Personalize It

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in Heaven, making peace by the blood of His Cross.”

~Colossians 1:15-20

As we get closer to Christmas, the day we celebrate God Himself coming to earth in the form of a baby named Jesus Christ, it is even more miraculous to me that He would subject Himself to such a lowly life because He loved me! Thinking of what Jesus did in a personalized way can help us to understand the fullness of God’s love for mankind. Sometimes, reading the Bible can become something we do but not something we understand in a personal way, but when we read the Bible and insert our own names into the verses, it comes alive. One example is John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son… When we replace the word ‘world’ with our name, it becomes a personal testimony. “For God so loved Marie, He gave His only begotten Son…” Or “Because God loved me so much, Jesus Christ died so I can live with Him forever…” When you personalize verses from the Bible, they begin to take root in our hearts and become real to us.

“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Romans 5:9-11).”

We can personalize this verse by changing the pronouns:

“I have been justified by His blood, and I have been saved by Him from the wrath of God. While I was still an enemy of God, I was reconciled to Him by the death of Christ, and I am saved by His life. More than that, I rejoice in God through my Lord Jesus Christ, and through Him I have now received reconciliation.” When we look at verses in a personal way, we begin to understand what a love story the Bible is, and the verses become a prayer from that touches the heart of God.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate (me) from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).”

Read Revelation 10-11