that you would come to Him. And God does most surely offer you rest for your souls.

A Note of Grace

James HoganLeave a comment

Good morning, friends!! I only have a bare few minutes to write…really not even that long, though I did want to say a few words. I read (amongst other things) in Luke 19 today and it’s a glorious chapter with so much I could talk about…from Jesus talking about his going away and not returning for a long time, and how we are to use what He has given us in the meantime, not just sit around waiting for Him…and then scarily enough(this is definitely not the Jesus of popular culture) he talks about those people who did not want Him to reign over them. What happens with those people? This is a democracy right, and if they don’t want Jesus, then fair enough, yup? We all get to choose our own destinies!! Not quite. At the end of that parable, the returning King calls for those who did not want Him to rule to be brought to Him and slain in His presence. Well. Alright then. And then more sobering words, with Jesus arriving at Jerusalem and weeping at their soon-coming judgment because they had missed their visitation – rejected their King. But as sad as these words are – we are comforted by the fact that Jesus will come again…and we shall truly say – “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”. Oh how I long for that day. But since I have no time and I really can’t talk about all these words, just going to mention my favourite verse in this chapter, the very last one. It is talking about how Jesus is preaching daily in the temple and the religious leaders were trying to destroy him, yet they couldn’t. Here I’ll quote verse 19 in its entirety – “…and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said.” That is beautiful enough in and of itself – imagine the scene, people just soaking in the words of Jesus, eyes enraptured, hearts afire. But I glanced over at the footnote as I read and noted that those last few words are literally in the Greek, “…for all the people were hanging on to Him, listening.” Do we have that kind of attitude towards Jesus? Do we have such a desire to know Him more that we could be described as “hanging on to Him, listening”? Each and every day – how do we approach our Lord? I pray that this day we all might burn with passion to be closer, closer to Jesus. Read the Word of God and be in awe at the Light of His Truth. Listen, listen, my friends – to our glorious Lord. Do not miss His visitation – for He has truly offered Himself to all those who cry out to Him. What glory. What beauty. What love. Embrace Jesus and what He has done – for us. Hold on to Jesus and listen. He calls to you. Listen. Listen.

Fireside

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Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art

High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’n’s Sun
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all

Courage, Dear Heart

James HoganLeave a comment

Happy Thursday, friends!!  It is a nice evening thus far…and soon I shall proceed onto the dinner portion of the night.  But now, let me write just very few words.  Mostly I’m writing because I’ve gotten a bit behind on my book logging and thus…here are a few I’ve read lately(honestly I’ve finished all four of these in the past week, so I’m not that far behind!!):

14.  Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life by Nick Lane.  Alright, so a brief preamble.  That title(and the shockingly pink cover!) are extremely attention-grabbing and lurid…but the contents of the book are a bit more dry.  (And fantastic!)  I’d been in a science-y mood lately for some reason…and I’ve always been fascinated by cell biology and energy generation in the cell, ever since AP Bio back in the day I guess?  I’ve been meaning to find a educational work on this subject for a while now and finally a few months ago, found this on Amazon and thought – why not?  It’s probably a bit too technical and dry for a casual read, but I much enjoyed it.  Yes – once again proving I’m a nerd.  *takes a bow*  It gave a fascinating overview of mitochondria and then delved into its (speculated) origins and (perceived) functions in the eukaryotic cell and thus in the majority of life on earth.  While this book is coming from a very obviously secular perspective, I was awed again and again by the rich and gorgeous complexity of the inner workings of the mitochondria.  And I was a bit surprised – but maybe I shouldn’t have been? – to see how much of the research cited in this book was relatively recent…we are still learning so much about life!!  And again and again the author made disclaimers to say that what he was discussing wasn’t known for a certainty, but something that he strongly believed was likely.  Sometimes we laymen think that all in the scientific realm has been rigorously proven and defined, sure without a shadow of a doubt.  But nay – there is surely much uncertainty and much that is unknown.  The origin of the eukaryotic cell is something we can’t with confidence deduce!  I say all these words just to underline the fact that this world in which we live is swimming with wonderfully complex and intricate forms…and these endless forms most beautiful are not fully known by any of us who live on this gorgeous earth.  But they are known by their Creator.  And that – the fact that there is a Creator – is something that was most definitely not stated in this book, but it was something which I was richly reminded of as I was stunned anew on almost every page by the utterly fascinating facts contained in this book.

