“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.” Romans 8:1 NIV
There is never a point at which you are any less saved than you were the first moment Christ saved you. Just because you were grumpy at breakfast doesn’t mean you were condemned at breakfast. When you lost your temper yesterday, you didn’t lose your salvation. Your name doesn’t disappear and reappear in the book of life according to your moods and actions . . .
You are saved, not because of what you do, but because of what Christ did.
By Max Lucado
Showing posts with label salvation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salvation. Show all posts
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Friday, 11 March 2011
What's Heaven Like?
I received this story in the mail yesterday, and thought I'd share it. What an awesome illustration of such a wonderful truth!
A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, 'Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.'
Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'
'You don't know? You're, a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing ... I know my Master is there and that is enough.'
A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, 'Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.'
Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'
'You don't know? You're, a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing ... I know my Master is there and that is enough.'
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Getting the "I" Out of Your Eye
by Max Lucado
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (Phil. 2:3–4 NASB)
Love builds up relationships; selfishness erodes relationships. No wonder Paul is so urgent in his appeal: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit” (Phil. 2:3 NASB).
But aren’t we born selfish? And if so, can we do anything about it? Can we get our eyes off of self? Or, better asked, can we get the little self out of our eyes? According to Scripture, we can.
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind. (Phil. 2:1–2 NASB)
Paul’s sarcasm is thinly veiled. Is there any encouragement? Any consolation? Any fellowship? Then smile!
What’s the cure for selfishness?
Get your self out of your eye by getting your eye off your self. Quit staring at that little self, and focus on your great Savior.
A friend who is an Episcopalian minister explains the reason he closes his prayers with the sign of the cross. “The touching of my forehead and chest makes a capital ‘I.’ The gesture of touching first one shoulder, then the other, cuts the ‘I’ in half.”
Isn’t that a work of the Cross? A smaller “I” and a greater Christ? Don’t focus on yourself; focus on all that you have in Christ. Focus on the encouragement in Christ, the consolation of Christ, the love of Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit, the affection and compassion of heaven.
If Christ becomes our focus, we won’t be like the physician in Arkansas. He misdiagnosed the patient. He declared the woman to be dead. The family was informed, and the husband was grief-stricken. Imagine the surprise of the nurse when she discovered that the woman was alive! “You better tell the family,” she urged the doctor.
The embarrassed physician phoned the husband and said, “I need to talk to you about the condition of your wife.”
“The condition of my wife?” he asked. “She’s dead.”
The doctor’s pride only allowed him to concede, “Well, she has seen a slight improvement.”
Slight improvement? Talk about an understatement! Lazarus is walking out of the tomb, and he calls that a “slight improvement”?
He was so concerned about his image that he missed an opportunity to celebrate. We laugh, but don’t we do the same? We’ve gone from cremation to celebration. We deserve a lava bath, but we’ve been given a pool of grace.
Yet to look at our faces you’d think our circumstances had made only a “slight improvement.” “How’s life?” someone asks. And we who’ve been resurrected from the dead say, “Well, things could be better.” Or “Couldn’t get a parking place.” Or “My parents won’t let me move to Hawaii.” Or “People won’t leave me alone so I can finish my sermon on selfishness.”
Honestly. We worry about acid rain in silver linings. Do you think Paul might like to have a word with us? Are you so focused on what you don’t have that you are blind to what you do? Have you received any encouragement? Any fellowship? Any consolation? Then don’t you have reason for joy?
Come. Come thirsty. Drink deeply from God’s goodness.
From
A Love Worth Giving:
Living in the Overflow of God’s Love
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2002) Max Lucado
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (Phil. 2:3–4 NASB)
Love builds up relationships; selfishness erodes relationships. No wonder Paul is so urgent in his appeal: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit” (Phil. 2:3 NASB).
But aren’t we born selfish? And if so, can we do anything about it? Can we get our eyes off of self? Or, better asked, can we get the little self out of our eyes? According to Scripture, we can.
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind. (Phil. 2:1–2 NASB)
Paul’s sarcasm is thinly veiled. Is there any encouragement? Any consolation? Any fellowship? Then smile!
What’s the cure for selfishness?
