Light of Christ

1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that He appeared to Cephasa and then to the Twelve. 6After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.

Thus Paul starts off his chapter on resurrection.  A wonderful chapter worth reading.  But it all hinges on the Gospel.

Unfortunately not everyone knows what it is, but here Paul puts it in a nutshell.  In another place, 1 Cor 2:2, he talks about Christ and Him crucified!  Here,  in 1 Cor 15, he fills it out a little more.  ”Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, “.  According to the scriptures, He was to die for our sins, be buried, and then rise again.

This is the story of love.  God is love.  Even though we are sinful creatures, living in a sinful world, God did not desire the death of a sinner.  2 Peter 3: 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,^a not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  So He sent His Son, the Word, the unblemished perfect Lamb of God to die, to shed His blood, so that we could be atoned for, be redeemed, be saved.  Jesus was the instrument of God’s grace, His unmerited favour, and by His death, His righteousness was imputed to us, wretched sinners that we are.  Now we are forgiven sinners, and stand before God clothed in Christ’s righteousness, not our own dismally unrighteous attempts at goodness.

God sees Christ’s righteousness and we are declared His adopted sons and daughters!  How wonderful is that?  We will spend eternity with Him.  In fact eternity starts now, because we who are Christ’s have passed from death to life.  John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Back to 1 Cor 15:  20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then at His coming, those who belong to Him.

Christ rose from the dead.  He defeated death.  Still in 1 Cor 15:  54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”g

55“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

 

Jesus lived in the glories of heaven.  This was His birthright.  He gave it all up to become a helpless babe and lived among us, and living the life of a normal human.  He began His public ministry and taught His disciples that they, even though they were to lead others to Him, were to be each  other’s servant, and to bear each other’s burdens.  This He did Himself.  He healed the sick and cared for those who needed help.  He taught us about God, that God is love, and that we are to love, because we have been loved.  We are to forgive each other our trespasses, just as we are forgiven.

Then He did the ultimate.  He died the death that we deserved, to save us.  He was the sacrificial Passover lamb, and exemplified sacrificial love to us.  Then, after sabbath in the tomb, He rose triumphant, in His glorified body, and showed Himself to the women, and then to His disciples.

This then, is the Gospel, the good news, of salvation, of love from God come down to earth.  No greater love hath any man.

 

Without the Gospel, we would be doomed.

I am so concerned about people who consider themselves Christians, but who have found themselves locked into salvation by works. They are found in all traditions but mainly in legalistic denominations, and cultic ones. Instead of resting in Christ, they are all bound up in traditions of “doing”. It is all about behaviour.

It’s about what you wear (or don’t wear)….jewellery, particular clothes, all about what you eat (or don’t eat). All about going to church one day in seven, and you must be careful to go on the right day. It’s all about what YOU do. Not what Christ has done.

There are two aspects here. It is not what we DO. It is about what Christ has done. And it is about what we ARE. We ARE sinners. We are born into a sinful world, and right from birth, we are sinners. We don’t have to do anything particularly bad, we ARE sinners. And here we are, rotten to the core in God’s eyes, and we think that what we DO is suddenly going to make us right with God.

Well no. Doesn’t work that way. We are sinners. Our works are as menstrual rags. We cannot change any of this, it is just the way it is. We’re stuck with this state of affairs…..except…….for what Christ has done.

God knew before He made Adam and Eve what would happen. He knew the world would descend into a mire of sin. But He loved us. We were the pinnacle of His creation. And He loved us so much He allowed His son to pay the price of sin for us. And He died an agonising, humiliating, torturous death, so we could receive His grace.

Grace is a treasured gift. It is not given so you can keep the ten commandments. It is God’s unmerited favour, so that we can have eternal life as His children, adopted heirs with Christ, His only begotten Son. By His grace Christ imputes us with HIS righteousness, so we can appear before God as righteous as Christ. We do not appear with Christ’s righteousness over the top of ours, masking our sins. Our sins have been forgiven, and removed far away, and forgotten by Him. We are cleaned by His blood and so can wear His robe of righteousness.

And we are seen as righteous. And we cannot earn this.

All because of what Christ did, that day on Calvary. Now there is no need for us to DO, only to BE. Christ has invited us in Matt 11: 28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We rest in Him, we do not have to DO, only BE. We who were sinners are now forgiven, and seen as righteous. He has taken our burdens onto Himself. We have rest for our souls. And while we are resting in Him, while our souls are resting Him, He is performing miracles in our lives. He makes us a new creation, and gives us a new heart, on which is written His law of Love and Liberty.