15.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  Mm, this book.  Well a few weeks ago, I was in a reading mood.  And I wanted to read something (fairly) light and also warm and encouraging.  The problem is…my current books at that time were my mitochondria book and Owen.  So…yeah.  I perused my shelf and as my eyes passed across Narnia…I couldn’t resist.  I don’t want to talk too much about the Narnia series now (because I could go on far too long!), and while there are certain pitfalls contained in this series – which I will most certainly not go into now! – the beauty and truth in this series are profound.  There are few authors who can express as much in as few words as Lewis.  This first book I shall not give a full review of, except to say it is a wondrous introduction into a wonderful world.  Read and weep.

16.  Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis.  Sensing a theme here?  Caspian is a wonderful book and reading it reminded me of when I read it long ago as a child.  I enjoyed it just as much now as then…if not more so.  The mark of a truly great book, I think.  The introduction of some great characters in this one…namely…Reepicheep the Mouse!  And I guess Caspian himself is ok too.  Peter, Susan, Edmund & Lucy all return and once again…some profound truths in this book.  I have tried to type out some of those truths several times in this paragraph and have failed miserably, so I will not continue as I am not Lewis.  But will mention the section when Lucy meets up with the Lion and discovers what she must do regardless of the cost…beautiful.  If only we all were so conscious of the great worth and joy of obedience.

17.  The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis.  I sometimes hesitate to say it as the first four Narnia books are all spectacular…but if I had to pick, this is my very favourite.  Eustace Scrubb, my favorite character in Narnia.  The dragon sequence.  The voyage on the sea, in beauty and peril both.  The random and spectacular various islands discovered in their adventure.  The interactions between Eustace, Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, Reepicheep, et. al…and then the reaching of the End of the World and the glimpse into Aslan’s country…I cannot properly describe this book and I shall not try for fear that I will spoil it for the rest of you.  It is beautiful.  In the darkest shadows and absence of all light, there is yet Hope.  As I texted my friend last night as I finished this book, “…it’s a simply lovely book, with truth that reflects a greater Truth and beauty that reflects a truer Beauty.”

You will notice I have of purpose kept my summation of these books fairly brief as you really need to read these yourself to understand why they are marvelous.  Lewis’s work is most definitely not for everyone, as his intermixing of myth and legend and very Truth is something that may be off-putting to some.  And when reading, we must be very careful to beware the sin of idolatry…for truly, Aslan is not Christ and his words are not God’s Words.  But there is something here that warms my heart as I think on the true far country for which my heart longs.  There is something in these pages that spurs me on to love and great deeds as I ponder my duty to the God whose son I am.  There is something in these books that reminds me of the great love which fills my heart –  through the work of the Holy Spirit – because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ Himself for us.  Remind yourself of these truths and meditate on the love of Christ.  Abide in Him and all shall be well.  Thus sings my soul.

A Progressive Work

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Sanctification is an immediate work of the Spirit of God on the
souls of believers, purifying and cleansing of their natures from
the pollution and uncleanness of sin, renewing in them the image
of God, and therefore enabling them, from a spiritual and habitual
principle of grace, to yield obedience unto God, according unto the
tenor and terms of the new covenant, by virtue of the life and death
of Jesus Christ.
-John Owen, Works, Vol. 3, The Holy Spirit, p. 386

What glorious words.

