Completely Whole

Something to think about.

 Completely Whole

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, Acts 3:19 ESV

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." Mark 11:25 ESV

Repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, adoption words with such magnificent meaning and power. In an era of rights have we determined that we have a right to these words? That they are a birthright because we are human? Are we taking for granted the mercy, wonder, and grace of God? 

Every one of these words has a cost related to them. 

Repentance means; sincere regret or remorse. Regret or remorse in themselves suggest a substantial personal cost. God does not have to accept or recognize your repentance it adds nothing to Him.  

Forgiveness, Is the act of pardoning someone for something they have done. God does need to forgive you He would be fine condemning you.   

Reconciliation, One of the meanings I found is; the restoration of friendly relations. God does not have to take you back. 

Restoration, to bring back to full usefulness. God does not need to restore you. You are not that important.  

Adoption, to willingly appropriate all rights of the father to an illegitimate child.  God does not have to share His glory with you. 

Are you getting the point? God does not have to do any of these things for you. He does not have to take on the cost of reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration, repentance, and adoption.  The cost of all of these words is borne by God not us. He is perfect as He is. He does not need us to accomplish anything for Him.   

We need to get back to reality and understand that God does this because He loves us. He loves us with a love we have yet to fully understand. God is perfect, it means He is complete, lacking nothing. Which means He has no need of us. But still, he does all of these things because He loves us. It boggles my mind, a love that will bear the cost of our rebellion.  God who is entirely whole without us, is still willing and fully committed to paying for our sin.  

Why do we fight a love like that?

Leia Mais…

Rejected

Something to think about.

 

Rejected

 

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”John 6:66-70

 

Jesus was rejected to His face. In this verse, it says "many of his disciples."  The inference or deduction I get is, much more rejected Him than the twelve that didn't. It is imperative for us to realize that not everyone is going to respond to Jesus. If this verse is a sign of a broader reality, we must come to the understanding that many will reject Christ. There will be those that upon hearing the word and understanding the word will reject it. For those of us who believe that statement is incomprehensible. How could anyone in their right mind deny Christ? Since we know, there is nothing, no one better. We know and believe with total confidence and expectation the promises of salvation and eternal life. We believe in restoration, reconciliation, rebirth and new life. We believe in the grace, redemption, and forgiveness of God.  Furthermore, we accept and expect all Gods promises to be fulfilled. We know that the God of creation through His Son Jesus has provided for our eternal life with Him in heaven. We can't understand how anyone can reject Him. 

 

Jesus does something here we need to become aware of. He does not turn and chase those who reject Him. He turned to the twelve who recognized Him for who He was and changed the world with those twelve. As the family of God and as individuals we need to stop chasing rejects and embrace those who God has chosen.  We need to seek and find the chosen.

 

There are two important gems in this section of Scripture. One is your uniqueness in accepting and understanding the call of God. Many hearing and understanding will never accept the reality of Christ. You are special for you have heard and accepted His sacrifice for your life. Two and most importantly are, God chose you. As He chose the twelve, He chose you. You are the preferred of God. We need to start acting like it. You are exalted above the rest of humanity because He chose you. The rest of mankind will not sit at the wedding feast of the lamb.

Leia Mais…

Salvation, Justification, Reconciliation

Something to think about.

Salvation, Justification, Reconciliation 

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 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. 11 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 have been saved and spared from the wrath of God by the atoning death of Christ. We are justified by the shedding of His blood. The only possible reconciliation with God was made possible for us by the death of Christ, even while we were still in our sin. Because of His death, we have salvation. Christ sacrifice gives us reason to rejoice in what He has done on our behalf; we have been saved, justified, reconciled, and reclaimed by God our creator.

Leia Mais…