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  • Our Quest – A holy calling

    Our Quest – A holy calling

    Northern lights - aurora Borealis -they brought to mind tour quest, a holy calling

    Our old friend, the sun, is experiencing a massive  gravitational/magnetic storm. That means the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, are putting on brilliant displays.

    Yesterday evening, my social media pages were awash with pictures of the lights. That included people from Northern Canada, where the borealis is a common sight, to Northern Florida, where they have never been seen before. Today’s image is from a friend in Colorado.

    Many of the lights were pink. Pink is an uncommon color that is only visible during periods of highly intense activity. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen pink, where I have seen the blues and greens perhaps thousands of times.

    Kathy and I spontaneously got out of our comfy evening spots, jumped in the car, and went on a quest to see them. Unfortunately, between the urban light pollution and cloud cover, we struck out. Still, it was nice to take a nighttime drive.

    Non-believers are on a quest to find something to fill the void in their lives. They try many things, including material goods, power, substance abuse, sex, and other religions. All of those will fail them. Their only hope is to turn to Jesus.

    Believers are on a quest as well. It is a two-fronted quest. We strive to be more like Jesus, and we take the gospel into a world of lost and hurting people. We will never fully fulfill either in our lifetime, but God is on the throne. He will bring all that are His to himself. We will have finished our journey to become all He created us to be once we reach glory.

    That doesn’t mean that our quest is futile. Every person who comes to Christ causes a celebration in heaven.

    In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10

    Similarly, God is pleased and glorified when we grow more like the Son.

    “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” – James 1:22

    “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” – 1 John 5:3

    “If you love me, keep my commands.” – John 14:15

    Our quest is challenging. We may have disappointments along the way, but through Him we have the victory.

    Press on, dear friends, press on.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 


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    All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word. 

    Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.


  • Human Nature – Our Fallen State

    During our community group meeting last night, someone  commented that “sinning is part of our human nature.” I’ve said it myself, but in truth, it’s inaccurate.

    Indeed, it’s true that we all sin. Every person other than Jesus has sinned. We have a sinful nature inherited from our parents, going all the way back to Adam and Eve. The church has held to the doctrine of original sin going back to its earliest days.

    Yet, it isn’t our humanity that makes us sin. It’s our human nature. Allow me to elaborate.

    When God created Adam and Eve, they were made in the image of God and without sin. 

    So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.  Genesis 1:27-28

    He was pleased with His creation.

    And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

    He would not have been pleased with a flawed humanity that sinned by its very nature. Sin is not the image of God.

    Sin entered later in the Garden. You know the story well. The result was humanity being expelled from the Garden and sin gaining a foothold in us. We see the effects of the sin nature as early as Cain’s murder of his brother Abel.

    Flash forward several thousand years. Jesus sets aside His prerogatives and humbles Himself to come in the womb of a Middle Eastern peasant girl. Yet, He did not give in to temptation and sin.

    He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 1 Peter 2:22

    For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

    For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

    If to be human is to sin, and Jesus did not sin, it means he was not human. The path to our salvation has not happened yet. Only someone fully human could atone for our sin. Our haman nature is fallen and in need of a redeemer.

    His virgin birth enabled him to bypass the sin nature passed down by Adam’s curse. The second Adam (Jesus) did what the first Adam was created to do and failed.

    To be Human is to be created in God’s image. We all bear that image to some flawed degree, but our human nature doesn’t make us sinners. The sinful nature that dwells within us causes us to sin.

    We could call it the human condition because it’s undeniable, but it isn’t the nature we were created with. Humanity was designed to be sin-free—that’s our unmarred nature.

    It may be a trivial, picayune point, but it is one with enormous consequences.

    When we are in glory and without sin, we will be fully human as God created us to be. The sin nature will have been purged.

    When we stumble and fall, turning to Jesus for forgiveness, let’s celebrate that He did not sin in His humanity.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 


    Subscribe today 

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    ___________________________________________ 

    All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word. 

    Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.