My thoughts for today:
The first verses of the 12th chapter of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament state that Jesus Christ is the author and the finisher of our faith. Because of that passage, I say - not by my own work and by my own efforts, but completely by the good and great grace of our Heavenly Father - I say that I had nothing to do with my salvation; that even the choice I made to trust and believe in Jesus Christ was by His grace.
I was a sinner to the core, spiritually dead and therefore incapable of anything that involved salvation. But because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, the grace of our Heavenly Father reached for me and brought me to life, opening my eyes to absolute and complete redemption.
This is coming from what we've been talking about today at church. To say that we, by ourselves, chose Christ, is to say that there was something good in us - but since the disobedience of Adam took place, everything we did apart from Christ was ultimately futile, though we had 'good' intentions. Sin, like a virus, like a plague, infected and tainted us to the core of our being. The wages of sin is death, and therefore all that we were had its end.
We were in need of a Savior. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word came down as one of us, and dwelt with us. In Him was light, and this light was the light of man. The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
And it continues in John 1:9-13:
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Because of our Savior, the light shines for all of us to see. His glory is seen in all that has been made, that we are without excuse. By the Father's grace, I believe that every second we spend in this life is an opportunity for our eyes to be opened to His absolute glory and everlasting love.
Many will reject this light, but I believe and declare that even more will be brought to life in the spirit to believe and receive.
It is not by our works that we are saved. It is not by our works that we are free. It is not by our works that we are blessed. It is because of God's grace and truth, seen in and through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that we are saved, freed, and blessed! We were completely incapable of understanding the need for salvation on our own, but praise God, for the absolute and whole redemption that we have through His Son, Jesus Christ!
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email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26