Monday, April 25, 2011

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Out of the Mouths of Babes. As I read one of my favorite comics from my morning rituals, I grimaced at how accurate little Billy's statement was. When we leave our fellowship on the weekends, be it Saturday or Sundays, often times it's as if God lives there--within those four wall, instead of within our hearts 24/7.  We go to our preferred church, carry out the weekly rituals of opening with Prayer, singing a few songs, maybe passing around the collection plate, listen to a sermon, have an altar call, close in prayer, and shake hands on our way out the door. 


What happens during the week? There may be various activities we can become involved in from our church that do good in the community, but even so, is God still back in the four walls of the building, or is He within our hearts? When He "meets us at the cross", does that infer that He was somewhere else, and He and us agreed on a meeting time to meet back up for a chat? Why are we "meeting Him at the foot of the Cross, anyway"? Was there something else that has to be done there? When we "get done" at the cross, what happens next? Do we each go our own way, us back to our earthly lives, and He to go back to sit at the right hand of the Father, until we "meet at the cross" again next week?

For years I often "Met Jesus at the Cross".... not sure why. Apparently I wasn't listening when He said, "It is finished!" The Cross is finished, folks. It's time to move on to the Resurrection. That same power that raised Jesus up from the grave, has the power to raise us up, as well. The thing that separated us from God has been dealt with, once and for all. The 'thing" was sin. My sin, your sin, all of our sin. When Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross all those many years ago, the sin debt was paid. So satisfactory was the payment, that no more payment was required. Mankind was forgiven, once and for all. So why did I so often want to "meet Him at the Cross" and ask Him to forgive me--yet again? Which one of my sins was I not forgiven of when Jesus died on the cross? For which one of your sins were you not forgiven of when Jesus died on the cross? My friend, I'm here to let you know, that mankind was forgiven. The sentence had been carried out.  In II Corinthians 5, we're told, 
 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

I'd like to know how I missed that verse, too. I know I've read Corinthians, both of them, countless of times. Yet my eyes glossed over this verse, or just plain didn't see it at all. Was it there the whole time? Was I so busy concentrating on 'my' view of things, that I was blinded to the truth of it all? 

Nonetheless, in God's time, He sent the message to me. It was a welcome, blessed relief to realize that I didn't have to say hello to God only on Sunday mornings, only to wave goodbye at the final amen. No, God lives within me, and is actively living His life through me. He's growing me, molding me, and has made me righteous through His son. When He said He would never leave me nor forsake me, He meant it. Notice it doesn't say, "I will never leave you nor forsake you as long as you don't ever sin again", or, "I will never leave you nor forsake you as long as you keep your sins confessed".  No, never will I have to say "Goodbye" to my Savior. He's mine for eternity, but even better, I get to be His for eternity. 



No comments:

Post a Comment