Our Salvation is by grace through faith and is a gracious gift of God…not through any human achievement of ours. This is made plain in Ephesians 2:8-9 which states, ” For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so no one may boast.” Thus, this inexpressible and generous gift of God has nothing to do with our deeds, but everything to do with our dedication to Christ Jesus, His Son.
Month: March 2025
Psalm 4:1 ” Answer me when I call to You, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.”
David wrote this Psalm while in distress but still exhibited a deep confidence and faith in God. And so, in complete transparency and boldness his supplication fearlessly cried out to God because he knew that God was his righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:6) It’s absolutely alright to pray bold, honest prayers in the midst of suffering…reminding God (and yourself) of His unswerving adherence to the standard of fairness, kindness, and mercy…all the while knowing you have His undivided attention.
“Actions speak louder than words. We can apologize countless times, but if our actions don’t change, those words lose their meaning.” Mother Teresa
Without true repentance there will be no modification of behavior. And those empty words spoken by others will ring hollow, and insincere. Our trust will erode away, and feelings of invalidation will soon take over. While thoughts like, “I’m not important.” “I have no value.” or “I don’t really matter to them.” will invade our mind. But God’s Word tells us that, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Corinthians 5:21) So no matter what others say about us, through the Gospel Message, the perfect righteousness of Christ has been imputed by God and received by us through our faith alone. And in God’s eyes we are of great value and importance to Him.
Ecclesiastes 5:16 ” As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind?”
Here Solomon ponders the frustrations and tragedies of life’s impermanence, and how all of our hard work is for nothing in the end. He uses the word picture of toiling after the wind, or striving after the wind, or feeding on wind throughout the Book to show just how futile earthly labor is. For we come into the world empty-handed, and we leave the same way. Thus, it’s so important to be about the Lord’s work while we’re here on earth…knowing God will not forget our work as we help His people. (Hebrews 6:10)
Amos 9:11-12 ” In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruin, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that will bear My name, declares the Lord, Who will do these things.”
In this passage, Amos gives the promise of future deliverance and restoration by God’s plan to save the Gentiles through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As the greater Son of David, the resurrected Jesus would raise up the fallen tent of David…rebuilding and fulfilling God’s promise to establish David’s dynasty eternally… or as James described in Acts 15:12-17 when he quoted Amos and applied it to God’s taking a people for Himself from among the Gentiles and including them within His Church. The prophet Amos thus, foresees that the Lord will take possession of the remnant of all nations and will reign over them in a covenantal relationship through Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah.
Matthew 8: 2-3 ” A man with leprosy came and knelt before Him and said, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ He said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.”
Leviticus Chapters 13 and 14 lay out the Law, regulations, and guidelines for all infectious skin diseases that were considered either clean or unclean by the Priest. If unclean, the person was banished to outside the camp, wore torn clothes like that of a mourner, covered the lower part of their face, and cried out, “Unclean! Unclean!” (Leviticus 13:45) So to start, this man broke the rules by coming close to Jesus and speaking to Him. But his words revealed his understanding of just who Jesus was…for he said, “If You are willing…” the Greek word, Thelo, meaning that he knew that Jesus was not only willing, but fully capable of healing him. His next faith-filled statement, “You can make me clean.” used the Greek word, Katharizo, which was often used in the Old Testament for the legal cleansing by the Priest of leprosy. But touching a leper also made the other person ceremoniously unclean…but rather than Jesus becoming unclean – in an instant the leper was healed and made whole.
Jude 3 ” Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”
Jude was alarmed at all the false teachers that had infiltrated the Church…to the extent of actually being invited and accepted by the people. Thus, the purpose of his letter was to warn them about the true intent of these false teachers that were using Christian liberty and the free grace of God as a license to promote immorality, which Jude sternly denounced to impress upon his readers the seriousness of their threat within the walls of the Church. When Jude wrote that they needed to “contend for the faith”, he was beseeching them to go back to the basics of the Gospel Message and the revealed truth of just where their faith originally came from. The sad story is that even today false teachers continue to worm their way into unexpecting Churches…tickling their ears with half-truths and out and out lies…all the while claiming they have “new revelations”.
Exodus 3:10 ” So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
God chose Moses to free His people from the slavery of Pharaoh, but instead of obeying, Moses made excuses. And he wasn’t the only one across the Old Testament that battled and struggled with the call of God on their life. There was Gideon (Judges 6:15), Saul (I Samuel 9:21), David (II Samuel 7:18), Solomon (II Chronicles 2:6), Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5). Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:6), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:14), and Jonah (Jonah 1:1-3). What they all discovered was that for every excuse they came up with, God would patiently but firmly reassure them that under His strength the Way was already prepared. And if they refused like Jonah did, God was relentless to convict, exhort, and dog them until they finally obeyed. Just know, that with the calling comes the inner struggle and battle with God…us saying we can’t, and God saying, “Yes you can!”
Romans 7:18 ” I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”
Even as a new creation in Christ, we still struggle with sin. We desire to do what is upright, virtuous, and morally good…but our corrupt human nature makes it hard to accomplish. But we need to then remember Galatians 5:24 tells us that “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” For as followers of Christ, the Cross not only broke the grip of the Law, but of the flesh. So, by faith, we can recognize the reality of our union with Christ in His life, death, and resurrection – for we too have been raised to new life in the Spirit of Christ – the old is gone, for we are now a new creation. (II Corinthians 5:17)
II Samuel 22:31 ” As for God, His Way is perfect; the Word of the Lord is flawless.”
A. W. Tozer once wrote, ” God’s Word is true whether we believe it or not. Human unbelief cannot alter the character of God.” Just because we may think that the Bible is outdated, not popular anymore, or doesn’t fit modern society, doesn’t mean it’s not still the infallible, unerring, correct, and true Word of God. For unlike our social opinions that change and shift like the sands on the beach…God’s Word does not change. And what He has said in the past has transcended all time…every Word proving true…having been over and over tried and found to be utterly reliable. (Proverbs 30:5)
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