When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down like a dove. Do you know what that means? In the Bible, doves are connected to all kinds of things—beauty, life after judgment, the ability to fly away from danger—but the #1 use of the dove in the entire Bible is for . . . sacrifice. In the book of Leviticus, doves are mentioned nine times as sacrifices for sins, especially among poor people who couldn’t afford a lamb or a goat. 

Isn’t that incredible news? If you’re like me, you don’t have that much to offer God. What in the world would we give him to make up for all the sins we’ve committed? How many prayers would we have to pray or dollars would we have to donate to make it right? Thank God it doesn’t work like that. Because Jesus is the dove. He dies for the poorest of sinners and the biggest of strugglers. We don’t have to wonder if we’re good enough for God or hope we don’t end up in hell. No! We have Jesus, who died and rose not just for above-average people but for the poor and the lowly, for me and for you.

Look at Jesus and rejoice at the Spirit’s reminder: “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3:21,22).