December 2015

yet to realize, you are a sinner,
and you fall short of God’s glory
every day, just as I do. This
comes as no surprise to our
Lord. For Jesus Himself said,
“…I have come to call not those
who think they are righteous,
but those who know they are
sinners” (Mark 2:17 NLT). God
already knew you would never
measure up to the atonement
only His Son could accomplish.
That is why He sent Him. And
it is only through Him that we
are made righteous to enter into
the gates of Heaven. It is only
through his blood that we are
able to as Ephesians 2:5 states,
“…even though we were dead
because of our sins, he gave us
life when he raised Christ from
the dead. …For he raised us
from the dead along with Christ
and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms because we
are united with Christ Jesus.”
Was there a task list you graciously
checked off before Jesus
did this? Of course not. So why
then, must people consider their
own works are the conditional
basis for their salvation? Faith
in Christ is the sufficient righteousness
needed to enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven. Though
it has been established, that
salvation is achieved by faith,
does this mean works are dead?
According to James 2:17-26,
“So you see, faith by itself isn’t
enough. Unless it produces good
deeds, it is dead and useless…
How can you show me your faith
if you don’t have good deeds?
I will show you my faith by my
good deeds…You say you have
faith, for you believe that there
is one God. Good for you! Even
the demons believe this, and
they tremble in terror…So you
see, we are shown to be right
with God by what we do, not by
faith alone.”
After paragraphs convincing that
our own works are not subject to
our salvation, we learn now that
faith without works is useless.
So, why is it that we are told only
belief through Jesus will reward
us with salvation when in fact
our faith alone is dead without
works? Once we have been
accepted into the Kingdom of
God, that is our home. This life,
this earth, this body is no longer
your home. Heaven is. “Above
all, you must live as citizens of
heaven, conducting yourselves
in a manner worthy of the Good
News about Christ” (Philippians
1:27 NLT). And as citizens of
Heaven, we are to make sure
we have many neighbors in our
eternal home. Once you have
opened the door to your heart
for Christ to enter, He infiltrates
your mind, body, and spirit. For
that very reason, you will produce
works. You will continue to
fall short and sin, that is inevitable,
but you now have the everlasting
grace of a mighty Savior
who has already wiped your
slate white as snow. Our good
deeds are a result of who we are
in Christ and Him dwelling within
us, they are because we are
saved, not in efforts to be saved.
Finally, if we receive salvation
through faith in Christ, can it
ever be taken away from us? Sin
is what always has and always
will separate people from God.
When Jesus conquered sin and
its consequence of eternal death,
He paved a bridge between
God and His people. He is the
Intercession that was needed to
cancel the debt of sin once and
for all. Because of Jesus, sin can
no longer separate children from
their Father. Of course, once you
have become a new creation in
Christ, you view sin differently.
“Well then, since God’s grace
has set us free from the law,
does that mean we can go on
sinning? Of course not! Don’t
you realize that you become the
slave of whatever you choose
to obey? You can be a slave to
sin, which leads to death, or you
can choose to obey God, which
leads to righteous living. Thank
God! Once you were slave of
sin, but now you who wholeheartedly
obey this teaching we
have given you. Now you are
free from your slavery to sin and
you have become slaves to righteous
living.”
(Romans 6:13 NLT)
Once slaves of sin, now slaves
of righteousness. What a sweet
exchange. What then can separate
us from God?
“…And I am convinced that nothing
can ever separate us from
God’s love. Neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today nor
our worries about tomorrow—
not even the powers of hell can
separate us from God’s love. No
power in the sky above or in the
earth below—indeed, nothing in
all creation will ever be able to
separate us from the love of God
that is revealed in Christ Jesus
our Lord.”
(Romans 8:37-39 NLT)
Nothing can separate you from
the Father’s love. His Son is
the only way, the only truth, and
the only life. He is not only the
way toward salvation, but He is
redemptive salvation in and of
itself.