"...the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days."
The Gospel is better than you think. Don't take my word for it, listen to the words of The Holy Spirit through Zechariah. No longer do we live in fear of eternal condemnation for our sins. No longer must we strive with the burden of guilt. No longer are the days when sin and death reigned in our bodies, but now we have the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins.
It is no longer fear of punishment through the law that we are made holy and righteous. God has revealed himself through his tender mercy in the person of Christ Jesus. He has paid for every single sin past, present, and future in order that some may come to believe and glorify him.
The Gospel is better than we could have ever imagined. We have been enabled through the power of the Holy Spirit to serve God apart from the law. None is good but God and the Good News is that you cannot be good by working hard at it. God is good for you. You need only to give your life to Him and he will take care of the rest. When God looks on you, he sees not a sinner but Christ in you. Don't you believe that?
Showing posts with label good. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good. Show all posts
Friday, April 8, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Titus 3:14
"Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives."
Why should we do good rather than evil if in the end nothing we do is righteous to God and no sin can ever separate us from Christ crucified? As Paul writes in Titus, there are two very practical reasons among many others. First that we might provide for daily necessities and secondly not live unproductive lives.
We do good in order to bless others by providing for their basic needs and in return they bless us with gifts of humility and joy. In addition we receive blessings from God and store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. In so doing, we live productive lives because we are literally working for that which is eternal and does not rust or decay. Nothing we do in this life is productive because ultimately everything in this world passes away. How many ancients civilizations have there been with astounding technology lost forever to time? No doubt they thought they were being productive at the time, but in the end they are forgotten as if they had never been.
And it all starts with hearts and minds transformed by the Holy Spirit. So then we give ourselves over to Him so that we may be self-controlled, hospitable, upright, holy, and disciplined so that in every way we will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Why should we do good rather than evil if in the end nothing we do is righteous to God and no sin can ever separate us from Christ crucified? As Paul writes in Titus, there are two very practical reasons among many others. First that we might provide for daily necessities and secondly not live unproductive lives.
We do good in order to bless others by providing for their basic needs and in return they bless us with gifts of humility and joy. In addition we receive blessings from God and store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. In so doing, we live productive lives because we are literally working for that which is eternal and does not rust or decay. Nothing we do in this life is productive because ultimately everything in this world passes away. How many ancients civilizations have there been with astounding technology lost forever to time? No doubt they thought they were being productive at the time, but in the end they are forgotten as if they had never been.
And it all starts with hearts and minds transformed by the Holy Spirit. So then we give ourselves over to Him so that we may be self-controlled, hospitable, upright, holy, and disciplined so that in every way we will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Proverbs 21:2
"All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart."
Does any man truly believe that what he does is evil? Surely if a man thought his actions were wicked he would not do them. Or perhaps he knows what he ought not to do, but finds some reason to justify his doing it and therein he does what he believes to be right? Truly no one does what is evil in their own eyes but only what they can justify.
It is no wonder then that we are not fit to judge each other, for each person only does "what is right for them" and what is "right for them" isn't always "right for you". Hitler told the German people that he wanted to create a supreme race. Not a bad idea on paper, but we didn't see death camps.
Maybe we would tell him today that he has a right to his beliefs and although we might disagree, we each must only do what we think is right, but that's how wars start: two groups working towards opposite ends each doing what they think is right.
A world of relative morality is chaos.
Only one sovereign over humanity can set order for us. God is the only one capable of judging us because he can see our hearts. We know God to be righteous fair in his dealings because of the Cross. We trust that he is just in order to be the one who justifies us.
Does any man truly believe that what he does is evil? Surely if a man thought his actions were wicked he would not do them. Or perhaps he knows what he ought not to do, but finds some reason to justify his doing it and therein he does what he believes to be right? Truly no one does what is evil in their own eyes but only what they can justify.
It is no wonder then that we are not fit to judge each other, for each person only does "what is right for them" and what is "right for them" isn't always "right for you". Hitler told the German people that he wanted to create a supreme race. Not a bad idea on paper, but we didn't see death camps.
Maybe we would tell him today that he has a right to his beliefs and although we might disagree, we each must only do what we think is right, but that's how wars start: two groups working towards opposite ends each doing what they think is right.
A world of relative morality is chaos.
Only one sovereign over humanity can set order for us. God is the only one capable of judging us because he can see our hearts. We know God to be righteous fair in his dealings because of the Cross. We trust that he is just in order to be the one who justifies us.
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