Week 13

Jerry and his mom came to see Emily on Monday. They brought us so much Chinese food that I ate them for four days in a row.

Emily is 3 months old this Sunday. She certainly came a long way in these 13 weeks. During the past week, she can hold her head up pretty well. We were amazed at how long she could stand for the tummy time. Below is a picture of it. Emily also ate more every day. We changed the nipple to the level 3 flow. We are thinking to increase her bottle to 5 or 6 oz now since she finishes every drop of the milk in the 4 oz bottle. Emily also likes to blow milk bubbles. We'll have to carry a cloth with us all the time to catch the bubbles. She is so into her hands that 8 out of 10 pictures we took were the ones of her gazing at her hands ...

Starting from Feb. 1st, we have a new preacher at church. We really like his preaching. The verse Godan challenged us to remember was Phil 3:16 "Only let us live up to what we have already attained." We are given the gift of righteousness and the fruit of the Spirit. We as Christians ("Christ-like") have a high call to grow into the clothes that Jesus put on us. He made an illustration that he gave his son an adult razon as gift. But his son has to grow to be able to use it. I liked his interpretation of the "hands up" worship - you put your hands up when someone point the gun toward you - that's a total surrender!

Godan also answered the question someone asked:" Why did Jesus have to die? Is there another way that we can reconcile with God?" The answer was: Yes - if we are perfect (sinless).

Why do we need to put on the Lord; why do we need to be clothed in Christ? Because it is the only way we can be made right with God. All of our good will and actions falls short. We need Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can clothe us with the robe of salvation (Isaiah 61:10) in a new covenant. He himself is the robe of righteousness, the garment of salvation, that we need to put on each and every day. This robe of salvation that we clothe ourselves in is both a free gift from God and a call to action that we face each day. He knows we cannot make right choices by the virtue of our strength alone. That’s why his only Son shed his blood as a ransom from sin and the pledge of a new covenant. Jesus has given us everything we need to live a holy life. He now asks us to embrace this free gift and put on his robe of salvation each and every day.

Here are three more verses that I found related to the message above:

"I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul. For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice" (Isaiah 61:10).

"Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh" (Romans 13:13-14).

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27).