The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"His"
As the Apostle Paul begins his treatise in the epistle to the Romans regarding justification by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, note the complete emphasis on God's redemptive work on our behalf.
"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:21-26).
"The righteousness of God… Faith of Jesus Christ... His grace… The redemption that is in Christ Jesus... God hath set forth... Faith in His blood… His righteousness… The forbearance of God… His righteousness… That He might be just…The justifier."
Only God can make a human being right in His sight. As a writer of old once penned, "The question is not what shall we make of Christ, but rather, what shall He make of us?"
"We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Ephesians 2:10).
Our role involves receiving the wondrous grace of the Lord Jesus, and then trusting Him to enable our assimilation and application of freely given gifts. "He that spared not His own Son, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). We serve as tributaries of a mighty River, ponds that require the water of life to fill us and ever move within us. "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). Christ is the source and sustenance of our pond. Without Him we can do nothing, but through Him we can do all things in accordance with the glory and will of God (John 15:5; Philippians 4:13).
His righteousness. His grace. His workmanship. His. Little wonder the writer of Hebrews prescribed "Consider Him" as the cure for all weariness, discouragement, weakness, and restoration (Hebrews 12:3). Yes, our salvation began with the Lord Jesus. It continues with Him. Its unending glory will ever be with Him. This day beckons us to "look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). Only thereby can we clearly see the reason for our existence, and the power to live by His righteousness, grace, and workmanship. Yes indeed, His.
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him."
(Colossians 2:6-10)
Weekly Memory Verse
This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.
(I John 5:14)
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