Micah 6:8 “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the Lord require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
This week
Michael writes that we’re as close to Jesus Christ as we want to be. He has
given us every opportunity to walk in fellowship with him. There are many
reasons for staying excited to walk with Him. The first is
forgiveness. Not that we were worthy by our own works, but that he died
for us. For he who knew no sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf
that we who were dead in trespasses and sins may be made the righteousness of
God in Him. For God commended His love for us in that while we were yet
sinners Christ died for the ungodly. Unworthy was I of the grace that he
gave, but He made me worthy and now by His grace, His mercy has made me His
own. Where sin abounded grace abounded all the more. I was crucified with
Christ. It’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life
that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me – Galatians 2:20.
From what have
we been forgiven? The world stands convicted before a righteous God
because of man’s sinful nature passed down from Adam’s original sin. We
inherited our sin nature through Adam’s bloodline. Before salvation, we were
slaves to sin. We had no choice because of our sin nature. There is none
righteous (in the flesh,) no not one, for the wages of sin is death. Death is
the default condition. Ultimately sin must be judged by a righteous
judge. To be able to know what it means to be a “follower of Christ”, we
must first know the depth of the depravity of sin from which He has forgiven
us. Salvation from the penalty of sin is available, not because we repented,
but because Jesus died in our stead and accepted the penalty for our sin on our
behalf.
After we were “born
again”, if our prayer is, “God, I know that I’m not the person that I knew to
be, God make me that person.” This is a prayer that God is longing to answer. How
we battle the flesh between now and heaven will determine whether He says at
the judgment seat of rewards, “well done, my good and faithful servant.” How
close to Jesus do you want to be? If your desire is to be close to Him,
you need to know Him intimately. To live the Christian life, we need to
spend time in His presence and in His Word. We need to be committed to
the gospel of Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh to
the Father but by him – John 14:6. The
gospel of Christ is the message of salvation to those who were born in sin (aka
all of us). Is your heart’s desire to become just like Jesus? To walk in
fellowship with Him, we need to experience the reality that all things work
together for good to those who love God and are called according to his
purpose. Those who are not close to God, ask God the wrong questions.
“Why” questions are the wrong questions. Who am I to question God’s
motives? The right question is, “God, what are you teaching me through
this trial?” The child of God who has settled in their heart that Jesus is Lord
of their life, approaches God from a heart of meekness and humility; not my
will, but thine be done. If this is the heart of the child of God, their
story will be a witness of God’s Story.
Let's finish Michael's message on "a closer walk with the Lord" tomorrow.
In Christ, Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment