People, doesn’t it seem like the world’s on fire? We’ve got crooked politicians and crooked people trying to become politicians. We’ve got legalized abortion, marijuana, and prostitution in this country…it just seems like it’s all downhill from here. The world we live in is a mess.

But life’s a mess, right? And sometimes the mess gets personal. And we feel stuck. Sometimes we feel like we are traveling through the wilderness.

Lent reminds us that Jesus traveled in the wilderness first, and He came out victorious on the other side of His trials and temptations. We can learn from Jesus’ example, so let’s take a closer look at Him to see the best way to navigate through tough times.

Last week, we talked about the Baptism of Jesus when God told Him, and everyone within earshot, two key facts — that Jesus belonged to the Father as a Son and that He, the Father, delighted in Jesus. We know that, as Jesus’ siblings, God extends this favor to us in the same way.

If we hope to navigate life’s difficulties well, we need to cling to who we are and Whose we are. We learn about our identity by reading God’s Word. On Mondays, I’d like to start sharing some inspirational verses to help us adopt a more hopeful mindset, one that acknowledges what the Lord says about us. These verses would make great memory work! I know that I will be meditating on today’s verse throughout the week:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9, ESV 

We’ve been chosen. We are set apart as holy because of this relationship. And we have an important purpose — proclaiming His excellency.

Today and all this week, if you put one thing on the to-do list, let it be proclaiming the excellency of Christ.