Just As If…
“Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil – to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!
“When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
“You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, we continued in them a long time; and shall we be saved?
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment’ and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You, for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.” Isaiah 64:1-7
All of us have sinned in thought, word and deed. All of our sins are like filthy, bloody rags. They leave an indelible, unremovable stain of sin on us. Nothing or no one can remove that stain but someone who has paid the exact price God requires to remove that stain - death. (“For the wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:23a).
When Jesus died and rose again, He alone was granted the privilege and power to deal with and pay for our sins. From the moment we admit that we are sinful and helpless to fix this, Jesus scoops up our sin and throws it behind His back (where He chooses to no longer, ever see it again ) and He washes us clean and pure.
It is just as if we had never sinned. That is what justification is! It does not depend on anything from us but to surrender all our excuses and efforts (“…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6;23b). Most remarkable of all, once we are His, there is nothing we can do to cause Him to love us less and there is nothing we can do to cause Him to love us more because Jesus paid it all!
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Take care with love, especially His, from Darlene, who still prays for you each day.
PS: You can also find the devotions on line/ on your mobile phone here: www.weakdaydevotion.com .
NOTES: I choose to believe the Bible because it's a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They reported supernatural events that took place before, of specific prophecies; and claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin.
The Five Solas: Individuals are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, as revealed by Scripture alone to the glory of God alone!
Find my full statement of faith: https://especiallyhislove.blogspot.com (where you will also find a series of Bible studies). For the books, go to Amazon books. For prayer requests/ updates, email: darlenerichard@gmail.com