Morning Devotion 11/26/2025

John 10:17-18 "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself."

Jesus's life was given, not taken. He had a will, but this will was in total submission to the will of His Father and in perfect lockstep with the Spirit, so unified that they are one and yet they are three, a Trinity/tri-unity. Did Jesus have power to save His life? Of course He did. Remember His words to His disciples when they drew their swords on His captors: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53). In His days of hunger, couldn't He have manifested bread from thin air? When He was ridiculed, He could have smitten His mockers with sickness or death. He had power to calm seas, but lived a life of constant personal turmoil. He had power to cast out devils, but lived under constant attack of the enemy. He had power over life and death, and He willingly laid down His life. Not just in death, but His whole life was willingly offered up to God the Father for you and me.

My burden this morning is that I live for Christ like He lived for me…willingly. Many times we want God to force us into a corner and twist our arm until we are forced into submission. This is not how Jesus offered up His life—it wouldn't have been an offering at all, neither is it an offering when God has to force it upon us. God wants our wills in submission to His because we love Him. Think of Jonah. He decided he was going to run, and only when he found himself in the belly of a whale did he begrudgingly obey God and preach to the Ninevites. Consider your own children. Do you prefer forced submission to your will or loving obedience to your desires?

What has God asked of you? "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1). To present our lives is not for it to be forcibly taken, but to be willingly given. Christ laid down His life willingly, gladly, not of force but of love. How then will you give your life to Him? Lay it down freely.