Thursday, October 7, 2010
Angel Voices Heard on Earth
An angel is but a messenger, Your sleeve rolled up, visible evidence of Your will at work on the earth. A messenger does not have an exalted status. He merely does the will of another. He is a vessel to be used. Surely even one such as I may apply for this position. To bear about in my body the news of the dying and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is a work of my love for You, a gratitude unquenched by service, but only inflamed by the dawning realization of Your glory in those souls around me. And so the message spreads.......
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The Heart of the Good News
Tremendous forces are at work in us and the world around us. Not the least of these is our own will and native intelligence. God has decreed that we should have that freedom to choose. If our choice is to reject Him and follow our own path, to leave Him out of our lives, then because we are limited, we will err, we will stumble, we will cause suffering to those we claim to love. Without His guidance and wisdom, we live in unrelieved darkness, unable to avail ourselves of any other alternative.
Only violence and force can reign supreme in a world without God. These have a spiritual cost of the heavy burdens of guilt and shame. Our anger drives us to commit atrocities, then abandons us to the regret and humiliation of the truth. The lies we use to cover our nakedness will only serve to compound our final shame.
We can be set free from this cycle of self destruction! The One who came took up the weight of our humiliation and bore it all the way to its rightful ending. He suffered the brunt of evil's rage in order to fulfill God's own justice. That was our exiled anguish and naked shame which hung between earth and sky, exposed and vulnerable on the cross. This is the price of our freedom which God took it upon Himself to pay!
Who but God could afford to pay the price that would cancel our self inflicted degradation? Who but God could then attribute to us His own perfection? Who but God could purchase a people for Himself on fire with devotion by reason of their gratitude? Who but God would delight to bestow glory and honor to those who were once without hope? All that is left for us to do is acknowledge our great need, for He still seeks for any who are willing to be redeemed!
"For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus..."
Only violence and force can reign supreme in a world without God. These have a spiritual cost of the heavy burdens of guilt and shame. Our anger drives us to commit atrocities, then abandons us to the regret and humiliation of the truth. The lies we use to cover our nakedness will only serve to compound our final shame.
We can be set free from this cycle of self destruction! The One who came took up the weight of our humiliation and bore it all the way to its rightful ending. He suffered the brunt of evil's rage in order to fulfill God's own justice. That was our exiled anguish and naked shame which hung between earth and sky, exposed and vulnerable on the cross. This is the price of our freedom which God took it upon Himself to pay!
Who but God could afford to pay the price that would cancel our self inflicted degradation? Who but God could then attribute to us His own perfection? Who but God could purchase a people for Himself on fire with devotion by reason of their gratitude? Who but God would delight to bestow glory and honor to those who were once without hope? All that is left for us to do is acknowledge our great need, for He still seeks for any who are willing to be redeemed!
"For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus..."
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