JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Good News Focus is on Colossians 3:1.

Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

With eyes of faith, we set our affections on Christ, His Kingdom, His truth, His grace, and His priorities. What matters to Jesus is what matters to us. This is what happens when we identify with Christ. He forms our identity into His likeness. 

Colossians 3:4 describes Christ as our life. He is our motivation for waking up in the morning. He defines our purpose and mission in life. He is the reason we have hope in broken circumstances. He is the spark that ignites love in our heart to glorify His name, and encourage others with His love.

Jesus is our Source of Good News, leading us to a place of aligning ourselves with God’s priorities in the Year of Vision.  

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

JOHN SHIRK – In the Year of Vision, today’s 20/20 Insight focuses on the identity of believers as children of God.

This is what Ephesians 1:4 and 5 says about the identity of those who are faithful in Christ.

“He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”

When we respond to the Good News of Jesus with a trusting heart, God includes us in His family of believers. He gives us a new identity as a new creation in Christ. We are born of God and loved by God as His child. We become a citizen of heaven, temple of the Holy Spirit, and light in the world to reflect God’s glory and goodness. God’s love forms our identity to see ourselves as God sees us. 

Focusing on our identity as a dearly loved child of God gives us greater clarity for living out the Christian life.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

JOHN SHIRK – In the Year of Exploration, today’s Reasons to Believe are life, purpose and identity.

These three experiences of the Christian life are described in a single statement made by the Apostle Paul. When he was in Athens, he linked these experiences to a relationship with God. He said in

Acts 17:28, “In him, we live and move and have our being.”

In a relationship with God, we have life, eternally and abundantly through faith in Jesus Christ. Our spirit comes alive to God’s grace.

In a relationship with God, we move. He puts the purpose into the steps we take. That purpose is to glorify God. This focus will affect the choices we make day-to-day.

In a relationship with God, we have our being. As we know God as He is, we come to understand how He sees us. First John 3:1 says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

Life, Purpose, and Identity in Christ are reasons to believe in God’s good news.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com