Good morning,
Today the Daily Devotion will begin new content. Grace Gems will appear Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday, will be my Bible study notes.
What are Grace Gems?
Our purpose is to humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God in salvation and to promote real holiness in heart and life.
Our desire is that the Holy Spirit, who is the Divine Revealer and Interpreter of Christ and His truth, may impart to your hearts a sober, spiritual and sanctifying receptivity of His Word—abasing self, and exalting Christ!
Our intention is to unfold and illustrate the Lord Jesus Christ in the relation in which He stands to His people—to unveil His glory, beauty, and fullness—to define the close bond of union that unites all His people to Him, and to bring you into a more personal realization of what Christ is to you, and of what you are to Christ.” (Octavius Winslow)
Our objective is to set before the Christian pilgrim some reflections which may prove challenging, consolatory and encouraging—as he journeys up from this bleak, arid, wilderness world, leaning on his Beloved.
May God’s blessing attend our humble effort to minister comfort to the downcast, strength to the weak, and courage to those who have set their faces towards their glorious eternal home. (https://www.gracegems.org/)
Our sin–God’s grace
Charles Spurgeon, et al.
(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)
Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”
Sin is not merely the breaking of a rule–it is rebellion against the infinite majesty and holiness of God. It is treason against the sovereign King of Heaven. It is . . .
a monstrous defilement of the soul,
a willful choosing of darkness over light,
a loathing of God’s commandments,
and a love for what He hates.
Sin pollutes every part of our being:
our minds are blinded,
our hearts are deceitful,
our wills are enslaved.
Sin makes us loathsome in God’s sight, and fit only for eternal judgment. Scripture does not soften the description. We are . . .
“dead in transgressions and sins,”
“children of wrath,”
“slaves to sin,”
and “enemies of God.”
The horror of our sin is not measured by how we see it, but by how God sees it–as that which nailed His beloved Son to the cross!
And yet, into that blackness shines a light so glorious that no mind could have imagined it, and no heart could have hoped for it–the grace of God! His grace is unearned, undeserved, and unrepayable. It is His free favor poured out on the utterly . . .
un-deserving,
ill-deserving
and Hell-deserving.
Grace finds us filthy, and makes us pure.
Grace finds us guilty, and declares us righteous.
Grace finds us enemies of God, and makes us His sons and daughters.
Nowhere are sin and grace manifested as clearly, as at Golgotha. There, the horror of our sin is exposed in full; for only the blood of the sinless Son of God could make atonement for it! His groans, His wounds, His forsakenness–all cry out against our guilt.
At Golgotha also, the wonder of grace shines brightest.
Jesus bore our sin, that we might bear His righteousness.
He was cursed, that we might be blessed.
He died, that we might live.
In the cross of Jesus, sin reached its vilest expression–and grace reached its highest triumph.
“Holy and merciful God, I bow before You in deep shame for the evil that is in me. My sin is great, but Your grace is greater still. I am in awe that Your Son would die for one so vile as myself. Break my pride, melt my heart, and lead me in paths of grateful obedience, until the day I see You face to face. Amen.”
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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