Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


12.22.2005  

Word

2 Corinthians 5:14, 15
For the love of Chirst controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Colossians 2:13, 14
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

2 Samuel 15:24 - 26
Now behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar came up until all the people had finished passing from the city. The king said to Zadok, "Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of the LORD, then He will bring me back again and show me both it and His habitation. But if He should say thus, 'I have no delight in you,' behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him."

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

As I pondered today the wretchedness of my own heart, comfort could only be found in one place: the truth of God's Word, for His word points inexorably unto Christ. I think that this is as it should be; even amongst the body of believers, fellowship ought to be centered upon the truths found in Scripture, for as Paul says in his letter to the Romans, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And what else could renew our minds unto transformation save the fruit-bearing truths of the gospel?

I remember one day this summer where my conscience was burning with the searing pain of sin. I had sinned against the LORD, and I knew it. Yet, circumstance would not allow me to confess my sin and ask for prayer (at least not for several hours, and the state of my conscience would cause such a time period to seem far longer). What could I do? It was at such a time that I was reminded of the true purpose of confession before fellow man. Often, I want to hide my sin; sometimes, in confessing sin to a brother, I will do so with the wrong intentions and seek to merely, "check it off the list". Yet what does that do? Confession ought to humble us, to drive us ultimately to the throne of grace itself. If the LORD should desire to use another to bring us there more quickly, so be it! But if we have no other there to hear us and to pray for us, should we shy away from the LORD who awaits our penitent hearts with patience, grace, and mercy?

It is with such lonely circumstance that the LORD taught and continues to teach me a worthwhile lesson: it is in Christ alone that my salvation is found. Yes, the LORD uses others to bring me unto Him; how else to explain the corporate aspect of the Church? Yet that corporate aspect is a means by which each individual believer is reconciled to God and brought before His throne of grace.

Those verses listed above have been very sweet to my soul. They unashamedly strip me of any deceptions I may have regarding a righteousness of my own, and graciously clothe me in the righteousness of Christ. Wow.

posted by Bolo | 6:02 PM
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