All tagged Christ

Is Jesus Christ like a treasure that you have discovered in your life, and did you give up everything else you once valued so that in overwhelming joy you could abide with Him? No? Well, once you have uncovered Jesus, and witnessed the value of His righteousness, holiness, and grace, there is nothing you own that you wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice for Him. Perhaps you have merely discovered the locked chest, but have never opened it to see the actual treasure inside, and then covered it back up. Are you afraid of what opening that chest will awaken in you, or of what it will require of you?

How should our day begin each morning, and In what way should each of our prayers continue to open throughout our day? Praise is good, but It is my custom to thank God for all His many blessings that have proceeded this moment before I begin to praise Him, and finally to convey any need, or desire, I might have. How do you begin your day, and your next breath of prayer? Do you thank Him enough?

How do you smell today? Are you fragrant like a flower, sweet like honey, have the smell of sweat and toil, or are you rancid like death? The Bible speaks about smell in many ways, but none more powerful than when it speaks of the fragrance of life, and death on us. When we think of scent we most often think of the smells that surround us, but we are one of those odors... how do you smell spiritually today?

The world is comprised of approximately 6.9 billion people, and of those, 2.2 billion are Christian, or to simplify this a bit... over 30% of all the people in the world are Christian. This is an amazing statistic, especially if you listen to the press on the subject. However, the press corps is not the only detractor or naysayer when it comes to the state of the Church... Christians also preach the demise of the Church from the pulpit. Why is this so? Why are we so self deprecating?

We don’t enter into heaven to live an eternal life because we deserve it. That kind of thinking is based upon our own vanity and arrogance. Our salvation and ever lasting life is sealed by covenant, and that covenant comes by God’s acceptance of the death of Jesus Christ as our blood sacrifice. Only through Him can we be redeemed, perfected, and sanctified. Only through Him can we claim the covenant of grace. 

Are you in a covenant relationship with God? Have you accepted the blood of Jesus Christ as the inauguration of that covenant? Has God’s grace and forgiveness of sin through the sacrifice of Jesus become your blood offering that has sealed this covenant? We see the cross and say “this is the covenant”, but it is only a sign. We see the rending of the temple curtain and say “this is the covenant”, but it is only a sign. We see the empty tomb and say “this is the covenant”, but it too is only a sign. The covenant is forgiveness, and the blood of Jesus is the offering that seals it. Is His blood upon you?