Scripture

Yet now He {God} has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He {God} has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.

~Colossians 1:22, NLT

Quote

The LORD’s assessment of who you are and what you are worth is more accurate than what you think of yourself.

~Charles F. Stanley

In John 8:46 Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?“ This is a challenge that I do not dare make. My wife and children can accuse me of multiple sins because they know me. Anyone who knows me could accuse me.  I am not only self-conscious, I am sin-conscious. The one thing I know for sure is that I am a sinner. I like Charles Stanley devotions because they speak to my insecurities. He begins the September 30 devotion {In His Presence} with this question: “Do you ever question if you are really worthwhile–lovable, acceptable or competent?” I wrote in the margins–“Only on days that end with Y.” These feeling of inadequacy, as the psychologist refer to them, are just that, they are merely feelings; not facts but feelings. This is why we get our self-esteem from our relationship with Christ and why we should always base our beliefs on what God says about us, not what others say about us. I have to constantly remind myself that God’s perspective is from the eternal present–He sees from beginning to end. He sees what I will become in Christ. A building has no real beauty or attraction when it is under construction. There is nothing attractive about scaffolds, building equipment, construction trailers, piles of sand, gravel, or lumber, but at the POINT {Grace Point Baptist Church} we will be excited when we see that first dump truck with a load of dirt. Why? It will means construction is underway. Since we have already seen the drawings of the building, we a a general idea of what it will look like but in the early stages, it will appear to be a few piles of dirt.

Paul said in Colossians 3, When Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory. John said, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see Him as He is. Our salvation is in Christ just like Noah’s salvation was in the Ark. The key to understanding is the preposition “in.” In is a preposition that indicates inclusion, location, or position. When the storm hit, where was Noah? What was his position? He was ‘in’ the Ark and you do not have to be a bible scholar to know that the ARK is Christ. By faith, you and I are included in Christ; this is our position or status. If you and I were looking at the Ark in the storm, we would see only the Ark because Noah was inside. He was hidden in the Ark. This is not something I made up; Paul said in Colossians 3, For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. We are in Christ. Read the book of Ephesians and see how many times the scripture tells us that we are in Christ.

I don’t have holy vision or eternal vision. When I look at people, I see their sins and mistakes. I am looking at the outward appearance. When they look at me, they see the same thing, my sins and my inability to conquer sin. God does not see us in that way. He sees Christ in us and us in Christ. There is no distinction or separation. He does not see two things–only one –Christ and His righteousness. Perhaps you are thinking…If this is true, Christ will get all the glory. It is true and He will get all the glory. The only glory we will experience is in giving HIM the glory and being conformed to His likeness. To be honest with you: there is much more joy in giving Him the glory than there is in attempting to rob Him of His glory. There are no happy Pharisees for this very reason.

Extra

June just called to remind me that I forgot to attend a COLS yesterday and to ask about the blog. When I got to the office this morning, I started my devotions and forgot all about the blog, just as I forgot the COLS yesterday and to fix Lori’s washer. I want to say one more time: I am a forgetter. I can’t even remember my own birthday. I do not consider it nagging when you call and say, “Bro. Jack, do you remember what you are supposed to do today.” I need that kind of help.

I am loving this weather. I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.