Too many of us live as if we are still imprisoned by our sin, sorrow and struggles with no way out of the cell that confines us. Too often we let regrets from the past, imperfections in the present and fears of the future enslave us as if we are helpless and hopeless to do anything about them. Too soon we give up and give in when victory has already been secured and is almost ready to be seen. Jesus has made amends for our past, makes provision for our present and will make a way for our future until we have been fully delivered from all fears, foes and faults. Walk out of that cell today, and in faith follow Him. You have been set free.
Grace To Fight On
Do you know how often you and I need to confess our sin to God? Every. Single. Day. As Christians, we are in an ongoing war against our sin, and there are daily occasions in which we lose the battle. This spiritual journey we are on is one in which we have not yet been fully delivered from the presence of sin, so we must fight against it and confess our failings when we lose a skirmish. Every step of the way. Every time we pray. Every single day. Ours is a humble and simple cry out for grace: “I did it. I regret doing it. Help me not do it again.” Because Jesus has already secured the final victory over our sin, there is grace for us. Grace that gives us pardon when we lose the fight, and grace that gives us power to fight on.
He Has Kept All Of His Promises To Me
Great is my faithfulness is not part of a proverb or hymn. Nobody would ever celebrate my ability to do what I should do or do what I say I will do. I’m both a promise-maker and a promise-breaker. A thousand times I have failed to follow-through on my intentions in keeping God’s expectations as I have followed Jesus. And a thousand times I have received in return… Grace. Mercy. Forgiveness. Encouragement. Renewal. Correction. Power. Motivation. Reassurance. Acceptance. Instruction. Hope. Love. I cannot say that I have kept all of my promises to God. But I can say that He has kept all of His promises to me.
God Will Provide
God is actively working behind-the-scenes for you right now to meet your needs in ways that you don’t see. You don’t have the answers; God does. You don’t know the next move; God does. You can’t see how it will work out; God does. Everything you really need will really be supplied. Not maybe. Not probably. Definitely. God will provide for every need. Not some of them. Not most of them. All of them, without exception. Right when you need it, not a second too late. Today, do the work that God has said is for you to do, and believe that He is doing the work that is not for you to do.
Trying Or Trusting
If you hope to go to heaven when you die, you are basing that hope on one of two things: trying or trusting. You may be trying to be a good person or trying to practice a religion. Neither of those things will get you into heaven because it’s your sin that separates you from God and keeps you from entering His presence. No amount of trying hard to do good and right things will remove that sin and replace it with righteousness. The Christian faith is not about trusting in our own good works or even trusting that Jesus died for us plus our good works; it is about trusting that Jesus lived and died for us. Jesus + Nothing = Everything. We pin our hopes on this: He exchanged His perfect life for our imperfect ones.
Real Peace
You will never experience real peace until you rest in God’s grace. Anything else results in some version of regret for your past, pressure to measure up in the present, or worry about what might happen to you in the future. Peace is elusive when we look to ourselves to make things right because there is always this ever-present feeling that we are not doing enough. Indeed, we cannot do enough. Nor do we need to, for Jesus has done it all. Resting in God’s grace means trusting that Jesus forgives, Jesus frees and Jesus is faithful to provide. Herein is peace found: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Fight By Grace
People who love Jesus repent by making war against their sin instead of making excuses for it. Because His pardon is given to us, and His power is with us, and His presence is in us, we can be honest about our sin, and we can be victorious over it. Therefore, let us strive for holy living while resting in the grace of God, remembering and rejoicing over this truth: what Jesus has done for us on the cross is sufficient to both cleanse and correct our transgressions. Because of grace we don’t give up in our fight against our sinfulness; by grace we get up and fight on.
Forgiven And Free
Every person alive disobeys God, but the ways in which we respond to our sin is often in stark contrast with each other. Some people rationalize. Some people repent. As Christians, we have a faith in Jesus that is demonstrated by loving obedience, though imperfectly executed. That means we too will disobey God at times, but because of the love we receive from Him and have for Him, we will admit our sin by seeking His pardon for it and His power to be free from it.
Sons And Daughters
What comfort, what relief, what joy is ours that with God we do not have to pretend to be something we are not, because God is making us into what we are not yet. And there is absolutely no risk that He will walk away from those of us who have been gloriously saved into His family because of our faith in Jesus. For when He looks upon you and me, though He sees everything about us, what He sees most is a beloved son or daughter.
We All Keep Secrets
We all keep secrets. There is not a human being on the face of the earth who fully discloses every thought, feeling, motive, desire, and attitude to others. The relationships we are involved in are to some degree built on us holding back some things about us. Not so in our relationship with God. We cannot hide ourselves from Him; nor do we have to. The One who matters the most, knows us most and loves us most. He also has committed Himself to the long-term transformation of making us more like Jesus.
No Perfect People
There are no perfect people. When you find that you are focused on and frustrated with the faults of others, remember that your life is riddled with faults too … yet you are loved, accepted, forgiven and changed by Jesus. When we are humbled by, amazed by, overjoyed by and empowered by the forgiveness and help extended by God for our own sins and shortcomings, we will more readily extend grace to others. God judged Jesus in our place. We don’t have to be judged. We don’t get to be judge.
