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We tend to live in a way that exposes what we truly believe about ourselves. That woman whose personal worth was shattered through years of physical and verbal abuse will find it hard to believe she deserves anything better. That man who believes he is beyond redemption will harbour that dark conviction until a fundamental change takes place in his thinking. There is hope however. The Apostle Paul wrote “From now on we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective…” (2 Corinthians 5:16 CSB). In other words, Paul didn’t see people in the same way they viewed themselves, and we shouldn’t either. He viewed people from the perspective of what they could be and what they were meant to be by the grace of God. So instead of being focused on what the old flesh declared them to be, he used his knowledge of the gospel to help them fly to Jesus and gain hope and redemption. Every believer in Jesus knows that without the Lord’s intervention we’d be as fit for the Kingdom of God as a filthy rag, “for all our righteousness is as filthy rags,” (Isaiah 64:6). There are no illusions. We know we’d miserably fail the ‘Do you believe you are a good person’ test. But it’s entirely possible at the same time to know and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to revel in a right standing with God acquired through faith in Him. This is the wonderful message we have to share. Because of the gospel of Jesus, we can help change ‘stinking thinking’ when we encounter it. We can choose to see people, not as who they are in the flesh at any given moment, but see them through the lens of what they could become by the grace of God through faith. Thus, we can choose to exhibit the love of God in our actions and in our words. The Bible says love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) When we learn to love like Jesus we can look past “worldly perspectives” and recognize the biggest obstacle to spiritual transformation is often what people believe about themselves. With that knowledge we can help despairing souls in this world see the worth they have in God’s eyes and show folks they are not beyond redemption. When the chains fall off, they’ll find the strength to be reconciled to the idea of what real forgiveness is all about. Here is the Apostle Paul’s message of reconciliation: “For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised. From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God. He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). Toni Babcock
Minnesota, USA - info@grace-lines.net The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Suffering in His name4/11/2022 “Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.” 1 Peter 4:16 (NRSV). The message is clear – Christians will suffer. If we are reviled for our faith, for standing firm on our Christ-honouring convictions, we are blessed, because this too is how our Saviour lived. In our suffering, we are walking in His steps. If our suffering is in accordance with God’s will, we can entrust ourselves to Him, who will enable us to bear the hardship. Just as our faithful God sustained His Son, so will He sustain us too. When we suffer as a Christian, it is no disgrace, but glory, because we suffer in His name. But disgrace will fall upon us when we suffer for doing wrong. “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker.” (1 Peter 4:15). God has no part when we suffer for doing evil. We can expect no help from Him, for “the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12). Scripture warns us against the self-inflicted suffering that comes from sin. Let’s consider the difficulties and hardships we are encountering just now. What is the source of our suffering? Is our suffering drawing us closer to Christ or distancing us from Him and His good Spirit? If we suffer for following our Saviour, rejoice, because He will sustain us. But, if we suffer as a consequence of our sinful choices, the burden will continue to weigh heavy upon us until we repent and choose to walk closely again in obedience to God. Jennifer Woodley
South-East Queensland, Australia - info@grace-lines.net The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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The Old Rugged Cross4/11/2022 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14) NIV. The word ‘old’ so often carries with it the thought of having little or no value, and the word ‘rugged’ can suggest roughness and absence of beauty or grace. So, when you add the word ‘cross’ also, as an “emblem of suffering and shame,” the image is presented of a graceless, valueless, wretched looking spectacle: “so despised by the world,” yet one which forever holds “a wondrous attraction” for those who have eyes to see. It was during an already despairingly difficult time for evangelist, George Bennard, when, at a revival meeting at Albion, Michigan in the autumn of 1912, he was repeatedly heckled by some youths in the audience, who not only mocked his preaching, but, as he made repeated references to the cross of Christ, hurled even louder taunts, until his preaching was drowned out by the vociferous rabble. However, those cruel jeers only resulted in George being drawn ever closer to the glory and majesty of the cross and, in prayerful reflection, that same evening, he was inspired to write down the opening verse to the now famous hymn: The Old Rugged Cross. The apostle Paul knew the value of ‘clinging’ to the cross of Christ, before which