God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Hello,

Since we have just finished with the Easter season and I didn’t post about Easter for various reasons, I thought I would give this most holiest season of all my attention and consideration.

Before I gave my life to the Lord desiring to live for Him,  I used to be irreverent when I heard a message about the cross. I’d think- okay, I get it, Jesus died for our sins but we were born into a sinful world and He knew we would sin so why didn’t He just create us sinless and then He wouldn’t need to be crucified!  Yes, I was clueless and very irreverent!

After I suffered greatly in life and took my grief to the Bible, my eyes were opened as to what Jesus did for us. First and foremost- yes, He died so that we could be forgiven from our sins. But well before He forgives, He starts to pull us away from sinful behavior by nudging our conscious. If we don’t respond to a series of nudges He will allow us to suffer pain that comes from our sinful choices. The pain could be relational pain, a health issue, financial issue – whatever it takes to get our attention in order to have us turn from destructive or ungodly  behavior.  BTW Sinful behavior is anything that we wouldn’t do in church or if Jesus were sitting next to us.

After our grace period is up- meaning the Lord was patient long enough- He will leave us to our own choices and their consequences.

^“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;  they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:28:31)

If we confess our sins including idolatry (living life for anything other than God), rebellion (knowing God doesn’t approve of something but doing it anyway) and indifference (knowing God exists but not giving Him too much thought) we are forgiven. Then we can either repent- which means to decide to turn 180 degrees towards God and live as He teaches or continue living life for ourselves. If we make the wise choice to live for God while turning our back on our old life we will be living the safe, protected and guided life. Our job is to stay on His pure path and allow God to take care of all that concerns us.

The cross and the resurrection depict the greatest miracle working power of Jesus- He rose from the dead! What is harder than coming back to life? And with this knowledge we need to realize that God can do anything! He can put our life on the right track, free us from any addiction, heal us of any end stage illness through our full belief in His power and He can circumvent any malicious behavior done to us, plus much more. What He can do for us is unlimited because once we turn to Him and accept Him into our hearts and live for Him- He lives fully in us. We are “in Christ”…

What does “in Christ” mean? We can think of this positioning in life as if we decided to step in Jesus’ boat. The apostles got in Jesus’ boat and sailed out into a storm while Jesus went to sleep. During the storm, the apostles were afraid of drowning so they woke Jesus and He calmed the storm. Like the apostles, if we are in a continual relationship with Jesus through Bible reading and obedience, we are “In Christ.” This positioning means that although we will encounter storms Jesus is our Savior and we will be fine. We will never be financially destitute, we will have healing for our diseases, and we will live a long good life until we reach eternity.

It’s our choice though, whether or not we choose to live life as God directs.

In summary, Jesus demonstrated by His death on the Cross that:

1.  He was punished- we are covered with His blood and forgiven
2. He was wounded-  we are healed
3. He took sin upon Himself- we are righteous (put in right standing with God)
4. He died- so that we may live now and into eternity
5. He lived in poverty- we live in abundance
6. He took our shame- we receive His glory
7. He was rejected- we are accepted
8. He was cursed- we are blessed

All of these are past tense- they are done. That is why Jesus’ last words were “it is finished.” (John 19:30) These words mean that He completed everything we would need for a full, abundant and peaceful life.

If you have not turned your life over to Christ, a prayer like the one below, said from a sincere and humble heart will get you on the path the Lord would like for you. This path will be filled with the typical ups and downs of life yet Jesus  will walk with you never letting go- so don’t let go of Him either! Have faith!

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”(Gal 6:9)

“Dear Lord, I repent of my sins- I want to turn my life over to you and live a life pleasing to you- making you my Lord and Savior.”

The Cross- a profound depiction of how much the Lord loves every one of us!

Food for thought,

Lisa