When the enormity of Christ’s atonement for our personal sins sinks into our very soul, we cannot help but to weep over the suffering that our behavior caused Him. This fact humbles us to our very core and causes us to determine to end our enslavement to the devil, our flesh and the world.
Instead, we choose to become slaves to Christ - our Bridegroom, Savior, Lord and King. We stop making excuses for our addictions and assaulting sins, and we take responsibility for our own thoughts, words and actions. This allows us to truly repent and to permanently walk away from them.
At some point in life, many are humbled by the fact that we can never be good enough or do enough good to atone for our own sins (Ephesians 2:8-9). If this were true, Jesus would not have needed to suffer and die the horrendous torture and death on Calvary’s cross to pay the penalty of our transgressions of God’s laws.
Rather, we come to the place where we are convinced of our limitations, and we are eager to walk in His ways rather than our own human devises. We are saved by faith in His righteousness, and ready to accept His ministry of reconciliation to the people in our sphere of influence.
From the moment of our conversion and by God’s Holy Spirit, we are saved from the limitations of our own mortality through Christ who abides within us. As we view His sacrifice from the place of personal humility, we realize our need for God, and we submit our life into His safekeeping.
It is only pride, self-centeredness, rebellion and willfulness that prevent our total surrender to God’s perfect plans for our life. Even if some part of us is inextricably drawn to the truth of our need for repentance and redemption, these negative carnal attributes keep us in bondage to Satan’s plans for us.
Even hearing the Gospel story is not enough to turn the heart of many people who prefer to believe the lie of the carnal viewpoint of the world. It may take a complete upheaval of our values and life view to throw our self on the mercy of God for His salvation.
Prayer:
Father God, false beliefs lead many away from the truth of Your Word, and they condemn themselves to an eternal life in the torments of hell (Ephesians 2:10). Doubting individuals refuse to believe in spite of Your Word, and the empty tomb, as well as eyewitness reports of those 40 days that Jesus walked on the earth and appeared to many people.
The fact that we cannot prove the truth of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension keeps people from embracing Your Truth. They are untouched by the enormity of Jesus’ sacrifice for each one of us individually. When we deserved nothing but an eternity in the fires of hell, Your only begotten Son loved each of us enough to obey You and to suffer and die in our place. Prompt us to share this truth with anyone willing to listen.
Thought for the Day:
So many learned men have taken it upon themselves to prove the inaccuracy of God’s Word; however, the inerrancy of the Bible wins out every time; even self-proclaimed scholars that introduced contradictory theories to Your Word, such as evolution, fail to fully prove their theory or to supply the “missing link” that is needed to move their theory into the realm of fact.