Short #11: Will It Matter?
Here’s a simple, but significant, lens through which life looks radically different than we often see it… will this matter 100 years from now? How we think, feel, speak, act, and react would be wonderfully different if we saw things in light of eternity, and remember that this short life is not all that there is. Our lives would create an everlasting ripple if we could look a century into our future to see the impact of our today. As we live by grace, in dependence upon the presence and power of Jesus, let us give less priority to the things that really don’t matter and more priority to the things that do.
Short #9: Die Ready
Dying ready is not about trying hard to do more and be better so God will accept you into heaven when this life is over. Instead, it’s about trusting in Jesus and the work He has finished on your behalf and, in response, finishing the work that Jesus has entrusted to you. We don’t work for our salvation; we work out our salvation. We don’t pay Him back. We love Him back. With our hope in Him, we journey homeward in loving obedience (though imperfectly executed) knowing that the death we once feared is actually the doorway to full and lasting joy with Him. Death is not the end; it is just the beginning.
Short #7: It Is Coming
We don’t like to think about it. We don’t like to talk about it. But death is coming for us all. We may not be certain of the time of its arrival, but the certainty of its arrival is never in doubt. Instead of ignoring, downplaying or fearing it, we should let its reality accomplish two essential and monumental things in our lives: be purposeful to experience life before death, and be prepared to experience life after death. Jesus makes both of these possible when we entrust ourselves to Him. Live fully. Die ready.
Short #5: When We Fail To Glorify God
We glorify God by thanking Him, trusting Him and treasuring Him as we live in loving obedience to Him. But, let’s be honest … oftentimes we’re not going to get that right. We’re going to disobey Him and dishonor Him. We’re going to fall. What then? Then … We fall into His mercy. In those moments when we don’t do the things that honor Him – because we are sinners – we repent and rest in the forgiveness and righteousness that is ours because of the work of Jesus and our faith in Him. And that glorifies Him too.
He Has Risen As He Said
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. – Matthew 28:5-6
Do you believe that Jesus is alive? Then don’t live as if He’s still dead. Don’t live as if you are left to your own wisdom, strength and resources to navigate through life. Don’t live as if this world and its stuff is all there is, and you can’t be happy unless you have more of it. Don’t live as if your life has no real meaning and purpose, and how you spend your time doesn’t really matter. Don’t live as if you are a victim of temptation and sin, powerless to stand up to it and resist it and defeat it. Don’t live as if life is out of control, and you have just cause to worry and fear and dread. Listen… The empty tomb changes everything! You couldn’t live up to God’s standards, so Jesus lived perfectly for you. You couldn’t break free from sin, so He set you free. You couldn’t atone for your transgressions, so Jesus died in your place. You couldn’t defeat death, so He conquered the grave so you too will rise. You couldn’t earn an eternal retirement, so He paid for your inheritance. You have become rich in salvation, forgiveness, joy, peace, glory, kindness, favor, righteousness, love and hope because of what Jesus accomplished on your behalf. Because He lives, you can live too … abundantly in this world and eternally in the world to come. Because the Lamb of God was slain, rose again and the tomb is now empty, if you are trusting Him, you are a new person with a new eternity in your future, and new potential, new purpose, new power, new pleasure in Him for everyday life even now. When you and I live in this newness that Jesus purchased on the cross for us, we do so to bring glory to the Lamb of God who was slain for us, conquered sin and death for us, offers forgiveness and life to us, and has become a treasure to us. If you are trusting in Jesus, your life is full because the tomb is empty. He has risen as He said, and He will return as He said. Until He does… If you believe that Jesus is alive, then don’t live as if He’s still dead.
They Laid Jesus There
So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. – John 19:40-42
Confusion. Shock. Fear. Uncertainty. Heartbreak. Silence. When they laid the breathless, lifeless body of Jesus in the tomb, it must have seemed like their own breath and life had been drained from them. And when the stone was rolled into place, it must have looked like their hopes and fate were sealed inside with the One they had pinned their hopes on and trusted their fate to. They were discovering what we all discover… Things often won’t go as we planned them. Things often won’t work out like we hoped. Things often won’t happen as we thought they would. Things often won’t be as simple or easy or comfortable as we would like. Instead, things will break our hearts and leave us in stunned silence. But, in the hands and plans of God, our struggles are not setbacks, they are stepping stones. When we go through hard times, it’s not in the way of God’s plan; it is His plan. Our God is sovereign, and though the sinfulness of people, the brokenness of this world and the maliciousness of Satan all rise up to seemingly stop God’s work, He makes them bow down and serve His purposes! The story is never over … NEVER OVER … until God has claimed the final victory, for God is always working things out for good in the end. Struggles will be defeated. Suffering will be defeated. Sin will be defeated. Satan will be defeated. Death will be defeated. Every foe we will ever face will be overturned, overthrown and overcome because Jesus is putting and will put every enemy under His foot. Until then, we wait. But we wait in hope of better things. For we know the rest of the story that these disciples were about to experience first-hand… They laid Jesus there. But He would not lie there for long. They thought it was the end. But it was just the beginning. It was finished. But it was not over.
