Happy Easter!

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  2 Corinthians 5:21

“When you become aware of your sin and frightened by it, you must not allow the sin to remain in your conscience.  This would  only lead to despair. Rather, just as your awareness of sin flowed to you from Christ, so you must pour your sin back on him to free your conscience.

“So be careful you don’t become like the misguided people who allow their sin to bite at them and eat at their hearts.  They strive to rid themselves of this sin by running around doing good works.  But you have a way to get rid of your sins.  You throw yours sins on Christ when you firmly believe that Christ’s wounds and suffering carried and paid for your sins.

“As Isaiah said, ‘The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’  (Isaiah 53:6) Peter said Christ himself ‘bore our sins in his body on the tree’ (I Peter 2:24). And Paul said,  ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.’

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

“You must rely on these and similar verses with your whole heart.  The more your conscience torments you, the more you must rely on them.   For if you you don’t do this and try to quiet your conscience through your own sorrow and penance, you will never find peace of mind and will finally despair in the end.  If you try to deal with sin in your conscience, let it remain there, and continue to look at it in your heart, your sins will become too strong for you.  They will seem to live forever.  But, when you think of your sins being on Christ and boldly believe that he conquered them through his resurrection, then they are quite dead and gone.  Sin can’t remain on Christ.  His resurrection swallowed up sin.” –  Martin Luther

Happy Easter!

How To Stop Digging Your Own Grave

I read C. H. Spurgeon’s devotional entry this morning in Morning and Evening. (If you don’t have a copy, buy one. It will make your soul smile.)

It was so stunning I am paraphrasing it here:

For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

Why are you depressed?

Are you flogging yourself over your sins and failures?

Look to Jesus and remember you are complete in him. You are in God’s sight as perfect as if you had never sinned; actually more than that, the Lord your Righteousness has wrapped you in his perfection, which is none other that the perfection of God himself.

You have learned to hate sin, but you have also learned than your sin is not yours anymore – it was placed upon Christ at the cross.

Your acceptance is not in yourself but in Christ. God completely accepts you today as he will when you stand before his throne in the last day. There you will be free of all corruption, as you are now. Grab a hold of this truth – you are perfect in Christ.

(http://www.amazon.com/Morning-Evening-Charles-Haddon-Spurgeon/dp/0883684101/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333576818&sr=8-1)

 

Better Than Botox

You’re fixed.

You probably didn’t even know it.

That’s because you spend your life checking your spiritual pulse to see how you’re doing.

I do it. We all do it.

It goes like this:

Morning devotions? Check.

Prayed for family, friends and colleagues? Check.

Finished your bible study for the week? Check.

Attended church and helped usher? Check.

And when you fail, what happens? You feel guilty. Check.

You get the point.

You even do it with your personal stuff.

Did you go to the gym today? Check…er…no.

Did you eat your fruits and veggies for the day? Check. Well, maybe not. I hate spinach.

Did you drink eight glasses of water today? No, but I did have two caramel frapuccinos.

The truth is God loves you with or without a gym schedule.

Your biggest problem is not your weight, your hair color, or that bagel and cream cheese you just gobbled down behind closed doors.

It’s your sin, which separates you from God.

That’s your biggest problem and he fixed it for you.

And you didn’t even ask.

God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, to live a perfect life of obedience  in accordance to the Law, not for his own sake because he was already perfect, but in your place. And then, he died on the cross in your place to pay the price for your sins to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God.

God forgives you because of Jesus.

You are a new person in Christ.

Isn’t that the best make-over you’ve ever heard of?