And…

And they who of themselves can do nothing, – that is, in a way of living unto God,-
cannot of themselves preserve grace, act it, and increase it; which are
the greatest things we do or are wrought in us in this world.
Wherefore God hath, in infinite wisdom, so ordered the dispensation of his
love and grace unto believers, that all of them living upon the continual
supplies of his Spirit, none may have cause, on the one hand,
to faint or despond, nor occasion, on the other, unto self-confidence
or elation of mind; that so “no flesh may glory in itself, but he that
glorieth may glory in the Lord.”  And, therefore, as he greatly
encourageth the weak, the fearful, the faint, the disconsolate and
dejected, and that by the engagement of all the holy properties of
his nature in and unto their assistance, Isaiah 35:3-6, 40:27-31; so
he warns them who suppose themselves strong, steadfast, and immovable,
“not to be high-minded, but to fear,” Romans 11:20, because
the whole issue of things depends on his sovereign supplies of grace.
-John Owen, Works, Vol. 3, The Holy Spirit, p. 394

What beautiful, wonderful words.  Might I ponder on such things this night.

Wanderlust

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It’s a lovely day – well it’s Friday so of course it is – and I’m enjoying my peppermint mocha – what else!? – and thought I’d share a few words…

Read some wonderful words in Psalms 5 and 6 and then in Leviticus(which was a bit more dry but still good because it is the Word) but the one verse I want to share was from Proverbs 25:27 – “It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glory to search out one’s own glory.”  This was convicting and I love it for multiple reasons.  Firstly, I do enjoy my honey.  I put it in coffee, I put it in my smoothies, I put it in tea…it is pretty much my go-to sweetener.  Honey is fantastic!!  But…I do need to be careful not to overdo it, do I not?  Firstly, if I put half a cup of honey in my smoothie, besides being slightly unhealthy, it would also taste sickly sweet and disgusting.  So yes, too much of a good thing like honey…can sour very quickly.  But enough focus on the honey – what is the author saying here?  It is not “glory to search out one’s own glory”.  Glory is something that can be pretty sweet, right?  We like being praised, we like being thought well of.  We like to be liked.  Some don’t care to be liked…but they still want to be recognized and acclaimed.  We all want to be known.  So just as it can be oh so tempting to add a few more dollops of honey to our morning coffee, so can we be quickly allured by the promise of our own glory, acclaim and honor.  Live in such a way to bring honor and glory to the Father.  But to do things to bring about your own glory?  Thus is vanity.  Thus is foolishness.  Because self-sought glory may be sweet on the tongue, but it will sour in the stomach.  Do not seek to heap honors on yourself.  They will vanish quickly, like ashes in the wind.

To close – if we should not search out our own glory, what should we do?  Well – there are many things we should do and I don’t have time to explicate them all.  But I will simply leave you with this for now – be faithful in obedience to God and seek to know God more.  Long after the deep, wonderful things of God.

Peace and love.

To Sleep,

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I sit at Starbucks right now with my mocha americano and I ponder the lovingkindesses of the Lord.

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your doings;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
I stretch out my hands to You;
my soul longs for You, as a parched land.

Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails;
do not hide Your face from me,
or I will become like those who go down to the pit.

Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
for I trust in You;
teach me the way in which I should walk;
for to You I lift up my soul.
-Psalm 143:5-8

Lovely words which I read this morning.  I do still mean to read Hebrews at some point today, but my time flees, my time trickles away as sand in an hourglass.  I’m excited to start reading Hebrews soon though, since in my OT reading I am going through Exodus(and soon Leviticus) so will be so intriguing to be reading the ceremonial and moral law of the Hebrews compared to the work and glories of the gospel as revealed in Christ by the author of the book of Hebrews!  And seeing the faint glories of God that are proclaimed by the shadows of the past…praise be to God for the mysteries of the gospel that have been revealed through Jesus Christ our Lord and His tragic death and most shocking resurrection!!!