all other trophies are laid down (Phil 3:7-8, 10). The hymn’s inspired chorus echoes the apostle’s absolute identification with his Lord’s suffering and death, so that Paul could remind the Galatian church of his ministry among them, whereby: “before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified” (Gal 3:1) NIV. As the Croatian theologian, Miroslav Volf* puts it: “Christ’s death doesn’t replace our death. It enacts it…” So closely are we identified with the cross of Christ that when Jesus died, we died on the cross with him (Gal 2:20), or as Paul reveals in another place: “we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.” (2 Corinthians 4:10-11) NIV. Jesus Himself spoke of the cross as God’s invitation when he said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32) NIV. To quote Clarence Jordan’s New Testament paraphrase: “God was in Christ, hugging the world to Himself” (2 Cor 5:19) Cotton Patch Version. “Love must be sincere” Paul instructs us (Rom 12:9). “I will cherish the Old Rugged Cross” is the song’s earnest refrain. “Cling to what is good” admonishes the apostle. “I will cling to the old rugged cross,” the chorus proclaims, “and exchange it someday for a crown.” For Christian believers, to embrace the cross means to receive and to rest upon the perfect work of Christ as the whole ground of our acceptance with God. Richard Dempsey
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To awake in Glory4/11/2022 "As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake in your likeness." (Psalm 17:15 NKJV) Hallelujah, we are saved by grace (His grace given freely by His death on the cross for our sins) through faith (expressed in trust and obedience to a holy God). We are translated from this darkness to His great light. We go from glory to glory. To live is Christ and to die truly is gain. Praise God for the resurrection. Jesus died to be the propitiation for our sins and rose to be the first-fruit of many raised to life from death. "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:20-22 NIV) ‘O death where is your sting?’ It is swallowed up in VICTORY in Christ, (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NKJV). Hallelujah. To behold Him in glory is the highest goal in this life, and to get there all we have to do is place our faith and hope in Christ (which sets us free to obey His commands if we claim to love Him). What a gift to know Jesus. To awaken in glory and to see His face is the ultimate. ‘One glad morning, when this life is o'er, I'll fly away...to a place on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away...’ Jenny Miller
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First love4/10/2022 ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ (Matthew 4:10 NRSV) Remember the bygone days of falling in love with your partner? Nothing else mattered as much as being together. There was a great hunger to enjoy one another’s company and when separated, we longed for the time of being together again. Yet sometimes that first love can fade as the years pass. Just as God has placed within us the desire to enjoy a lifelong partner, He has also given us a desire to love Him and enjoy His presence forever. And yet the passion of worshipping and enjoying God loses its intensity as time goes on. In the midst of the myriad of tasks that occupy our days, we have substituted worship for work. Worshipping God is not something we tack onto a busy schedule. Have we forgotten that work comes from worship? Any work we undertake must be born from a heart that is intent on worship and places worship of the Father above all. However, any work that does not flow from worship is not pleasing to Him. After all, it is God we seek to please, not others. The invitation here is to reach towards cultivating a spirit of worship every day: a lifestyle of worship that dominates our life. Just as two lovers long to be in the company of each other, we look forward to the opportunity of quietly being with the Father and gazing into the face of our Beloved again and again. Let’s heed the warning the Spirit of God gives to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:4 by repenting and returning to Jesus, our first love. Jennifer Woodley
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The righteousness of God in Christ4/10/2022 The people will declare, "The LORD is the source of all my righteousness and strength" And all who were angry with him will come to him and be ashamed (Isa 45:24 NLT) When you find yourself failing, in the midst of reoccurring sin; can you say this and believe it? "I Am The Righteousness of God in Christ!" If we cannot confess our righteousness in Christ when we fail, it indicates we have doubts about being saved by grace through faith alone (EPH 2:8-9). The enemy has deceived us into walking by sight instead of faith. In opposition to what the Bible teaches, Satan has us sin-conscious instead of righteousness conscious, Jesus conscious. This grieves the Holy Spirit who convicts believers of their righteousness. If we want to stop sinning, try God's way instead. All the time and especially the next time we fail, in the midst of let's our sin, make this our faith declaration: "I Am The Righteousness of God in Christ!" The enemy will try and stop us, to walk by sight, looking at ourselves. Don't let him! We must keep our faith focused on the spotless lamb that took our place and exchanged our sinfulness for His righteousness. Confessing Christ's righteousness when the enemy and religion are