He Set His Face To Go To Jerusalem
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. – Luke 9:51
Jesus knew what awaited in Jerusalem. Unimaginable torment. Unthinkable anguish. Unspeakable evil. Unwarranted brutality. Unprecedented suffering. No one would ever face anything like what Jesus set His face to go to. He would absorb the wrath of God for our sins to secure the grace of God for our salvation so we could become the people of God for all eternity. He knew what was coming, but He didn’t avoid it. He didn’t bypass it. He didn’t stop it. He set his face towards it, locked eyeballs with it, and did not back away, back off or back down from it. He knew what Jerusalem meant for Him. He knew what Jerusalem would cost Him. But He was determined to complete the mission for which He came … to save sinners like you and me. So… The spotless Lamb of God headed for the place of His slaughter. The gruesomeness of that statement should grip you. So, let it. This was going to be an ugly, horrific scene that should rightly furrow our brows, sicken our stomachs, and stab our hearts because it was our sin that caused this sacrifice to be needed. He set His face to go to Jerusalem to suffer in our place, take the wrath we deserved, and be crushed for the weight of our sin. Oh, let us never take our sin lightly! The graciousness of that statement should also grip you. So, let it as well. This was going to be a beautiful, wonderful act of love that should make our eyes dance, make our faces smile, and make our hearts leap with joy because He was willing to do this for us. He set His face to go to Jerusalem to bring us from death into life, bring us into His family, and someday bring us into the very presence of God in heaven where there is fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore. Oh, let us never take our worship lightly! Jesus is our way out of hell and our way into heaven. No one comes to the Father except through Him. And no one would come through Him unless He went to Jerusalem.
Battles, Fighting And Armor – Part 2
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. – Ephesians 6:10-13
God does not leave us defenseless or powerless against the enemy of our soul. Instead, He gives us His Spirit to go with us. God does not send us ill-equipped into battle against this powerful adversary who is seeking to devour and destroy us. Instead, He dresses us in His own armor. We cannot fight with our limited human resources, but we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loves us. (Romans 8:37) In order for us to fight the good fight of faith, we must put on the armor of God … ahead of time, in advance of the skirmish. We put ourselves and others at extreme risk if we wait until the battle begins to ready ourselves for war against sin and evil. The enemy does not allow us to call timeout or grant us a recess to gather our ammunition and put up our shield. This is why we should arm ourselves with a daily dose of God’s instructions and God’s truths and God’s promises found in God’s Word. It is for this reason that we should spend time praying for God’s power and God’s wisdom and God’s protection every day and throughout the day. We need to remember, rejoice in, and rely on the good news of Jesus in order to safeguard our heads, hearts, and homes. Knowing how the enemy works, let us be vigilant in our advance preparation for the battle and reliant on the armor and presence of God when the battle rages. Jesus is with us in the battle, giving us the courage, guidance, and strength that we need to conquer every foe. Make war! And if you go down, go down swinging, knowing that there is grace for every lost fight because you are trusting in Jesus, and Jesus has dealt a knockout punch to sin, Satan and death for you. You will rise again to fight again and win in the end. Because of grace we don’t give up in our fight against our spiritual enemies; by grace we get up and fight on!
Are You Finished? Jesus Offers Endurance.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:39-40
There are days when our faith falters, but Jesus does not abandon us. There are days when we feel like giving up, but Jesus does not let us. There are days when we are too overwhelmed to carry on, but Jesus does not move on without us. Jesus came from heaven to earth to make a way for sinners like you and me to go from earth to heaven. And every step we take together is assured because of His willingness and faithfulness to do the Father’s will: namely, to keep us until the end of this life and raise us up at the beginning of the next. Ours will be a journey full of mountains and valleys, victories and failures, eases and hardships, prosperities and poverties. Yet through it all, we will be empowered by His presence and encouraged by His promises as we rely on Him in faith to keep moving on to our eternal home. He will not lose us on the way. He will not let us lose our way. Through every sinful setback, every stagnant season and every stormy squall, Jesus remains faithful to get to heaven all those who believe in Him. We will keep going. We will endure. We will make it. Not because of anything we can do apart from Jesus, but because Jesus is a part of us, enabling us by God’s grace to persevere to the end. Until then, even when our days include struggles and our walk include stumbles, let us press on in joyful confidence that getting to our heavenly home does not depend upon us but on Jesus. He will stay right with us. He will do whatever it takes. He will provide all that is needed. He will take as long as required. Yes, we work hard by His grace to follow Him closely in loving obedience, but He alone will ensure that we are able to do so. Rejoice as you hold on until the end-before-the-beginning, knowing that Jesus is holding on to you. On this our eternal security firmly rests: We will remain faithful to Him because He remains faithful to us.