Now further – what shall I say?  I did mean to write this entry to chronicle a bit of the past day and I suppose I can do that (but quickly!).  Indeed yesterday was a marvelous day that was given to me by my Lord in which I was reminded of the love that is mine, both from my God and from my many dear friends with whom I have been blessed abundantly!  And while it mostly consisted of work(but at least it was Friday, so duties were not overly onerous!), it was delightful to come back to my place at the end of the day and relish a weekend ahead.  After my workout, I walked down to EQ and enjoyed an hour on the porch there, reading my new book(about mitochondria and their origins and function in the cell…yes I’m a nerd and yes I’m far too excited by the subject matter!!  …still waiting for them to mention farandolae…) and then I walked home.  Didn’t have any more free time then, for it was about time for Earnie and Peter to come over!  I really meant not to plan anything last night, but both of them made mention of the fact that we should get together so I acquiesced and a delightful evening was had.  Earnie brought drinks and Peter brought a cake(chocolate and vanilla with strawberries on top!!) and I picked up some Pizza Hut…and so we talked and ate and shared the highs and lows of our past year…and reminded ourselves of the goodness of the Lord in each other’s lives and it was beautiful.  And so did I get the quiet night I had anticipated?  No.  Did I get the early night’s sleep I expected?  A thousand times no, since I think I didn’t get to bed until after one!  Was I blessed muchly by the events of the evening?  A thousand times yes.

And then this morning, after a few hours sleep, I woke up and had a cup of coffee and a scant few minutes’ reading time…and then off to breakfast with Jake and Julian and Earnie…hours spent around a food-laden table, discussing our lives and our loves and the passion that fills our hearts to know Christ and to make Him known.  To have such godly and loving friends as I do…I hesitate to say I deserve any of this, for I truly don’t.  I only know that I treasure such moments, quiet morning talks with far too much coffee and an abundance of encouraging, uplifting and fruitful conversation.

Now I sit here at Starbucks.  And as my mocha americano lingers on the tongue, memories of wistful eyes and dark brown curls linger in the mind.  Yes yes, I shall not think over-long on this, but as Jake mentioned today about Katie being in his current bible study…she crossed my mind yet again.  But hey – she is not for me and all is well with my soul.

About time to go do some shopping and errands…and then looking forward to a brunch with Jules – I know not what we will talk about, but I do know that our time will be lovely, as it always is.  And tonight…Jared is coming over to hang out and watch the Lightning game together.  Game 5 of Eastern Finals…go Tampa Bay!!!  (Beat the Caps!  – words I almost never say!!)

I must fly, but as is noted in the many words above, I have been given far too much.  I am unworthy and unholy in oh so many ways.  But in the way that matters most, I am holy for I am forgiven.  I know a God who is far too beautiful for my mind to truly comprehend.  But I do strive to know Him yet more and more.  And I am known by a God who is far too beautiful to me.  It is a wonderous thing that I would be called a child of God.  And such I am.

Deepest peace and truest love.

Century Child

James HoganLeave a comment

…and once again we come to Monday, the pauper of days.  But as I rolled on to work this morning, it was heartening to see the brilliant full moon shine bright o’erhead, before she finally decided to veil her face.  Even then, the light broke through the clouds effortlessly, beautifully.  And so my week begins, with a note of wonder, song of grace.

And briefly…much enjoyed my reading this morning.  I would like to share a few of my favourite verses – firstly from Exodus:

Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died.
And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out;
and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God.
So God heard their groaning;
and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God saw the sons of Israel,
and God took notice of them.
-Exodus 2:23-25

Is that not beautiful?  I cannot quite state that anything I’m going through is anywhere near the level of bondage that the children of Israel were in.  But it is oh so encouraging to my heart to see how God responds to the sighs and cries of His people.  God hears, God remembers, God sees, God takes notice.  We may think that God is ignoring us, not promptly answering our pleas and our cries.  I mean – seriously, the children of Israel are in bondage for near on four hundred years!!  That is not an insignificant length of time – why does God not act sooner?  I know not.  And sometimes whatever we are suffering through will seem like it is never ending…yet…we need not let our hearts be troubled.  Because God does remember His promises to us and He surely does see our plight and hear our cries.  And God will surely take notice and stretch out His mighty hand on our behalf.  Not in our time, perhaps.  But God’s time is sweeter still.  Let us remember that and let our hearts’ cries never cease to be raised to the God who hears.

