There was no life. I was a walking dead person. I can remember sitting in church thinking that I would hear someone call me out as "a fraud and a poser" and they would have been right. I would read in the New Testament about the lives of the disciples and the church that lived empowered by the Holy Spirit to war against sin and advance the Kingdom of Heaven but there was no supernatural power in my life. But, you know, I was okay, not too bad of a person. His Word clearly states, Anyone who does not have the Sprit of Christ does not belong to Him. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. (Rom. 8:9,14) I could not even recognize that my every decision, thought, action was made living according to the flesh. My problem was not simply I lived okay with a few bad decisions out weighed by good ones or that I was a little off course or somewhat messed up. I was lost, separated from God, a child of wrath, lover of darkness, slave to sin, destined for hell.
This saying is trustworthy, Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. (1Timothy 1:15)
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought, us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one- to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
He redeemed my life.
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. (Psalm 40:2)
That day when mercy called my name, God became real to me. On my knees in my dining room, I surrendered. No more running, hiding or pretending. I confessed, repented, called on Jesus to rescue me and placed my faith in Jesus Christ. I'm trusting in His death and resurrection that took away my punishment for the wrong I have committed, so that in Him I have become the righteousness of God.
I got up a new person, transformed, risen to walk in a new life in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The old had gone, the new had come.
His work in my life and around me was tangible. I was blown away by the glory of God. He peeled the scales off my eyes so I could see for the first time the depths of my sin and the lengths Jesus went to save me. My knowledge of God, turned into an experience of God when He came down in power.
The response to this great love, the Salvation offered by Jesus Christ, is praise to the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, praise to His glorious grace and obedience to His will. Now a child of God, He sent His Spirit to dwell in my heart crying, "Abba, Father."
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)
Since that day of meeting a beautiful God who breathed life back into my lungs, it has been an incredibly beautiful and brutal journey. Purifying the conscience from dead works to serve the living God and growing in grace and knowledge is not without discomfort and certainly not easy. But there is joy and peace living with the expectation of divine interruption in the day to join in God's mission to restore and heal while trusting that Christ Himself is my help and strength. Embracing the gospel as the power of God in our present lives and our future hope, means we become extensions of grace as part of the global story of God redeeming the Earth. Clearly, through Scripture, Christians have a part to play. God doesn't need us, we have been invited into this mission. Grace receivers become grace givers through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In pressing on to the upward prize of Christ Jesus, I am continually reminded I have not yet arrived or taken hold of the goal and He continues to work in me. I am reminded of how helpless I am, reminded of darkness, sorrow and pain of people around me. I am reminded of my need for repentance, reminded of my falleness, reminded that this world is not my home, reminded that my life is like a cloud that is consumed and vanished away. I am reminded there is no good in me.
What a wretched person I am but by the grace of God and the power of the life giving Spirit.
He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
My story will fade away, but the redemption story of Jesus Christ will go on forever.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Cor.4:7)
If you have a placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you have a Salvation story. Some are dramatic rescues from a life of rebellion in deep and flagrant sin, while others may be a constant posture toward Jesus with a steady maturity in Christ with no date to point to that you received the Spirit of God. It seems like you have always known Christ and the power of His resurrection. At some point, you understand that Jesus Christ is who He says He is and you are no longer your own; you have been blood bought by Christ.
You could be the chief of sinners or a rule keeper. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23) Each one of us is in need of a Savior. Do you recognize that you are a sinner? But God show His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8) Do you know Jesus Christ personally as your Lord and Savior? Are you known by God? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, that He lived the life we could not live, died the death we should have died, and rose again to give us new life? Do you trust Him to save you? Completely. Fully. Wholy. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. There is no other way but through Him. (John 14:6) None. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom. 10:9-10) Freedom, forgiveness and life is found in Jesus Christ. He loves you that much. He made a way. Seek the Lord and call upon His Name.
Let him who is thirsty come. Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. (Rev. 22:17)
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen
