Devotion 4/4, I Once Was Lost
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Colossians 1:21
So many people reject God because of the things they do not want to give up to honor and obey him. The real issue is that they do not want to surrender their will to God. That would mean giving up things they love that conflict with the character and will of God. They must come to know Jesus and his sacrificial love for them before they admit that God’s demand for holiness in them is because He is their ally, not their enemy. The evil one wants their destruction. Our Father in heaven wants their salvation.
Any person who is outside of Christ is an enemy of God. It doesn’t matter how nice they may be, or how moral they may think themselves, if they have not come to Christ by faith in His blood they are His enemy. In the world of compromise that we live in, this is a hard truth for some to take. But the truth nonetheless, you are either for Christ, or against Him. There is no “riding the fence” on this!
For those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we repented of our sins (1John 1:9) and received Christ into our hearts by faith, the blood of Jesus covers all our sins and makes us clean before our holy and righteous God (1 John 1:7). Now we have a new position before God, that of being His child!
We must give thanks for our salvation and also pray for the lost and our enemies. To be a good person is not what leads to eternal life, but believing in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. To witness for God is our calling. Everything we say and do are a reflection of our relationship with our loving God.
Holy and almighty God, I praise you for your love and holiness. Thank you for demonstrating both by sending Jesus to save me. I regret the times I saw your desire for my holy behavior to be too demanding or harsh. I thank you for loving me enough to save me in Jesus and call me to a holy life under your protection and care. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
The one song that kept running through my head while studying today’s bible verse always rocks my soul!
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