Get your self out of your eye by getting your eye off your self. Quit staring at that little self, and focus on your great Savior.
A friend who is an Episcopalian minister explains the reason he closes his prayers with the sign of the cross. “The touching of my forehead and chest makes a capital ‘I.’ The gesture of touching first one shoulder, then the other, cuts the ‘I’ in half.”
Isn’t that a work of the Cross? A smaller “I” and a greater Christ? Don’t focus on yourself; focus on all that you have in Christ. Focus on the encouragement in Christ, the consolation of Christ, the love of Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit, the affection and compassion of heaven.
If Christ becomes our focus, we won’t be like the physician in Arkansas. He misdiagnosed the patient. He declared the woman to be dead. The family was informed, and the husband was grief-stricken. Imagine the surprise of the nurse when she discovered that the woman was alive! “You better tell the family,” she urged the doctor.
The embarrassed physician phoned the husband and said, “I need to talk to you about the condition of your wife.”
“The condition of my wife?” he asked. “She’s dead.”
The doctor’s pride only allowed him to concede, “Well, she has seen a slight improvement.”
Slight improvement? Talk about an understatement! Lazarus is walking out of the tomb, and he calls that a “slight improvement”?
He was so concerned about his image that he missed an opportunity to celebrate. We laugh, but don’t we do the same? We’ve gone from cremation to celebration. We deserve a lava bath, but we’ve been given a pool of grace.
Yet to look at our faces you’d think our circumstances had made only a “slight improvement.” “How’s life?” someone asks. And we who’ve been resurrected from the dead say, “Well, things could be better.” Or “Couldn’t get a parking place.” Or “My parents won’t let me move to Hawaii.” Or “People won’t leave me alone so I can finish my sermon on selfishness.”
Honestly. We worry about acid rain in silver linings. Do you think Paul might like to have a word with us? Are you so focused on what you don’t have that you are blind to what you do? Have you received any encouragement? Any fellowship? Any consolation? Then don’t you have reason for joy?
Come. Come thirsty. Drink deeply from God’s goodness.
You have a ticket to heaven no thief can take,
an eternal home no divorce can break.
an eternal home no divorce can break.
Every sin of your life has been cast to the sea.
Every mistake you’ve made is nailed to the tree.
Every mistake you’ve made is nailed to the tree.
You’re blood-bought and heaven-made.
A child of God—forever saved.
A child of God—forever saved.
So be grateful, joyful—for isn’t it true?
What you don’t have is much less than what you do
What you don’t have is much less than what you do
From
A Love Worth Giving:
Living in the Overflow of God’s Love
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2002) Max Lucado
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
"A Holy Gift"
Originally posted on the blog "Honest Investigations" on the 27th October 2010.
Title of this post is taken from the email discussing this topic, received from Max Lucado.
Today's exerpt from the Bible is from 1 Peter 2:24, which says in no uncertain terms that Jesus carried our sins when he died on the cross. My reading then goes on to ask WHY Jesus cried "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me". The conclusion stated is, "So you'll never have to."
Ouch. That hurts. But it also makes me so grateful. I know, if I care to think about it, that I'm anything but perfect. I make mistakes, hurt people (intentionally or not), fail to meet my own standards - nevermind God's - and generally speaking, would never get to heaven through anything that I do, because it all falls so far short of the perfection that is the entry-standard for heaven.
But God doesn't leave me there. Instead, he reached out, 2,000 years ago, to tell the whole world, and me, that he wouldn't leave us alone. That he loves us SO much that he's willing to walk amongst us, and die by our hands, so that we can be together with him, as he intended, for all eternity.
What better place to be than in a position to say 'God will never forsake me'?
Title of this post is taken from the email discussing this topic, received from Max Lucado.
Today's exerpt from the Bible is from 1 Peter 2:24, which says in no uncertain terms that Jesus carried our sins when he died on the cross. My reading then goes on to ask WHY Jesus cried "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me". The conclusion stated is, "So you'll never have to."
Ouch. That hurts. But it also makes me so grateful. I know, if I care to think about it, that I'm anything but perfect. I make mistakes, hurt people (intentionally or not), fail to meet my own standards - nevermind God's - and generally speaking, would never get to heaven through anything that I do, because it all falls so far short of the perfection that is the entry-standard for heaven.
