Thursday, January 28, 2010
When you think of the word opposite what do you think of? What comes to mind? Day and Night, Morning and Night, Go and Stop, Sit and Stand, Lazy and Active, Fun and Boring, Shy and Outgoing, Black and White, etc…
Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 (2 Corinthians is after 1 Corinthians and before Galatians)
Thinking over last night talk, what are some things in our own lives that have become opposite now that we have a NEW HEART and we are a NEW CREATION.
Fill in the blank for me…
You were broken, now you are ________________.
You were dead, now you are ___________________.
You were sinful, now you are __________________.
You were old, now you are _____________________.
You were hopeless, now you are ______________.
You were tied up in sin, now you are _________.
Get the picture? Now you are fixed, alive, righteous, new, hopeful, and free because of the cross!
Spend time rejoicing in your new creation!
Friday, January 29
He (God) does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward hose who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far does He
remove our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:10-12
In this verse, we are told that nothing that we can ever do or say that is out of God’s will (in other words, SIN) that can separate for how much God loves us. He does not even hold it against us. We are debt free! What is a debt? Imagine you are out to eat or out shopping with a friend. They ask to borrow money from you because they really wanted a desert or they saw a cute top that looked SO good on them or they found a video game that they’ve always said they “had to have”. They promise you they will pay you back. So, you fork over the money. Days go by and you still are not repaid. Another week turns into months, and you realize it’s almost been a year since this person has paid you back. Not only that, but since that one day, they’ve asked for more money, that just adds to the total of how much they owe you. Can you imagine one day just waking up and completely forgetting that that person owed you anything? What if they came up to you and apologized over and over again, and you have no idea what they are talking about? So, you tell them to forget about the debt. It doesn’t make sense, but God does this with our sin. Because of the cross, he completely wipes the slate clean of any sin/transgression/iniquities (all of these words mean the same thing) on our hearts.
His love is STEADFAST. It is never changing and never ending. It is continual. We do not have to worry about the day when His love goes away. It is and will always be the most consistent thing in your life. I encourage you to take this verse and put it somewhere that will catch your eye daily. So that you may be reminded of the debt that has been paid, and that your sin no longer separates you from God.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Read Ezekiel 11:19,20 (Ezekiel is after Lamentations and before Daniel in the Old Testament)
Before Christ, we are just as Mr. Tumnus was. We have hearts of stone. Write down some characteristics of a stone. (cold, hard, nonliving, unyielding) We do not have to live with this within us any longer. In Ezekiel, it says that we have a NEW heart. And that heart is no longer a heart of STONE, but a heart of FLESH. Write down some characteristics of flesh. (alive, warm, breathing, malleable) Doesn’t this sound more exciting? And that is something that the Lord promises to give to us. SO, if you have become a believer in Christ, you have been given a new heart. You have been given something that is alive and beautiful.
In the story, Aslan laid down his life in order for the White Witch to leave Edmund alone. However, he soon comes back to life ready to finish defeating the queen. Aslan runs to her castle and frees the prisoners who had been turned to stone. They come alive and are no longer stone.
Thank you, Lord, that the same promise has been given to us!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
2 Corinthians 5:21
“For our sake, he made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Just like you do with frogs and pigs in school, let’s spend some time dissecting this verse!
“For our sake…” Let us go no further than praise God for this statement. There was nothing else that we could do in order to become new creations. He knew that we would be in trouble without him. So, for our sake, he did something. Spend some time praising God that it was nothing that we did, but it was all His doing. And if you need to, confess the moments when you thought you could do it all on your own. He longs for our surrender.
“…he made him who knew no sin to be sin…” In other words, God the Father, made Jesus the Son, who was absolutely perfect with no flaw or sinful nature in him at all, to come down and take on all of our sin. Sometimes, I read this and I ask myself, WHY? I challenge you to do that as well. Ask the Lord right now, why He would take on your sin. Ask Him why he would do something like that for you. And you know what His answer is most likely going to be? “Because I love you and I want a relationship with you…” Me? you ask. Yes, you!
“…so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” What does it mean to become the righteousness of God? Righteousness means to be right with someone. Before the cross, because of sin, we were not right with God. God and sin do not exist together. So, Jesus had to take on our sin so that we may become RIGHT WITH GOD. Have you ever thought, even after becoming a believer, that you were not right with God? Have you ever thought that there was a gap between you and God and there was no way that you would ever be right with him? You know what? That is a LIE that Satan would love for you to believe. Now, because of this verse, you can tell yourself that you are righteous because of the cross! You have been made new! Write down your reaction to this! Tell God what this means to you. Thank Him for your new identity as a righteous man of God!
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