Daily Manna · Day 16 · January 16
The Great Shepherd
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
A letter is being read aloud to a congregation in the first century. Some of them have already had their property seized. Some are quietly considering going back to the older, safer, legally protected religion they came from. Near the end the reader reaches one long sentence, and the room stands up for it.
That is what this is. Not a devotional line but a benediction, the last thing spoken over people who are tired of holding on. Watch who owns the verbs. God brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. God makes you perfect in every good work, and the word behind perfect means to mend, to set a bone, to repair a net that has torn. God works in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight. There is nothing here for you to lift. But watch the direction it runs, too: he is fitting you to do his will. That is the mercy and it is also the catch. The power is enormous and the target belongs to him.
So the truth here is not a task at all. You have promised to change before and you know your own record, and not one of the verbs in this blessing was ever yours. The hands that mend the net are the hands that raised the shepherd. Your track record is not the document under discussion.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 16 is After the Sceptre (Esther 8:6).