And secondly from the magnificent book of John…

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world,
He loved them to the end.
-John 13:1

…and is that not truly beautiful as well?  Jesus knew His time was short.  He knew His time was at hand.  And He whose love is incomprehensible did truly love His disciples deeply.  And did His love for them wane as His hour of trial approached?  Oh most certainly not – Jesus loved His disciples to the end.  He loved them infinitely.  He loved them completely and perfectly, as only the Son of God can.  And to manifest His love to them…he got up from the dinner table and washed His followers’ dirty feet.  A shocking display of love, acting not as their Teacher and Lord(which He was!), but as their Servant.  And so this Servant who was about to suffer greatly did kneel before His disciples and love them greatly.  I can imagine them being so shocked that silence fell around the table.  I don’t know that for certain, but I imagine it to be so.  And then when He comes to Peter…Peter responds as only Peter can – “Never shall You wash my feet!”  But when Jesus responds that Peter shall have no part of Him if He is not washed by Christ…then Peter again responds as only Peter can – “…then wash me completely, feet, head, hands all!”  Jesus gently reminds Him that he who has bathed need only wash his feet and truly, “…you are clean.”  What a joy to hear that from Jesus.  You are clean!  Oh joyous thought – we that are redeemed by the blood of Christ are truly clean.  Forever.  And we can read about this moment where Jesus acted so sacrificially for His followers…so also ought we to lay aside our pride and love one another.  If Jesus could serve His disciples in such a way…how could we not long to serve each our brothers and sisters daily, always.  What joy would fill our hearts to act as our Saviour??  What joy does fill our hearts to know our Lord!!

And one last verse to close…truly lovely words:

“In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me;
and he who loves Me
will be loved by My Father,
and I will love Him
and will disclose Myself to him.”
-Jesus Christ, John 14:20-21

We of whose those words are true…Jesus reveals Himself to us in pure love.  What awe and wonder!  We are loved by God the Father.  We are loved by God the Son.  We abide in Christ and Christ abides in us.  The Holy Spirit of God dwells in us.  We are loved by God.  We truly know God as He reveals Himself to us.  We are truly known by God.  We are loved.  This, my friends, is why we can be full of grace and full of peace.  Forever and always.

Passion

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So…baseball Opening Day was yesterday.  Sadly – I did not go to any baseball games, but surprisingly(and probably for the last time this year), all three of my teams won!  Rays had a comeback victory over Boston, Baltimore took out the Twins in the 11th with an Adam Jones homer…and the Astros just plain dominated with Verlander pitching like the Hall of Famer he is.  So I am happy.  Yay baseball!  Spring is now officially here.

But…far more importantly…today is what is commonly called Good Friday, despite the fact that the event it commemorates is horrifyingly brutal in the extreme.  The day man decided (once again!) that they knew better than God.  The day humanity decided (once again!) that they were better off without God.  The day we killed God.

And as shocking as that turn of events was…in the end it truly was a Good day.  For it was the day that God sacrificed Himself.  For us.  For all of us who put our faith in Jesus.  For all of us who give up our lives in submission to the only true God.  For all of us who bow the knee to the One who saves.

In honour of the events of today, I much enjoyed reading Philippians this morning…many many verses kept striking me with their brilliant truths, but I shall only quote a few of my favourites this day.  Despite the filth and lies we are surrounded by…remember:

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish
so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him,
not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through
faith in Christ,
the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

and…

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ;
who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the
body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject
all things to Himself.

-Philippians 3:7-11,20-21

Let us remember these things.  Let us pause this day in the midst of our frantic lives and ponder and meditate on the One who did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped – even though He is God – but instead emptied Himself and became a Man and lived and died and rose again.  For us.

Amazing love, how can it be – that Thou my God shouldst die for me!?!