2014-04-25
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I was led to write about how God built in us a need for Him. When we profess genuine faith in Jesus Christ, He adopts us into His family and showers us with greater blessings than just our material wealth. Our loving God gives us a way out of certain spiritual death by us having faith in the Lord Jesus and by His unselfish giving of His physical life on the cross as a perfect Sin-sacrifice [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; HE 10: 10]. 2 COR 8: 9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” Our status as God’s and each other’s covenant partners is very special indeed. It comes with both responsibilities and blessings, ones we really need to have in our lives. One of them is to know Who Jesus Christ really is.
COL 1: 15-20 gives us a wonderful description of Christ. “He is the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the Head of the body, the church; He is the Beginning and the Firstborn from the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.” There are some key words and phrases in this paragraph that bear further inspection. “Image of the invisible God” tells us that Christ is a full-blown personality of the One and only God. He is the personality humans could see. Anything Christ said or does is actually God doing and saying it [see JN 14: 9b and 11]. “He is before all things” tells us that Christ did the work of God’s command to create the earth and thus, existed before any of mankind. He is the “Head of the body, the church” tells us that we are the “bride” referred to in REV 19: 5-10 the wedding feast of the Lamb, and He is the Bridegroom. It also tells us a godly congregation is led by Christ Himself. “The Beginning and the Firstborn of the dead” tells us He was the First to be raised from the dead—resurrected. “God was pleased to have His fullness dwell in Him” tells us Christ has all God’s powers and attributes. God uses Christ’s Atonement as a means to bring all possible back to Himself for eternity. The word “possible” as I use it here indicates all who will listen to the truth of the Gospel and believe it. (We must remember that God has given mankind free agency, i.e. the ability to reject or accept the truth. We are truly blessed to have Christ as our Covenant Partner.
RO 8: 19, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” This verse reminds us of the eagerness we all share for that time when the full manifestation of the revelation of all the sons of God happens. We are already “sons”/daughters of God, His adopted children. However, what the full manifestation of what this means won’t be clear until the end. All who believe in Christ are eager for it. This concept is further explained in 1 JN 3: 1-2, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know is that it did not know Him. Dear Friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him as He is.” Talk about being rich, what a great blessing this is to anticipate! No wonder we are eager for it. Is it any wonder that we are willing to pledge our obedient faith to our Covenant Partner?!
God’s desire is for us to get to know Him better and better. He has told us this in COL 3 :10. He gives us a way to do this through daily study of His word and an active prayer life. He does this through our everyday experiences with Him. He loves it when we rehearse our history with Him and recognize the many blessings He bestows on us. He is pleased when we exhibit the fruits of the Holy Spirit. GA 5: 22-23, “For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” He listens to every prayer we offer, and He protects us against the negative consequences of wrong choices when we appeal to Him in contrition for His wisdom and guidance. When we come to the end of our resources, our Covenant Partner meets our needs. PHIL 4: 19, “And My God will meet your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” RO 8: 16-17, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” This inheritance is huge, for it is God’s Kingdom and an everlasting and blissful eternity with Him. For how much more can we ask of our Covenant Partner than that!
PRAYER: O Lord, long ago the Psalmist asked, “When can we meet with God?” You are a magnificent God, Who shares Your amazing wealth with Your human covenant partners. While we don’t know the exact answer to that question, we do know that You will never abandon us [PS 9: 9-10] and that You will keep Your promise at Your perfect time. PS 42: 1-2, asks this question with the correct description of our need for You. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” You are our very life’s Breath, and we are grateful for every blessing You bestow upon us. We offer You praise and thanks forever for Who You are and what You do for us. We are useless and ineffectual without You [JN 15: 5]. You guide us on the “hard path through the narrow gate” that leads to eternal life [MT 7: 13-14]. While we are not your puppets on a string, You have guided us to make right choices and given us the Holy Spirit to act as a Conscience [JN 14: 16-18; RO 8: 26-27]. While we are still sinners, we will try to cooperate with You in the process of sanctification. When we make mistakes, as we surely do at times, You are there to rebuke, train, teach and/or correct us. For this we are grateful. Through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we are rich in the things that matter for eternity. We acknowledge Your superiority and supremacy by Your wonderful attributes and marvelous deeds. 2 SAM 22: 31, “As for God, His way is perfect; the Lord’s word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him.” We offer You praise and thanks in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We’ve looked at some of the fabulous blessings we have from our Covenant Partner, and now I’m led to write about the question of our responsibilities in the relationship. How do we live in this covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus and hold up our end of the pact? When we really observe the answers to this question, we find that what we must do is far less than what is done for and given to us. That’s always been our Covenant Partner’s way—to give more than we must give in the relationship. That’s our generous God, Who understands our limitations and loves us anyway. When we are observant in our covenant relationship, God loves it --despite our imperfections. He knows we are trying to improve ourselves ethically and in every other way. He is inching us, as we are ready for it, forward to perfection in the process of sanctification. We may backslide, and He understands this. And, He will put out His hand to help us move forward again. The Psalmist, in the following passage, understands something that I do now. PS 31: 25-26, “I am an old man now; I have lived a long time, but I’ve never seen a good man abandoned by the Lord or his children begging for food. At all times He gives freely and lends to others, and His children are a blessing.” This week our congregation was asked to memorize EPH 6: 4, “Parents, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” In other words, do as God is doing with His children! Rest assured that our individual efforts to conform to the Lord’s teaching aren’t being ignored by our Covenant Partner. He is standing on the sidelines rooting for our success. Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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