He does not write the words of an obsolete covenant, He writes the eternal yet always new Law: Love. It was love that created the world, it was love that saved us. It is love that now works through and in us, doing the works that He wants done. He wants us to love, as He loved us, as in His new commandment, and in so doing people see that we are His disciples. He is glorified. He cannot be glorified by our unrighteousness, our deeds of filth. But He is glorified when we are His Hands and Feet, when we carry out His will.

So now, because we rest in Him, we have our BEING in Him, He DOES through us. We have no need to DO our own works. He is DOING in us. He is DOING His will, not ours, while we REST in Him.

We who were sinners, are now forgiven. We cannot do this. Only He can DO so that we can go from BEING sinners to BEING righteous in God’s eyes. Jesus invites us all.

Come and see, come and see
Come and see the King of love
See the purple robe and crown of thorns he wears
Soldiers mock, rulers sneer
As he lifts the cruel cross
Lone and friendless now he climbs towards the hill

We worship at your feet
Where wrath and mercy meet
And a guilty world is washed
By love’s pure stream
For us he was made sin
Oh, help me take it in
Deep wounds of love cry out ‘Father, forgive’
I worship, I worship
The Lamb who was slain.

Come and weep, come and mourn
For your sin that pierced him there
So much deeper than the wounds of thorn and nail
All our pride, all our greed
All our fallenness and shame
And the Lord has laid the punishment on him

Man of heaven, born to earth
To restore us to your heaven
Here we bow in awe beneath
Your searching eyes
From your tears comes our joy
From your death our life shall spring
By your resurrection power we shall rise

Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 1989 Make Way Music,

Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh.  John 1.  He, who is rightly King of Glory, came to earth as a Baby and as a Man lived and worked among humanity.  He took on the form of a servant (literally) when he washed his disciples’ feet before His crucifixion.  John 13.  At the Last Supper he inaugurated the New Covenant, which signified the breaking of His Body and shedding of His Blood.  (all four gospels)  He died to save us, and forgave us our sins.  Past, current, future.  All forgiven, and taken out of mind.  Hebrews 10.

He was the Lamb Who is worthy.  He was the Passover Lamb, and sacrificed on Preparation day.  He spent sabbath in the tomb, and rose again on the first day, in accordance with the scriptures.  1 Cor 15.  He is the Living Bread, and Exodus 16 foretold His death with the giving of the Manna.  Sabbath was the only day the Manna was not given.  Sabbath was a day of mourning for the Manna  (the Living Bread) was dead.

But He did not stay dead.  He rose again on the first day.  He was worshipped on the first day!  Sabbath was for resting/mourning, the first day was for rejoicing!  He was now alive, and is still alive, and lives for ever!  He had conquered sin and death!

Such is the Gospel, such is the good news.  Such is the love He bears for us, that He was prepared to pay the price for us, so that we, wretched sinners that we are, do not have to bear the wages of sin, but instead have passed from death to life!  Galatians 3, John 5.

He is soon to come in glory, and we will meet the dead in Christ in the air.  We will have new glorified bodies, free from the effects of a sinful world, and worthy to bear Him praise.  For ever!

Christ has died, Christ is risen.  Christ will come again!

The Ten Commandments. What a great movie!  The special effects were so good you didn’t notice them, unlike a scifi movie of the same era where the flying saucer was really just a light globe.

I went to see it at the local theatre, I was entranced.  I’ve seen it since,  several times over the years, I have my own DVD of it, I loved Anne Baxter, such a wonderful job of overacting, but she did it so well, and John Derek, how gorgeous was he?  And Yul Brynner.  Wow.  Who needs hair to be sexy?

And of course Charlton Heston.  I always think of him as Moses.

And it was full of verses of scripture.

But was it really pointing to Christ?  Was it really accurate?

Well no, it was really a pretty Hollywoodised version of the exodus.

What does the Bible say?

The ten commandments were given, along with the whole law of Moses to the children of Israel.  God spoke them all, the whole law of Moses (read Exodus 19 on.)  He wrote the ten with His finger, because they were the words of the covenant.  Deut 4:13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.

This covenant was not with anyone else, just the Israelites.  It was one of several covenants mentioned in the Bible, Noah and his descendants, sign rainbow.  Abraham, sign circumcision, Moses and the Israelites, sign the sabbath.  The new covenant, sign the body and blood of Christ, the Lord’s supper.  Other covenants were with David and Solomon.

