I find myself hesitant to ask God for His blessings and favors to me because I feel so unworthy. I use to feel like I could ask for anything and He would give it to me, but that is not the case for me any more. Back, years ago in the 1970's, I believed that I had to prove myself to God by the things I did and was continually trying to make myself better day by day. About this time I heard a few people talking about 'Righteousness By Faith' and it puzzled me because of what I had been taught, I couldn't even comprehend what they were talking about, so I found a couple of old books written on this subject.
Now, I want you to know that I have been a sincere follower of Christ all my life, but that doesn't mean that I had it made or had it all together right. It means that I had a great desire to follow Him and do what is right and I was trying with all my heart to do that. But something was wrong and I didn't know what it was. I kept reading the book of Romans and 1 John and even in Philippians and 1 Thessalonians, over and over and it just did not agree with what I had been taught and I would ponder them and ask questions and no one, not anyone could help me with answers to my questions, so I just let it slip for a while because I did not understand and it appeared that no one else did either, so if no one could help me, then I must be interpreting things wrong.
These old books were on that very subject and so I read them over and over and I discovered that the closer I came to Christ the more unworthy I felt and that didn't seem right either but that is what was happening and then I read a statement that woke me up to a certain fact, the fact was that the more I studied about Christ and His life, the more I could see my own faults and sins and the more unworthy I felt. I learned that Jesus died on the cross for me and took the punishment for my sins so long ago, and that if He hadn't done that, I would suffer death for my own sins and that would be my eternal destiny but instead Christ did it for me and I don't have to suffer eternal death for my sins, so now the thought came to me, 'who is the One who is worthy'. It's not me, I have done nothing to bring me into a right relationship with God and I can't possibly do anything to merit eternal life with Him. He did it all right there on the cross. He took my sins, your sins, no matter what they were or are and they were nailed to that cross in the person of Jesus Christ. He took all the murders, rapes, theft, tortures, immoral acts, you name them and that is what He bore for you and me on that cruel cross.
Now, I understand a little bit more about being worthy. Who is worthy of the blessings I receive each day, who is worthy of my sins being forgiven, who is worthy to come before a Great and Holy God?
Yes, who is worthy? I am not, neither are you if you are honest with yourself. Jesus is the Worthy One and only Jesus, He paid the price for our salvation and when we accept his Sacrifice for our sins, then and only then can He take them and present them to the Father for forgiveness, He presents His nail pierced hands as a promise He has made to us that we will be forgiven if we ask and the Father sees how earnest Jesus is in presenting our case before Him and applies the blood of Jesus to my account and to yours.
We can come before the Great and Holy God in the precious name of Jesus who died for us and is willing to present our petitions to His Father and apply His merits to our account. What an awesome thing to realize that we do not earn our salvation by the things we do or don't do but by the precious blood of Jesus. Let me share some texts with you.
Ephesians 2:13 "But now in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." If you have felt far away from Jesus, can become near to Him through His blood that He shed for you and I. A wonderful thought.
Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Who will do the work in us? It is not me, I have learned that I can make a mess of my life on my own, but when He is performing His work in me, it becomes a perfect work because it is not my work, but His. An awesome revelation to say the least.
1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God that your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it." That tells us the same thing that Philippians tells us, that He will sanctify us wholly and our whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is willing to take our sins and present them to the Father in His name and through His blood and also to do the work in us that will prepare us for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that you understand this, Romans is full of these thoughts, read the whole book and you will see the gospel of Christ more clearly. That is your assignment for this day. May God bless you as you study His word and apply it to your life is my prayer for you. I am just a nobody and this is what I have learned as I study His word. I have not attained but I am attaining day by day and so will you and I am learning more and more as I travel this Christian highway, even though the Bible calls it a narrow way and few there be that find it, it is possible to travel on it because He is doing it for us as we surrender our lives to Him day by day. What a glorious future lies before us in Christ. Grandma Joan
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