But God doesn't leave me there. Instead, he reached out, 2,000 years ago, to tell the whole world, and me, that he wouldn't leave us alone. That he loves us SO much that he's willing to walk amongst us, and die by our hands, so that we can be together with him, as he intended, for all eternity.
What better place to be than in a position to say 'God will never forsake me'?
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
An Inconvenient Truth
I recently had the privilege of watching the documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth', which portrays Al Gore's presentation on Global Warming. It is an excellent presentation, and should not be missed - if only so that you can tell your grandchildren why you did nothing about global warming. The facts conveyed in it are undeniable, for a serious searcher of the Truth. All around us, we can see the signs of a world in trouble.
Over the past decades there have been many natural disasters - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, hurricanes, floods, droughts, storms. If one watches the news, however, it hits you that these are coming with increasing frequency. Not just more of one type of disaster, but almost daily there is a new occurrence of one or another disaster. All of these disasters are purported to be symptoms of the phenomenon Global Warming.
Even in my native country, South Africa, there is evidence of this turbulence closer to home. If you have been to the beach - especially along the Eastern Cape coast - you may have noticed some really stinky pink sponges. These sponges are evidence of a faulty sea ecosystem. They are the cleaners of the ocean - much like a vacuum cleaner, or filter - and are 'supposed' to be really deep down in the ocean, GLUED to rocks. But now, we find them washed up on a beach after a storm, stinking us out of the place. They are NOT supposed to be there. Rather, we should have seaweed. Has anyone noticed the lack of seaweed lately? Yep, we get these stinky sponges instead. THEY would appear to be almost all that's left along our coast - apart from kelp - and even they are not where they're meant to be.
Does anyone remember the movie, The Day After Tomorrow? I watched Al Gore's presentation, and I realised that, although the time frame in the movie is likely much reduced, it is based on none other than hard-core, scientific, FACT! OUCH! Something like that should make us think twice. But does it? Most of us are so busy with our lives, trying to keep pace with the important business of our lives, that we do not have time to spare a thought for the world we live in. And guess what - if it dies, we do to!
The Day After Tomorrow talks in the beginning of an iceberg bigger than the size of Rhode Island breaking off an ice shelf in Antarctica. Listen to this. The movie was released in 2004, four years after just that happened. Read the following, extracted from Wikipedia (for those of you who question the merits of Wikipedia, a fact is a fact is a fact):
*********************************************
Iceberg B-15 was the world's largest recorded iceberg, with an area of over 11,000 km² it was larger than the island of Jamaica. It calved from the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000, breaking up into several pieces in 2002 and 2003.
*********************************************
For interest's sake, Rhode Island measures in at 3144 km squared, which is nearly a QUARTER the size of the iceberg.
In 2002, the Larsen B Ice Shelf disintegrated, following the Larsen A disintegration of 1995. Both of these events are attributed to global warming effects on Antarctica, where the temperature is rising by 0.5 degrees centigrade a decade.
So, do we have a problem, or do we have a problem?
All this is very well, and troubling - but there's an even greater, 'inconvenient' truth, that many people forget. Yes, some of you may have guessed what I'm getting at.
THERE IS A GOD OUT THERE - and He's coming BACK!!!
There was once a man who lived on this earth - somewhere around 2000 years ago. He lives in the Middle East, in and around Jerusalem. He said things that people had never heard before, and did things that people had never seen before. Lame people started running around. Blind people started seeing. Deaf people began to hear. Dead people came alive again. Sick people became well again. This man taught that we must each love our enemies. That we must stop disobeying his father, and that we must ask for forgiveness.
But what was even stranger - this guy seemed to know he was going to die. And he kept saying that he would only be dead for three days. He had twelve disciples, and none of them believed him. They told him off, in fact - something he didn't like. Then one day, when he had been talking to some person they couldn't see - someone who this man called 'Father' - one of the disciples, who had been given a huge amount of money, came up to this man, and kissed him. Suddenly there were Roman Soldiers everywhere in this peaceful garden, and they captured this man. They took him off to Jerusalem. They beat him, questioned him, and tortured him. None of the disciples could bear to stay around. They had believed in this man. He had done such great things. But now he was just another man, incapable of defending himself against these mighty soldiers.
