God’s sacrifice

 

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

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. John 15:13

The reason I chose to use both of these verses for this week's devotional is to show how they both relate to the sacrifice that God made for us through His son Jesus. I will explain what I mean but first I want to say that this week's blog is dedicated to all those who are struggling with doubt, loneliness, questions about who God is and if He is even real. I want to tell you that God is very real and He cares a great deal for you.

The first verse explains why He sent His Son – because He loved us. He loved us so much that He sent the one who was most precious to Him because it was the only way to save us. Let me explain what I mean by the only way to save us. You see, when God created man, He created him perfect, in His image. God also created man with free will. In other words He gave us the right and privilege to be able to choose between right and wrong. You may ask why He would give us free will when He is God and can just make us serve Him. Well the reason for that is because He wanted us to love Him by choice and not because we have to. He also gave man dominion over the land and everything in it. Now man has free will and he is confronted with a choice to obey God or disobey Him. There was a tree that God gave Adam strict instruction not to eat from it. The serpent (the devil) then tempted Eve to eat from the tree. Man (Adam and Eve) chose to disobey God's commandment and ate from the tree. Once they ate from the tree, they were in disobedience to God (sin) and they had handed over their dominion (land and everything in it) to Satan. Because of this the land was cursed and every man and woman since then is born into sin. (Genesis chapter 3 for the account of Adam and Eve).

Since man is born into sin, salvation cannot come from him because the sacrifice has to be sinless. Here is where Jesus comes in. As God's only begotten son, He was with God, in God, and is God. He came in the form of man as a sinless sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. Simply put He lived as man but he did not sin. He was crucified on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Not only the forgiveness of our sins but also for our health, to give us life. Here is God the Father's sacrifice – He sends His only son, who when He is carrying the sin of the world, has to be separated from Him. God cannot look at sin, so when Jesus was on the cross, He was separated from His son for that moment. Can you imagine the tremendous pain of being separated from your child? But we were also His children, He created us in His image, and He had been separated from us for a long time. God wanted a way to bring His children back to Him.

Now the second verse is Jesus speaking to His disciples. These 12 men, who believed that He was the son of God, and followed Him, had become His friends because they had a relationship with Jesus. He was telling them this to make them aware of His purpose on this earth. He was letting them know that soon He would give His life for them so that they would have eternal life. How many of us would give our life for our best friend or even our family? I dare say not many. Jesus was letting us know that His love for us was so great that He was laying His life down so that we could become His friends by way of a relationship with Him through His Holy Spirit.

Now these two verses work together because God loved the world (us) that He gave His only son (Jesus), Jesus (God in the flesh) gave His life so that we could become His friends because He was the only one who could bring us back to fellowship with our Father.

For those of you that are not in a relationship with God, I challenge you today to think about the sacrifice that was made for you and me and your need for the love and mercy that God offers. I am not saying that your life will be all peaches and cream, but I will tell you this – since I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ almost eleven years ago, I can honestly say that my life is better. My life has purpose and though there are trials, God is with me through all of them. He never leaves me alone.

Your life has a purpose – will you seek that purpose in God or will you let the opportunity pass you by? If you are feeling God knocking on the door of your heart right now, don't let the opportunity pass you by. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and that you need God and then ask for His forgiveness and invite Him into your heart and life and see how He will transform you. You can say this simple prayer to receive Christ into your heart:

Jesus, forgive me for my sins. I believe that You are the son of God, who died on the cross and rose on the third day for the redemption of my soul. I believe that you are alive and want a relationship with me. Come into my heart and wash me clean. Write my name in the book of life and transform my life. Show me how to live according to your will and strengthen my faith every day so that I may please you. Thank you Lord for the forgiveness of my sins. In Jesus name, Amen.

If you have just prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of God! You will need to get yourself a bible and study the word of God. Also find yourself a church that preaches and teaches the word of God so that you may grow in the Lord. If you do not know how to go about doing this, please respond to the blog and we will help you with resources depending on where you are as best we can. God bless you!

 

 

God is Near

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. Psalm 51:10-13

I have found myself drawn to this passage of Scripture many times when in affliction. It is one of my favorite Psalms, but these verses in particular have resonated in my heart in mind in the past months like never before. Many times we pray and ask God to change our heart but do we know what we are asking for? To ask God to give us a clean heart requires an examination of ourselves and our motives. We need ask ourselves are we honoring God in all that we do? Are we walking in obedience to Him? Are we spending enough time with Him or are we spending time with Him at all?

The past year had its challenges and opportunities; challenges to our faith and who we are in Christ and opportunities for us to draw closer to our Father. For some of us, myself included, it has been a tremendous struggle to stand firm and planted but God has been faithful to give us the strength to keep pressing forward. Personally it was a time of drought. A time where I literally felt like I was gasping for air and clawing my way forward yet by the grace of God, here I am. Specifically in this time I have cried out to God to "create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me."

You see, there are times when we as Christians, will go through periods where we may think that we are alone and we don't hear God speak to us, we don't see Him moving for us, or like me, feel very far from Him and His presence. That does not mean that He is not there! In these moments of loneliness, despair, and intense pain, Jesus is right there with us. Our human nature does not recognize that He is there because we are hurting, frustrated, angry even, and we cannot see past our situation to know that He is there yet He is.

This year I have determined to seek God with pure motives – with all that I have, all that I am, and all that is in me. I have determined to teach the transgressors His ways so that sinners may be converted. The Psalmist David was going through his own personal struggle when He wrote this Psalm but God renewed a steadfast spirit in him and lifted him up because he humbled himself and cried out to the only One who could help him. Today I have renewed strength and I am going to press even harder in the Lord and I pray that you do to. Be encouraged if you are struggling, you are not alone. And if you're not struggling, praise God because He is good!

 

God bless!