Why do we humans complicate everything? Because we are always trying to insert ourselves into everything.
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1Jn 5:12 NIV
As we said last week, our story is all about God and His great Love for us. Because of this great Love, God has already done everything required so that we can be His children, and live forever with Him and the saints in Heaven. All we have to do is allow God to move our hearts to receive this great Love. When we do, the sacrifice of Jesus becomes ours. In other words, we believe that He gave His life up in exchange for ours. You see, sin does not come without a price, and a very costly one at that!
We read in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” and since every human being is born with a sinful heart that causes us to sin, we all must pay this price with our own life. Even here though, we sense this death by trying to find consistent peace and joy on our own, which we cannot do. This constant striving for something we cannot attain by ourselves, is not only frustrating, it causes us to fight with those around us. We expect others to give us peace and joy, but that is not their job…plus, they are trying to get us to give them peace and joy, so you see how no one gets what they truly desire, right?
Thankfully there is One Who is able to give this peace and joy to us, and it comes with the free gift of Eternal Life. Let’s finish Romans 6:23 because, thank God, it doesn’t end with death: “…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So it is only in Jesus Christ our Lord that we can get that which we desperately desire.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
September: 35- Mt 16:24; 36- Isa 53:6; 37- Ps 23:1-6
October: 38- Heb 4:12; 39- Jn 15:5
40- Jas 5:16
41- 1Jn 3:1
42- 1Jn 5:12
<>< Peace, Diane