Then the next day, the Roman Soldiers took him out to a hill outside the city. There were two other criminals with him, and they each dragged a cross to the hill. There, they were nailed onto the crosses, and stood up in the ground, for all to see. Naked and bloody, they stood there. This man, this had-been leader, and two criminals. This man must have done something really wrong to get himself nailed up there. But he didn't seem to really mind being there.
Then he said some really funny things. He said "Father, why have you forsaken me?", and then later, just as he died, he cried out "It is finished!" What is finished???
Well, that was the end of the story. He was taken down from the cross, and put in a tomb that one of the rich locals had said he could have. Then, three days later, one of the women who had been his disciple went to the tomb - but it was empty. An angel asked her why she was looking for the dead, because this man was not dead - he was ALIVE!
Over the next few weeks many people, including his disciples, saw this man. Suddenly they understood what it was that he had been saying to them for the last three years. Suddenly they realised that all that they had been taught was not in vain. Suddenly they realised that this life was not important - except to tell others what they had learnt. And what had they learnt?
That this man, who's name is Jesus, was God. That He had loved each person on this earth SO MUCH that, instead of staying in heaven, He came down to earth, to live amongst us, to show us the way to heaven. He came that the whole world may know, and believe, that He is the One who created the world, the universe, and each one of us. He came that the whole world may believe in Him. He came that the whole world may repent from their disobedience, and instead love and obey Him.
But - do we?
Are we really prepared to obey Him? Are we really willing to love Him? Are we really prepared to give up our lives - our cushy, material, earthly, lives - for obedience to Him? And what does this obedience require? In Luke 14:33b, Jesus says, "... any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."
What does this mean?
Must we give up our possessions? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we give up our time? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we give up our friends? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we give up our family? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we give up our money? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we (gasp) give up our lives? Yes, if God wants it.
Are we prepared to do these any of these things? Are we prepared to make the greatest sacrifice - tell the whole world the GOOD NEWS: that Jesus had redeemed us for eternal life, and that to reject Him is the stupidest thing that we can do - at the cost of our own lives?
But why should it be at the cost of our own lives? Because people don't like to hear it. They don't want to know about Jesus, His death, His resurrection, and His redemption. But why?
BECAUSE IT'S AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Over the past decades there have been many natural disasters - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, hurricanes, floods, droughts, storms. If one watches the news, however, it hits you that these are coming with increasing frequency. Not just more of one type of disaster, but almost daily there is a new occurrence of one or another disaster. All of these disasters are purported to be symptoms of the phenomenon Global Warming.
Even in my native country, South Africa, there is evidence of this turbulence closer to home. If you have been to the beach - especially along the Eastern Cape coast - you may have noticed some really stinky pink sponges. These sponges are evidence of a faulty sea ecosystem. They are the cleaners of the ocean - much like a vacuum cleaner, or filter - and are 'supposed' to be really deep down in the ocean, GLUED to rocks. But now, we find them washed up on a beach after a storm, stinking us out of the place. They are NOT supposed to be there. Rather, we should have seaweed. Has anyone noticed the lack of seaweed lately? Yep, we get these stinky sponges instead. THEY would appear to be almost all that's left along our coast - apart from kelp - and even they are not where they're meant to be.
Does anyone remember the movie, The Day After Tomorrow? I watched Al Gore's presentation, and I realised that, although the time frame in the movie is likely much reduced, it is based on none other than hard-core, scientific, FACT! OUCH! Something like that should make us think twice. But does it? Most of us are so busy with our lives, trying to keep pace with the important business of our lives, that we do not have time to spare a thought for the world we live in. And guess what - if it dies, we do to!
The Day After Tomorrow talks in the beginning of an iceberg bigger than the size of Rhode Island breaking off an ice shelf in Antarctica. Listen to this. The movie was released in 2004, four years after just that happened. Read the following, extracted from Wikipedia (for those of you who question the merits of Wikipedia, a fact is a fact is a fact):
*********************************************
Iceberg B-15 was the world's largest recorded iceberg, with an area of over 11,000 km² it was larger than the island of Jamaica. It calved from the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000, breaking up into several pieces in 2002 and 2003.
