Wednesday, July 31, 2013

dear friend...

 Recently, I've (Sherann) been writing to my friend who's currently out of the country.
I had written her an email in the hopes of letting her know that I was thinking of her and praying for her while she was away. And I was thrilled to hear back from her the following day. 
I  responded back with a greater appreciation for the internet; though it can be both a blessing and a curse, in this case it has been a huge blessing. Okay, so it's not rocket science to know this and i'm always on the internet writing emails to other people, but I had a greater appreciation for our technology. My friend and I were able to connect. 

This caused me to take a step back and look at my relationship with God.  You see, my friend and I use the internet to communicate, but when we have a personal relationship with God, we have direct access to communicate with Him.  Too often we neglect to talk to Him, or we presume that there's a list of "to do's" before we can talk to God or even hear from Him. 
If this is the case for you, let me set the record straight.

There is absolutely nothing you can do (so no one should boast) or should do (faith is not works based), but receive His free gift of grace.  There's no cost to you because the payment has been paid, in full by Jesus.

See, our mediator, Jesus Christ, ("Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant." Hebrews 9.15a) died in our place so that what was once broken (relationship with God and man) because of sin, could now be restored by the covering of Jesus' blood. He paid our debt, ("For the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6.23) which could only be covered by death ("He entered once and for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption." Hebrews 9.12) but now, we have life ("... but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6.23). A life that we get to spend in eternity with God--the Creator of the universe, the God who made the land and seas, the God who created us fearfully and wonderfully. We, don't have any barriers, whether technology or waiting lists to go through.  We, by the grace of God, have complete and direct access to communicate with God because Jesus has become our way for us. ("Through him (Jesus) we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God."Romans 5.2)

Now imagine when you write to a friend and your friend responds back to you. I'm sure you'll experience the same excitement I had when I heard from my friend. And sometimes I wonder (this may just be a tiny scratch on the surface) how God must feel when He hears from His children. I'd say… overjoyed.

soli deo gloria

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