Luke 12:20-21
20But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
John 1:11-13
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Mark 8:35
35 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Whose ‘Christ’ is He? Yours or God’s? Why do I ask? Because He came to fulfill the Father’s will, not ours. Last week, I shared some of my personal ‘testimony’ in this blog. During the ‘Before Christ’ period of my life, I had no ‘sin consciousness’. Most non-believers don’t. I could not imagine a real ‘Hell’, or fathom why a ‘loving God’ would send me there. After all, If you had asked me, I’d have told you that all of my problems were the fault of someone else. In my eyes, I was a victim. I needed God’s help, not necessarily His ‘Christ’, His ‘Jesus’, His Salvation. I didn’t know. But, God knew. He understood from before the beginning that I (we) would need a redemption so complete, that His wrath against us would forever be satisfied (propitiation). What? I didn’t even know He was mad at me(us). Did you? Really? Listen my ‘Jesus’ would have filled up my pockets with money, told me everything was going to be alright and given me some kind of ‘sign’ to verify to me that what He said was going to happen (all to my benefit). Most non-believers (and some believers) are looking for a Genie from a bottle, Not Jesus, sent from God. But God’s ‘Christ’ came to suffer. He came to die. In death, He conquered sin. He satisfied God’s requirement for the redemption of fallen mankind. And when He rose from the grave, He left death and the grave behind and made ‘new life’ available to us. It was not until all this was accomplished that God could dwell with us and in us in the person of the Holy Ghost and in the institution of the ‘Church’. The Kingdom of God has come to us. It has come by the shed blood of our Savior; Jesus, The Christ of God, The Anointed One of God. The Lamb of God, without spot or blemish (sin). Halleluiah! This Jesus: God’s Son, God’s Anointed had a little more on His mind than just my personal well being, a little more on His plate than just me and my situation. HE literally had the whole world in His hands.
What then is required of me(us)? First: acceptance. Can you get on board? Get with the program? Get on the same page with Jesus? If so, then: discipleship: to hear, to obey, to abide, to love, to preach, to teach, to give, to pray, to heal, to bind, to loose, to comfort. To let a dying world know that Hope has a name, a name above every other: Jesus. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Be Blessed!
.wb
p.s. This week marks one year that I’ve been sending out this weekly email. God has been gracious throughout. To Him be the Glory. I thank you all for participating in this effort. Every time you send a word of encouragement or share a point of view or pass this email along, you strengthen and encourage me. Thanks and Thank God for you. Blessings… .wb
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