Daily Devotions
I remember the night my son was born. There was a gush of water, and we knew for sure the baby would be born within hours. Human babies come by water—all babies, including the baby who was God Himself.
How wonderful it is that Jesus came by water—because that was the first great step in redeeming us, that God Himself stepped down from His throne and made Himself a human being. We call this the incarnation. It wasn’t just an appearance or some kind of fake. God really became a Man, with a human body and soul. He took human nature to Himself, and He will never separate Himself from us again.
But God’s incarnation was just the beginning of the story of how He saved us—for Jesus came by blood as well. He saved us by the blood of His cross, washing away our sins, the day He laid down His life and tasted death for all of us. He suffered; He took His final breath; His heart stopped; and He gave up His spirit. It was real and it was costly. Jesus came by blood.
And then He rose from the dead, to our great joy—for His life is our life, and the proof of our forgiveness. Now we are temples of His Holy Spirit, the gift He sent us from heaven on Pentecost. God Himself has come to live inside us and to keep us as His own forever. He is the guarantee of our salvation (see 2 Corinthians 1:22).
So now we can be sure that God has saved us, and we are His children forever in Jesus Christ. As John tells us, “There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. … And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life” (1 John 5:7, 11-12a).
Because Jesus came by water and blood, now we, too, come to God through water and blood. We come through the waters of Baptism, which Jesus sanctified for us at His own Baptism by John (see Matthew 3:13-17 and John 3:1-21). We receive His forgiveness to taste and touch as we eat His body and drink His blood in the Lord’s Supper (see Matthew 26:27-28). The Holy Spirit Himself plants faith in our hearts to trust our Savior Jesus. See how much God loves us!
WE PRAY: Thank You, dear Lord, for coming to us. Bring me to be Yours forever. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. Why does it matter that God became human?
2. Why does it matter that He died and rose—for real, and not simply as a myth or symbol?
3. Why do you think God chose such concrete, tangible ways of coming to us in the Sacraments—things that we can handle, touch, and taste?