All these commandments were with specific people, some for a specific time, some everlasting.  The Mosaic covenant became obsolete (Hebrews 8:13) when the new one came into being at the cross.  Jesus’ body was broken and His blood was  shed for us.  The Lamb of God was worthy.

Getting back to the ten commandments.  The words “the ten commandments” are only mentioned 3 times in the whole Bible, and all of these were in the old testament.  They are actually more correctly translated as “the ten words”, “the ten matters”, or “the ten chapterheadings”, because that’s what they actually were.  The stone tablets were written on both sides, Exodus 32:15 15Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.

I think we could have a whole discussion just on that!

Anyway we have the ten commandments/matters/words/chapter headings.  And we have the rest of the commandments given at the same time, that is known as the law of Moses.  Each commandments explains one or another of the ten “chapter headings”.  You end up with 613 commandments divided roughly into the ten headings.  You need them to fully explain the ten.

The book of the law also contains the ten written in two or three places.  The book is not ceremonial law, it is every word spoken by God on Mt Sinai.  The law cannot be divided into ceremonial/moral/etc, and the Bible does not record it as such.  The law is one, just as God is one.  The law of Moses.  The Torah.  This is what Jesus and the Jews of His time were keeping,  not the ten commandments.  The words “the ten commandments” were not mentioned in the new testament.  Except when Paul referred to them as the ministry of death (1 Cor 3:7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end)

So when ever commandments are mentioned in the new testament why should we think of the ten?  Jesus instituted a new covenant.  New covenant, new commandments, new priesthood.  All this happened, read about it in Hebrews.  Instead of tablets of stone, the law is written on new hearts of flesh that have been given to us, the followers of Christ.  We are God’s people, not an ancient nation, but the members of His Body.  People from every land, and every time, male, female, Jew, Gentile.  Everyone who follows the Lord and who is sealed by the Spirit.

An exercise for those who do not believe me, just go through your new testament and find how often the word ten appears.  It IS there, but how often is it associated with the word commandments?  Have a look and see.

Jesus gave many commandments in the New Testament.  Over a thousand.  Things like believe in Me, proclaim the Gospel, Love God, Love your neighbour.  And of course the NEW commandment, Love each other as I have loved you.  Now that is pretty deep, because He loved us to the death.  You can’t get any more self sacrificial than that.  So he wants us to love each other in such a way that we really put our heart and soul into it.

Compare these commandments with the ten.  There is no commandment in the ten that tells us to love anyone.  The only love mentioned is God’s love to the children of Israel.  It is a list of thou shalt nots.  Except for the fifth, where we are told to honour.  That’s sorta the closest they come to commanding to love.

A list of duties, versus a list of love.  Mt Sinai versus Mt Zion.  Moses versus Jesus.  The old covenant versus the new.  Sarah versus Hagar.

Really that’s no comparison.

In several places in the Old Testament, God warned the Jews that He would put an end to the sabbaths.

Hosea 2:11  And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.

Lamentations 2:6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the LORD has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

Isaiah 1:13, 14 13Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.

The sabbath was a sign to the Jews that they were God’s people, and here He is telling them, the day will be forgotten, that God now hates it, that it will be ended.  The people of God were losing their sign!  One would think that would put the fear of God into them!  But no, they kept on their merry way, and when the promised Messiah came, only a comparatively few people accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour.

In the book of Hebrews it says that the old covenant, of which the sabbath was the sign, was now obsolete and fading away (Hebrews 8:13)

But we have a new covenant, ratified by the blood of the Saviour, and His body and blood is the sign of the new covenant. The sign of the covenant between God and the children of Israel had been the sabbath.  That had pointed back to their redemption from Egypt and forward to the Messiah, their Redeemer, who was also their rest, their sabbatismos.  They rejected the Messiah for their sabbath, only to have that taken from them.

And along comes Ellen White, who instead of pointing her followers to Christ points them back to the sabbath, with which she burdens them, and includes her own commandments on how to keep it.  She insisted the sabbath was the seal of God (which it never was).

Wrong again, Ellen.

The sabbaths have gone.  The Messiah is here.  Those of us who are His followers have sabbath rest in Him.  Not a day.

Legalism abounds in the Christian church today.  There are whole denominations that are legalistic, and within more “moderate” churches, there are legalistic individuals.  You know, the ones who tell you it’s “sinful” to wear those clothes to church, or women should not wear slacks to church, because that’s men’s clothing etc.

The list of legalistic practices   includes (but is not limited to):

We should not:  play  cards

Go  to the movies

Eat certain foods

Drink alcohol

Smoke cigarettes

We should:  keep the Sabbath

Practise tithing

Call Jesus Yeshua.

