Christ's Changing Of Life

December 10 (Hebrews 12:3)

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.  (ESV)

Why does nearly every store and business you enter have decorations at this time of year?  It is because the birth of Jesus Christ changed everything.  Not one aspect of life remained the same after God took on flesh and walked among us.  The stores and businesses may treat this season as a time to make more money or simply to engage in culturally expected celebrations, but Christians know that, with all sentimentality laid aside, this season is about acknowledging the fundamental change in reality that came with the birth of Jesus.

Read this verse from Hebrews.  Jesus took incredible abuse from his own people and from foreigners alike.  He was mocked and rejected.  He was thought to be a liar and a charlatan.  He was beaten, subjected to injustice in the name of the law, and was executed.  Now, apart from securing eternal life for those who accept Him, He also endured all that to change how we handle adversity.

Everyone has something to complain about.  We all have reasons to be angry and upset.  Yet the follower of Jesus has an even better reason not to give in.  Our brother, our friend, and our Lord suffered even more, and when we do endure hardships for doing what is right, we can take comfort in knowing that we are, if in a very small way, imitating Him.

Lord, may my celebrations this Advent and Christmas be filled with the joy that can only come from realizing all You have done.  You have transformed my life and the very nature of what human life can be, both on earth and in the world to come.  May every interaction I have with others bear witness to this amazing and wonderful truth.  Amen.

Copyright © 2017 by Steven R. Perkins

The Joy of Forgiveness

October 29 (Romans 4:7-8)

“Oh, what joy for those

     whose disobedience is forgiven,

     whose sins are put out of sight.

Yes, what joy for those

     whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”  (NLT)

Do you get that you are supposed to die?  Do you get it that all of the nice things you do for people do not amount to squat?  Friends, in the eyes of God, you and I deserve to die, and we don’t even have the right to be offended by that.  God does.  He created us to be the crowning glory of all His creations, but WE turned on HIM.  If anyone has a right to be angry at the state of human affairs, it is God.  That realization should put us in a pretty humble position.

But oh, what joy for those whose disobedience has been forgiven!  What joy for those whose sins have been put out of sight!  Do you also realize that the blood of Jesus has washed you so thoroughly of your sins and disobedience that God Himself does not see them anymore?  He looks at you and sees the glorious creature He intended.

King David originally wrote those words in Psalm 32:1-2, but Paul quoted them in his letter to the Romans.  David had some sense of God’s forgiveness, but after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we have a greater understanding of the work of God’s grace.  Friends, take some time to let that sink in.  You deserve to die and be eternally separated from God, but that will not happen thanks to the work of Jesus Christ.

Lord, what a gracious and amazing gift You have given us!  Thank You for the blood of Jesus and what it brings, for the words of Scripture and Your servants that have taught me of Your forgiveness, and for the grace that has allowed me to accept it so that the Holy Spirit might dwell within me.  All praise and glory be to You, my Lord and my God!  Amen.

Copyright © 2017 by Steven R. Perkins

What Faith In Jesus Means

October 22 (Romans 3:22)

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.  (NLT)

Romans 1:5 says that we have the privilege and authority to tell people what God has done for us, and Romans 3:22 makes it perfectly clear what that is.  We are made right with God, not by following rituals or procedures or trying really hard to be good.  We are made right, justified, with God by putting our faith in Jesus.

So what does that mean?  People talk about it all the time, but what does it actually mean?  Just a few verses later in Romans 3:25 we get the answer.  “People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.”  We must believe that Jesus Christ voluntarily sacrificed His life for us and that He shed His blood as a sacrifice to cover our sins and make us pure and holy in God’s sight.  That’s it.  That is what it means to place our faith in Him.  That is what it means to be made right with God.  That is what it means to accept the gift of eternal life.

And as the verse for today concludes, this is true for everyone.  It is true for Jews and Muslims.  It is true for people who live in the country and people who live in the city.  It is true for those who grew up in Christian homes but never really believed and for those who have not once heard the name of Christ.  The offer is there for every single person…either to accept or to reject.

Father, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for my sins with His own life and blood.  There is nothing that could possibly repay such a gift, so may my life be a fulfillment of Jesus’s command to take this message everywhere.  In His holy name I pray.  Amen.

Copyright © 2017 by Steven R. Perkins

Living the Alleluia

March 27 (1 Peter 2:24)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  (ESV)

Christ the Lord is risen today!  Alleluia!  But why?  Why alleluia?  Why the celebration, the triumphant music, the unbridled joy?  We may have some family gatherings, but they are nothing like Christmas.  Familiar chocolate candies are wrapped in pastel colors, but there are no weeks of parties and vibrant decorations on and in businesses and homes.  Why alleluia?  What is so special about Easter?

Easter changed nature itself.  Death, the undeniable and unavoidable common experience of all living things, was stripped of its power when Jesus left the tomb.  You and I deserve to die.  Not only was death the destiny of all human beings, but we deserved to be separated from God forever because of our sins.  Yet Jesus took each and every sin of yours and mine with Him to the cross and left them in the grave when He walked out that Sunday morning.

So what does alleluia look like?  Is it tiny chocolates in pastel foil?  Jesus died so that we might live to righteousness.  Our greatest and best act of celebration is to live fully and richly, not in any way we choose as if our will and our rights were still paramount, but in the way of our risen Lord.  Christ the Lord is risen today!  May my life be the alleluia!

With all that I am and all that I have, I praise You God, one Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!  Glory to You forever in all that I say and do!  Thank You for the immeasurable gift of love and grace and forgiveness in Jesus!  I accept it, all of it, and give it back to You in my life, lived to righteousness.  Amen.

Copyright © 2016 by Steven R. Perkins