*********************************************
For interest's sake, Rhode Island measures in at 3144 km squared, which is nearly a QUARTER the size of the iceberg.
In 2002, the Larsen B Ice Shelf disintegrated, following the Larsen A disintegration of 1995. Both of these events are attributed to global warming effects on Antarctica, where the temperature is rising by 0.5 degrees centigrade a decade.
So, do we have a problem, or do we have a problem?
All this is very well, and troubling - but there's an even greater, 'inconvenient' truth, that many people forget. Yes, some of you may have guessed what I'm getting at.
THERE IS A GOD OUT THERE - and He's coming BACK!!!
There was once a man who lived on this earth - somewhere around 2000 years ago. He lives in the Middle East, in and around Jerusalem. He said things that people had never heard before, and did things that people had never seen before. Lame people started running around. Blind people started seeing. Deaf people began to hear. Dead people came alive again. Sick people became well again. This man taught that we must each love our enemies. That we must stop disobeying his father, and that we must ask for forgiveness.
But what was even stranger - this guy seemed to know he was going to die. And he kept saying that he would only be dead for three days. He had twelve disciples, and none of them believed him. They told him off, in fact - something he didn't like. Then one day, when he had been talking to some person they couldn't see - someone who this man called 'Father' - one of the disciples, who had been given a huge amount of money, came up to this man, and kissed him. Suddenly there were Roman Soldiers everywhere in this peaceful garden, and they captured this man. They took him off to Jerusalem. They beat him, questioned him, and tortured him. None of the disciples could bear to stay around. They had believed in this man. He had done such great things. But now he was just another man, incapable of defending himself against these mighty soldiers.
Then the next day, the Roman Soldiers took him out to a hill outside the city. There were two other criminals with him, and they each dragged a cross to the hill. There, they were nailed onto the crosses, and stood up in the ground, for all to see. Naked and bloody, they stood there. This man, this had-been leader, and two criminals. This man must have done something really wrong to get himself nailed up there. But he didn't seem to really mind being there.
Then he said some really funny things. He said "Father, why have you forsaken me?", and then later, just as he died, he cried out "It is finished!" What is finished???
Well, that was the end of the story. He was taken down from the cross, and put in a tomb that one of the rich locals had said he could have. Then, three days later, one of the women who had been his disciple went to the tomb - but it was empty. An angel asked her why she was looking for the dead, because this man was not dead - he was ALIVE!
Over the next few weeks many people, including his disciples, saw this man. Suddenly they understood what it was that he had been saying to them for the last three years. Suddenly they realised that all that they had been taught was not in vain. Suddenly they realised that this life was not important - except to tell others what they had learnt. And what had they learnt?
That this man, who's name is Jesus, was God. That He had loved each person on this earth SO MUCH that, instead of staying in heaven, He came down to earth, to live amongst us, to show us the way to heaven. He came that the whole world may know, and believe, that He is the One who created the world, the universe, and each one of us. He came that the whole world may believe in Him. He came that the whole world may repent from their disobedience, and instead love and obey Him.
But - do we?
Are we really prepared to obey Him? Are we really willing to love Him? Are we really prepared to give up our lives - our cushy, material, earthly, lives - for obedience to Him? And what does this obedience require? In Luke 14:33b, Jesus says, "... any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."
What does this mean?
Must we give up our possessions? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we give up our time? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we give up our friends? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we give up our family? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we give up our money? Yes, if God wants it.
Must we (gasp) give up our lives? Yes, if God wants it.
Are we prepared to do these any of these things? Are we prepared to make the greatest sacrifice - tell the whole world the GOOD NEWS: that Jesus had redeemed us for eternal life, and that to reject Him is the stupidest thing that we can do - at the cost of our own lives?
But why should it be at the cost of our own lives? Because people don't like to hear it. They don't want to know about Jesus, His death, His resurrection, and His redemption. But why?
BECAUSE IT'S AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)