I am not saying we should or should not do these things.  That’s up to us and our conscience.  But will these things of themselves bring us salvation?  Noooooooo.

It all boils down to salvation.  Is it by grace, or by works?  Can we bring about (even in a small way) our own salvation?  What does the Bible say?  Ephesians 2: ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

But doesn’t it also say that works must accompany faith?  Indeed.  James 2: ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  James also says, 2: 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

And there is the key.  The spirit.  When we come to the Lord, after He calls us, we repent.  And then we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and made a new creation, and given a new heart.  BECAUSE we have the Spirit, we produce works.  HIS works.  Notice the order.  He calls, we respond.  He fills us with His Spirit, we produce His works.  It is not we do such and such and therefore God gives us salvation.

What sort of works do we do?  GOOD works!  We love each other.  We love our enemies.  We care for the unfortunate.  Selfless acts of unconditional love, just as He has loved us.  Not look at me works, because I’m so good.  Look at me wearing my best clothes to church, but I won’t give my old clothes to the old lady down the road, she’s a bit smelly.  I won’t help her take her old dog to the vets, because the dog might be sick in the car.

Do you see the difference? Selfless as opposed to selfrighteous? Do you see the difference in the type of spirit behind the works?

And then we come to what we do (or don’t do) will hasten Christ’s return!  Really?  If we can’t save ourselves by our perfection, what iota of difference can we make to the Second Coming!  Yes, I think it will be soon.  The Bible lists lots of warning signs, and this world is in a mess!  But NOWHERE does the Bible say what we do will hasten His coming.

So, dear reader, live each day for the Lord.  Do His good works.  Matt 5: 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that^bthey may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

And live as though He will come today.  I’m ready.  Are you?

Years ago, I was the organist at the local Anglican Parish.  In those days, there were two Holy Communion services at separate churches each Sunday.  8 am, at one, 9.30 am at the other.  It was a case of grab a very quick cuppa between services, and fly in the door at the second church ready to go!  Then there was a proper cuppa, with whatever goodies had been brought, and unless there was another service planned, the Rector and I could sit down and relax!

The high point of each service was the Lord’s supper, Eucharist, Holy Communion.  And I got to partake twice on Sunday.  But I never really appreciated it.  It was just part of the hustle and bustle.  Till two things happened.

First, our Parish Priest left.  This was not unusual, they just move on to another parish.  But we went months without a regular one.  We had to do with just lay preachers, who did their best, and led the service admirably.  We had the hymns, the prayers, and the fellowship with each other, we really did worship.  But no Lord’s supper.  Then arrangements were made with the Priest of a neighbouring parish, that he would bless the elements for us, and we did an “extended communion” service, so we could still get the bread and the wine every month or so, and occasionally a visiting Priest would be arranged and we would do the whole service.

Boy!  Was it wonderful when that happened!  I don’t think any of us realised how much we had taken the availability of the Eucharist for granted, and we appreciated the blessed elements, and the visits from the  Priest SO much.

Then, I broke my ankle and spent three months in hospital!  The lay clergy turned up, a Priest turned up, and I LOVED it.  The Eucharist was so important to me.  And then when I came home, my visits to church were sporadic, so they still brought Communion to me.  I even had it given to me by the Bishop, and such a humble man I have yet to meet.  That Communion was extra special.

The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for you,  preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart by faith, with thanksgiving.

The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you,  preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s Blood was shed for you, and be thankful.

 

These words, or something very similar, have been used in the Holy Communion service for many years.  But going without for a time, made me really listen to the words.  This was the sign of the new covenant, the sign of God’s grace, reconciling us to Him.  The body and blood of Christ.  The bread and the wine.  A holy meal indeed.

What before I took for granted, now really means something so special to me.  Words cannot express what I feel, this is so deep.  This really is communion with God.  No wonder the Lord’s Supper is the climax of the service!

 

The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven.    The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.

 

These words can be used by the Priest, or the lay person distributing the sacrament.

A prayer that is often said before partaking of Communion is called the Prayer of Humble Access:  We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

There it is again.  The body and blood of Christ.

In John 6, Jesus said:…. “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

There we have it, Jesus commands us.  We must eat His flesh and drink His blood.  This is life to us.  His flesh and blood.  The bread and the wine.  Holy food.  Spiritually and metaphorically.  Without Christ, there is no life.

