Living Grace

“But Zion (Jerusalem in captivity) said, “The Lord has abandoned me, And my Lord has forgotten me.” The Lord answered “Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you”. Isaiah 49: 14-15

There is a lie from Satan that has infected our view of God. This lie has rooted and established itself in our alienation from him. It is the lie that God does not want us. And this lie causes us to doubt God’s commitment to us, it causes us to withdraw from him and it causes us to feel abandoned in our hearts.

Here God declares the truth of his closeness to his people, his sustaining compassion in the turmoil of despair. His promise is that he will never abandon them, that he will never forget his promises to them and that he will never leave them or forsake them.

God’s commitment is that he is close, present, right with them, accepting them, guiding them and upholding them with his love.

Jesus Christ is the embodiment of that promise, here is God, alive in flesh reconciling man back to God, destroying the alienation of our minds. He is the living breath of God, the goodness of God, the mercy and compassion of God shining into the darkness of the world.

The promise of Christ is that God’s compassion is his radiant embrace that declares he has never abandoned us, that regardless of our feelings and thoughts, he is totally committed to us.

For we are his treasure, the delight and desire of his heart.

 “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” – Ephesians 2:10

All of us, at some level, have a deep emotional need to be loved and to give love, and all of us, at different levels, have a desire to be accepted. But somehow the conflicts, suspicions, hurts of life invade our desires and our view on each other’s kindness, goodness and motives slowly becomes tainted.  Out of these dust and ashes of suspicion it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on something done for our good.

Mercy is a prism of God’s grace. For God so abundant in love is so rich in mercy, so overwhelmed with his kindness towards us, reached out to a world lost in sin and self righteousness and poured himself upon us and in love withheld the punishment that our rebellion deserved.

We had fallen into the pig sty of life, we had chosen to eat in the slop and degradation of our self effort and intelligence, and we had taken all the provision and beauty of heaven and squandered it on our own self pleasure. Cold, alienated, lost and alone in His mercy God reached out to us to embrace us, to cherish us and with his lavish goodness gave us a place of honour at his banqueting table, an inheritance provided for his own and a seat at his right hand in glory.

Christ paid in full for all our self-effort and self-justification. At the cross he eternally dealt with the sin that stains our hearts, once and forever all sin – past, present and future sins were forgiven in one ultimate, atoning act of sacrifice. The price was paid in full, so that it would never have to be repeated again.

We are free to walk in the righteousness of Christ because his righteousness has become our righteousness.  We are free to walk in the holiness of God because his holiness has become our holiness; we are free to walk in the faith of Christ because his faith has become our faith.

A radical change has taken place in you, Christ took your place and died as you, you are a new creation in Christ, you are seated in authority beside God, and you are showered with God’s kindness because you have entered into an eternal love relationship with God in Christ. And He overflows out of your life into good, loving, kind, generous acts that God initiates from the well of your heart.

Word Whispers

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” – Nehemiah 8:10

One of the most glorious and wondrous pictures of Christ in the Old Covenant can be found in the person of Nehemiah.  Here is the Cup bearer and food taster to the king, our living communion of bread and wine. Here is the redemptive plan of the Father as Nehemiah is the response to the King’s heart and the desolate captivity of the people.  Here is the servant laying down his life from the glory of the palace to work in the dust and broken ruins of hopelessness and here is the restoration and completeness to restore, hope, security and dependence upon God’s unlimited goodness.

For Christ has rebuilt the wall of separation that has invaded each of our minds. We like the stones of the walls of Jerusalem are now living stones cemented into Christ our eternal wall of salvation.

And what is the command of God to us now that Christ has finished his work and the cross has accomplished our new life in him. It is to enjoy the choice food and sweet drink because God has made you holy.

The finished work of Christ is a day of celebration, a day of entering into the party of Christ and a day where the joy of the Lord is now the strength within your heart.

Christ in you is the hope of glory, the living communion, the restoration of all that sin had destroyed and the abounding joy of the father.