Our Righteous Judge

Serving God as a Pastor's wife is a unique position. People at our community pool will apologize for their language when I'm around. One lady said, "Oh you brought your husband with you today. I'd better watch what I say and do."

Yet, the Psalmist said, "You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me. You know when I am resting or when I am working, and from heaven you discover my thoughts. You notice everything I do and everywhere I go" (v. 1-3, CEV).

People will do before God, who is our only righteous judge, what they would never do before the preacher and his wife. I actually tell people, "I am not your judge, God is; and He is watching you all the time." (James 4:12; Romans 14:4)

This makes them pause and think for a moment. Hopefully, it will make them realize that they answer to God for every thought word and deed (Revelation 20:12). I pray they will come to repentance and be saved (Isaiah 33:22).

The choices we make on this earth will determine our eternal destination, and God is the only judge who will make that final ruling (Matthew 10:28).

If our sins are covered under the blood of Christ, He paid their penalty for us. If we are not Born Again by the blood of the Lamb, we condemn our self already (John 3:18).

No one has an excuse (Romans 1:20). When we stand before God, He will not hear our pleas and explanations. It will be too late for apologies and repentance then.

Now is the time for salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). We are not guaranteed one more breath of life. We may enter eternity and meet our righteous judge before we repent; and then it is too late.

There is no purgatory in which we can pay for our sins. There are no indulgences which we can pay to convince God to allow our loved ones to enter into His Kingdom. Jesus already paid the debt we owe. Come now and repent and believe (Mark 1:15).

Prayer:
Father God, our carnality has desensitized us from realizing Your awesome holiness and fearing You more than we fear people. We do not want anyone to tell us what to do or how to behave or what to think; yet You already removed the burden of righteousness from our shoulders by giving us the righteousness of Your dear Son.

No one is capable of fully obeying the law. You gave it, not for us to keep, but for us to realize the futility of our trying to make our self holy by attempting to conform to it. You provided the law to show us our need to accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord (Galatians 3:1-19; Romans 3:20). We thank You for giving us this way to know You now and throughout eternity (John 17:3).

Thought for the Day:
Once we surrender our life and destiny to God through repentance and salvation, His Holy Spirit conforms us to the image of Christ one step at a time. - 2 Corinthians 3:18

Spiritual Ebb and Flow

 

God loves us even while we are still sinners, but He calls us to walk away from our sinful thoughts, words and deeds. Any goodness we attain by our human effort does not impress Him (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are a new person only because of Jesus’ work on Calvary’s cross (2 Corinthians 5:17). We only have two choices. We either believe for salvation or we fail to believe and condemn our self to Hell (John 3:18).

God’s Spirit conforms us through sanctification into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). He exchanges our humanity for God’s divine nature and His spiritual fruit (2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 5:22-23). We are an extension of the ministry of Christ on this earth. His sinless perfection enables us to live freely from sin and Satan’s temptations, as we depend on Him for our perfection.

God walks with us through life and sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). Do not wait to cry out to God only in times of helplessness; commune with God every moment of every day. When the intimacy of our communion ebbs, our only recourse is to draw closer to Him, not to walk further away. Satan will lie and tell us it was better back in the world. Don’t forget your past vulnerability without God.

The only time discouragement and disappointment enter our life is when we are trusting in our own strength or looking forward to the fulfillment of our own goals and aspirations, rather than relying on the Lord’s strength and anticipating His plans (2 Corinthians 1:21). God comforts us during times of grief and loss (Matthew 5:4). He gives us His desires in our heart (Psalm 37:4). He guides us by Christ’s life within us (Romans 5:10).

Prayer:

Father God, our relationship with sin ceased to exist once we came to love You with our whole heart (Luke 10:27). We are no longer separated from You, but we live in constant fellowship with You every moment of every day. Satan still uses sin to tempt us away from a life in union with Christ. We may fall into a momentary indiscretion, but we thank You that we no longer live in a lifestyle of sin (Romans 6:7,12,14).

Thought for the Day:

God’s grace frees us to walk in holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit within us.