It’s always tempting to say that there is only one denomination that is legalistic, and that’s the SDA denomination.  However while they are “par excellence”, they are not alone.  And not only are there legalistic denominations, there are always individuals in an otherwise grace led congregation that is legalistic in outlook.  For the example, the lady who decided it was not a good idea to have a cross in the church;  instead we should have the ten commandments on display in very large letters, and in a very prominent place.  Like near the altar.  Where we would be sure to see it whenever we went out to the altar to receive communion.

Sigh.

When I was a kid, I had never heard of the law of Moses.  I had heard of the ten commandments.  It really wasn’t till I joined the SDA church that I started hearing about the law of Moses, and the impression I got was that it was made up by men and added onto the ten.  The ten were the important parts, and they should be “kept”.

It wasn’t until some time after I left the SDA church that I found out what the law of Moses REALLY was and that this is what Jesus and the Jews “kept”, and not the ten commandments.  I also realised that most SDAs and when it came down to it, most legalistic church people, and a lot of people who are saved by grace, had no knowledge of the law of Moses, except to think it was the 10C.

The 10C have never been the law of Moses.  They are a very small but important part, the words of the covenant between God and the children of Israel.  As such, neither they, nor the law of Moses were known to any of the Patriarchs before that time, nor were they known to any Gentile nation concurrent with or before  the time of the children of Israel.  They were solely given to the Israelites, as part of the covenant.  No one else received them.

Noah, as part of His covenant with the Lord was given the Noahide laws.  These were for worldwide use, and have never been rescinded.  Some of these laws were the same as those of the Mosaic law, for example, do not murder, and most country’s laws have this same morality.  The laws of any given country are not based on the ten commandments.  No country has a sabbath law except Israel.

And here we are, a Christian church that has very large parts of it that has not left behind the covenant between God and Israel, even though it has been abolished and passed away (Hebrews 8:18).  They say they have moved on to grace but while ever the ten commandments is a prominent part of their life they have not.

We need grace.  We do not need law.  Grace saves us, law condemns us.  We need to heed Galatians 4:21-31 where it discusses Hagar and Sarah, the old and new covenants.

Unless our lives our rooted in Christ, and in His grace, we belong to legalism, the old covenant, to law and condemnation.

I hope all of you can leave behind the ten commandments and grasp hold of the hand of Christ, and repeat Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

In Christ alone.

 

Some years ago now, I volunteered, almost by accident, for the most amazing job. It was to be a native animal rescuer and carer. It became a passion to me.

Many people would love the life I lead…till they realise it is from necessity.  I spend much of each day on the sofa with my feet up.  This is because I have ataxia (SCA6) and one of the symptoms is fatigue.  I do some work, then I need to rest.  Added in is recovery from the broken ankle, so now I have to counteract the swelling which becomes worse when I am on my feet too long, and the beautiful delicate purple it turns.  So instead of just sitting in my favourite comfy chair, I need my foot up.  On the sofa is the best I have found.  I can get quite comfortable here!

I might add in my younger days, pre-ataxia, I could organise 4 kids, do all the housework, do the gardening, walk the dogs, you name whatever needed to be done, and not even stop for morning tea.  If I had any it was on the run, sipped as I was doing the vacuuming, or doing the dishes, or whatever.  Ataxia has changed all that.  I am not being lazy…I physically can no longer do it.  Whether I want to or not.

I have had to concentrate on the work I know I can do, and pace myself, and swallow my pride and ask for help for the things that are now too difficult for me.  I long for that  independence I once had.  Is this how we approach our Christian walk?  We want our independence?

Doesn’t quite work that way does it.  Unless salvation is by works, which thank the Lord it isn’t!  Salvation is by grace!  Ephesians 8: ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 

We can’t just say I’ll do my bit, and God will do the rest.    He did it all!  HE saved us.  We didn’t save ourselves.   Our righteousness is worthless.  His is perfect and priceless.  We can’t assume because we go to church…or we tithe and/or give offerings….or we “keep” the ten commandments, even if we say we’re doing it because we love the Lord, that it is enough.  Only Jesus is enough.  We need to be born again (from above).  Born of the Spirit, and have been made a new creation, with a new heart.  This is all God’s work, not ours.  We cannot do this ourselves.
This is really an all and nothing situation.  He does it all.  We can do nothing.  He IS all.  We are nothing.  Yet He loved us so much that He became nothing so we could have everything.  He took what we deserved so we can have what He deserves.

So next time you want to be independent, remember that is fine in the physical and emotional sense.  But spiritually?  We HAVE to be dependent on Him.  We NEED Him.  We NEED to rest in Him.  And what a rest that is!

I know.  I’ve become an expert on rest, and His is beyond your wildest dreams…..