He turns our water into wine
A short devotional to start your week in God's Word
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Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.
When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him,
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
-John 2:7-10
It’s tempting to think we can white-knuckle and hustle our way into heaven.
We live in a culture that dazzlingly admires those who pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get it together, who don’t need help, never need rest, produce, produce, produce.
But to try to fight our own way into heaven is to misunderstand the reality of God’s grace, a gift He gives us just because He loves us, a gift we are incapable of doing anything to deserve in our sinful nature.
And, He doesn’t love us because we are likable, or cute, or make good choices—He loves us just because we exist.
What Jesus does to the wine at the wedding at Cana, His first public miracle and hallmark of His three years of preaching and ministry before His crucifixion, He does exactly to us. He takes our plain, unassuming water and turns it into wine worthy of full communion with Him in heaven.
Jesus made Himself clear in this beginning of His public ministry: He wasn’t here to shame God’s children into sorrow and shackle us beneath old laws, He was here to eclipse our fallen humanity with His divine glory, to take the burden for us, to save us from ourselves.
Water can’t make itself wine. But He can and does, all by His redemption for us on the cross, by His graces poured out for us in our baptisms, by His daily conformation of our hearts to Him when we receive Him.
What are you trying to prove by striving to hustle your way into heaven on your own effort? You’re merely spinning your wheels—our fallen nature cannot do what God can, but that’s the best news ever.
Trust Him. Let Him take care of you. Allow Him pick up all your broken pieces and put you back together. You are free to rest in His Sacred Heart—in fact, that’s exactly where you belong.
In Him,
-Eliza
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LET’S COMMIT IT TO MEMORY:
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Begin:
“He turns my water into wine.”