by Hallie Gipson and Shirley Wiggins
“Hear
now what the Lord is saying . . .” … “My people, what have I done to you, And how
have I wearied you? Answer Me.
“Indeed, I brought you up . . . and ransomed
you . . .” “Remember
. . . so that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord.” Micah 6:1, 3, 4, 5 (NASB)
I know “the
righteous acts of the Lord” (Micah 6:5) – As the Psalmist says, “He brought me out of the pit of destruction,
out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” (Psalm
40:2) Only a God rich in mercy and grace could love me enough to send His only
Son to bear the full weight of my sin on the cross.
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers
salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present
age . . .” Titus
2:11-12 (NIV)
It is through the Word of God that we get our
instructions for living lives that are pleasing to Him. God does not leave us to
flounder in an un-Godly world without the necessary tools to survive. 1 Peter
1:3 tell us “. . . that His divine power
has granted to us everything pertaining
to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who has called us
by His own glory and excellence.” (emphasis mine)
His Word is so rich and so deep that it makes us want to explore it in depth!
I (Shirley) want
to record what I learn and to share what I see in His word. I want wanderers (saved souls following afar
off) to become desperately hungry and thirsty for God in Jesus. I want lost souls to do the same.
God’s grace
is so overwhelming! It suffers long with mankind as He seeks to rescue and
save, and humanity rejects and resists as if either His word is not truth, or
as if none of us here need any rescuing, thank You very much!!
How greatly
God has endured with the likes of humans!
He is indeed The Disrespected Father.
That humans would act as though His loving plan is a wearisome burden to
us is the thing that is unimaginable!
His love
opens the door for His mercy and grace to pour out salvation for the souls of
lost men and women, boys and girls – those who are wandering in the depths of a
fallen world with no help or hope until God the Father set out His plan to
redeem mankind.
Salvation is
a free gift and God has gone to great lengths and depths to offer it to all who
would recognize their need and receive His help according to His planned way.
He has made
every effort to convince men and women of the consequences of the sin which has
fallen upon every human being, while at the same time revealing His solution
for the sin of the world.
His solution
was to come to earth and personally deliver the details of His plan in the
likeness of man, and in the purity of His own deity. There is only One righteous
and Holy – Himself in the person of His Son Jesus Christ.¹
This plan is
not easily understood nor explained. It
remains a mystery to this day. However,
the fact that it cannot be fully explained doesn’t make it elusive.
It is so
vitally important that the people of planet earth open up our ears to hear what
it is the Lord is still saying to the world. How can we deny what God’s word
says in warning? “But realize this, that
in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self,
lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without
self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although
they have denied its power.” 2
Timothy 3:1-5 (NASB)
Yes, this
grace has appeared. And it is our duty
and responsibility to respond to this truth in a meaningful way. If we were in a burning house of roaring, destructive
flames, we would surely heed the fireman’s instructions for escaping with our
lives.
The same
thing applies to our response to God’s invitation of salvation. If we do not accept the salvation God so
freely offers through His Son Jesus Christ, we are lost and destined for those
roaring flames! (2 Peter 3:9-15a.) We must not, we dare not, ignore the only way
of salvation and deliverance from the consequences of our own sin. (Romans
6:23.)
How can we
remember what we have not heard? And,
how can we hear except someone be sent to tell us? (See Romans 10:8-15.)
God has sent
many into the world to tell the truth – He sent Moses and the prophets; and
lastly, in the fullness of time, He sent His beloved Son, Jesus Himself. (Hebrews 1:1-3.)
God promises that
those who accept His way of salvation by believing in the atoning work of Jesus
Christ, to each one He will give the right to become His own children, and He
will ensure their protection from the trial that is coming to all those who
refuse to receive Him. (John 1:12; Revelation 3:10.)
¹ John 3:16-18 (ESV):
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world
to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but
whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in
the name of the only Son of God.”
No comments:
Post a Comment