trying to stop us, transforms us by faith into the image of Christ. Our true confession lets God know we really believe it is all about the perfection of Jesus while slamming the door shut on Satan's attacks. Who can condemn those who God has justified (made righteous)? It reminds us that God's love is not dependent on our actions. It takes little or no faith to declare our righteousness in Christ when we are doing everything right. On the other hand, it takes sound and sincere faith to declare it when we fail. God wants us to live from faith to faith in Jesus' finished work, even when we fail. Our confession will transform our core belief as all the false beliefs and doubts fall away. We will reign over sin instead of sin reigning over us. This is the way to the freedom Jesus died to give us my friend. Say it now in faith with conviction: "I Am The Righteousness of God in Christ!" Michael Edwards
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Good news of great joy4/10/2022 “But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people’’” (Luke 2:10 NIV) The first book of Moses, commonly called Genesis, does not reveal to us precisely how the created earth itself was made to bring forth every living creature “after its kind” (Gen 1:24); but there appears the thought of intimacy in the way in which the creator himself, from that same earth, produced the collection of chemicals he called Adam, and with which he crowned the creation (2:7). Behold, this man, made alive by the very breath of God, and spirit endowed, who freely chose to reach out into that surrounding paradise, prepared for him by a loving creator, not for the word of life that came to him on that same eternal breath, but for sin that has death as its fruit. Behold, this man, from whose body of sinful flesh an enslaved race issued, bequeathing a sinful nature and the grave for an inheritance. It is in this very context that the mission of Jesus of Nazareth needs to be understood. Without the Christ, mankind has no hope and no future. The first man, Adam could make no provision for our redemption. In him, we have all sinned, due to the nature we have inherited from him, and, as a consequence, in him, according to the apostle Paul, we all must die. But, thank God, the story of man doesn’t end there. Paul goes onto say that just as in Adam all die: “…even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22). In this same epistle, Paul uses two descriptive phrases to refer to Jesus, God’s perfect man. He calls him “the second man” (15:47) showing that the first man, Adam, gathered from the dust of the ground, was representative of the whole of humanity, sharing the one fallen nature; whereas the second man, Jesus, who came to earth from heaven (John 6:38), represents a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). He calls Jesus also “the last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45) showing that Jesus stands as the head of a new race, imparting life to the new man, and revealing that there will be no new departure from this state of perfection. When the Roman governor, Pilate, brought out the man Jesus to display him before an angry mob and declared: “behold, the man”; little did he know that “the man” he was referring to was the new man, God’s perfect man, the last Adam; who was about to take away, in the body of his flesh, the sins of the whole world and to forever set men free from the tyranny of sin and from the chains of death. Richard Dempsey
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Can you imagine roots of faith so deep that we walk in total peace in the worst of circumstances? Never afraid, worried, or anxious as we look trouble right in the eye and persevere in the faith. That is where I want to walk, and the only path appears to be a direct path through troubled times. The greater the pain, the deeper the roots of faith will grow. The key to our victory in the midst of the trial is based on how we choose to view the turmoil that has come upon us. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4 BSB). While I do not believe that our suffering and pain is what God brings or desires, He can and will use all things for our good, especially if we cooperate. The cooperation He is looking for is found in our perseverance in the faith no matter what may come. And we know that God works together all things for good to those loving God, to those being called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28 BSB). When trouble comes, our options are to focus on the problem and waste this time languishing in defeat and self-pity that can destroy our faith and life. Or, refuse to waste this time, fix our eyes on Jesus and fully trust the author and finisher to perfect our faith (Heb 12:2). Troubled times are a perfect time, and realistically the only time for us to grow the deepest roots that lead to an overcoming faith. I believe our greatest benefit during these times will only come when we choose to change our perspective, recognizing and welcoming the growth in the process. This change in focus from the negative aspect of the trial to the positive is precisely how the Apostles rejoiced in their trials. They rejoiced in the growth their faith would experience going through the storm, not in the actual pain and suffering. Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us (Rom 5: 3-5 BSB) Michael Edwards
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Story LinesLaugh Lines |
4/12/2022
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