-

 The Perfect Gifts (May 26, 2023)

 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)

Christians should rejoice and be thankful daily that our Father in Heaven is the divine source of every good and perfect gift we receive! In fact, God the Father has richly blessed each of us as saints, sinners saved by grace, with the most perfect gifts we will ever receive—His Son and His Spirit! Our heavenly Father has freely given us His best because of His boundless love for us!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Through faith in His Son Jesus Christ, God has extended to all believers the unmerited favor of His grace and the undeserved reward of everlasting life. The most glorious gift ever bestowed, Jesus gave His life to bear the burden of our sins and clothe us in His righteousness, redeeming us, reconciling us to His Father, and resolving forever our greatest human need—a Savior!

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Jesus’ sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection made possible our forgiveness as repentant sinners, and God’s gift of His Spirit sealed our salvation and secured our eternal inheritance. The moment we trusted Christ, the Holy Spirit inhabited our hearts, beginning the ongoing process of molding and shaping us into the likeness of Christ with whom we are destined to spend eternity!

“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
  A Rightly Motivated Heart ( October 25, 2023) “ Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the  Lord  weighs the hearts. ” (Proverbs 21:2) When a serious crime is committed and a suspect is arrested, investigators search to identify a motive in the case. All human behavior is driven by motives that underlie our actions. The real reasons that we do what we do can be obvious or obscure. The Bible says that the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. So those of us seeking spiritual maturity need to frequently examine our hearts to make sure that our motivations are pure and pleasing to an all-knowing God who weighs our intentions. We must seek to please God, rather than man! “I, the  Lord , search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:10) Many people are motivated by selfishness and pride that prompt them to pursue fleeting worldly gain, self-gratification,
Read more
-
Image
  Simply Believe! ( November 2, 2023) “ Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) Unfortunately, our Christian faith can fluctuate with the changing circumstances of our lives? We are flawed like all human beings, and our trust in God often ebbs or flows depending upon whether or not we’re experiencing happy times or life’s trials. Satan constantly attempts to deceive us, draw us astray in our walk by faith with God, and bring about our ultimate downfall and defeat. However, we must remember that He who is in us—Jesus Christ living in our hearts through the Holy Spirit— “is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) Simply believe! When doubt and fear cloud our well-placed trust in Christ, we can allay our apprehension and anxiety by focusing on our unchanging and ever-faithful L ORD rather than dwelling on our shifting circumstances. We must recall God’s past faithfulness to deliver us from our woes according to His will and perfect timing. As difficult as they
Read more
-
Image
  An Eternally Secure Identity in Christ ( October 24, 2023)   “ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) When voters go to the polls in the general election in two weeks, we will have to present to the poll worker our driver’s license or other acceptable identification in order to cast a ballot. In today’s increasingly impersonal, technology-based society, we are known and identified in the realms of government, business, and the world at large by our Social Security and account numbers, ID cards, and other similar documentation. As we all know, we have to guard this personal information very carefully in light of the fact that identity theft is among the fastest-growing crimes in the world. While our earthly identities—the digital or physical sources of personal information that distinguish us from everyone else—may be at risk of theft, believers are securely identified as holy and set apart from the world through our rel
Read more