Tag Archives: Jesus

The Ultimate Vaccine

Posted on by

0

Grace and mercy are fun attributes to study. Saying that God is graceful just feels good.

His mercies are new every morning. Good thoughts but even better theology.

We love to think about the positive characteristics of God.

He loves us.

Grace and mercy are right along side that love.

What about His faithfulness or kindness?

What about holiness? Surely this trait is no less important that any of the others?

I Peter 1:16 “For it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” ” NIV

Peter is quoting Leviticus 11:44-45.

Here are those verses:

“44I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. 45I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” NIV

So why does Peter quote these verses? They speak to the dietary restrictions God has originally placed on the Israelites. Does that apply to me? Today?

God is different than we are. I really didn’t even need to type that sentence. Of course He is!

And that is the point. God is holy.

The Holiness of God | God Speaks I Listen

In a word, holy means seperate.

God is separate from us. The impurity of sin does not come in contact with God because He is separate, or holy.

He is the ultimate vaccine!

Because God is holy, He and sin cannot abide in the same space at the same time.

When you turn on the light switch, the darkness goes away. The light is holy, separated from the dark.

Now, add in grace and mercy. Because God also has these traits, He desires a relationship with us.

His love compels Him to restore relationship with us.

His holiness (and our sin) prevents Him to be with us.

His grace provides a solution to sin.

His mercy envelops us back to Him.

They all work together.

We can holy like God (as Peter was encouraging us to do).

All because God is who He is!

30 Bible verses about God, Holiness Of

Accepting Jesus into our lives is the key.

Our very life depends on it.

Take all of these traits of God and let them roll around in your mind for a while.

God might just be calling you.

God bless you.

Cloaks made for Jesus, not Jedi Knights.

Posted on by

1

Happy Star Wars Day! I am a nerd. Wore my Star Wars socks today. Fun times!

And, since I can’t think of a good segue into my post, here we go!

A long time ago, in Galilee, far far away…

There lived a man. His name was Jesus. And he came to save the world. He was the only person that could even bring the possibility of passing the sin test.

You and I could not even have any chance at passing this test. It was completely out of our reach. And there was nothing we could do about it.

Recalling back to last week, I spoke on the subject of tests, specifically the COVID test and the sin test.

Here is the last line of that post:

“Over the next two or three weeks, I will explore this idea of ‘testing negative for sin”.

Ideas like righteousness, salvation, grace, and hope.”

Click here to read the whole post.

Remember taking tests in school? Did you have a favorite type?

Multiple choice or fill-in-the blank?

True/False or Essay?

Short answer or Matching?

How about the bubble tests?

The sin test is different than all of those. It is a pass or fail test. You don’t fill in blanks or circles or write an essay. There is no matching word banks or T/F questions.

You either have it in you to pass…or you don’t.

What is it, referring to that last sentence? In a word, righteousness.

There are multiple verses in both the New and Old Testament scriptures that explain the righteousness of God and how we obtain it.

I am only going to share 2 today.

In the Old Testament, Isaiah 53:6 and from the New Testament, II Corinthians 5:21

Is 53:6, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.” NIV

II Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

If we look at these verses, there is a similarity. Isaiah says that our iniquity was “laid on him”. Its as if our sin, guilt, and punishment of sin were a great cloak. It was heavy and cumbersome so we shrugged it off and turned away from God. So, God being loving and holy, picked up the discarded cloak and laid it on His son, Jesus, while he was on that cross.

Now compare that to the N.T passage.

Jesus became sin so we could become righteous. We emerged or transitioned out of a sinful state into something that now, God would approve of. Again, we sloughed off that old, sinful cloak for a new, righteous one. Jesus took the old one to the cross with him.

In both examples, we see an exchange.

We start with the sin and end with righteousness.

Jesus is the opposite. He starts pure and free from sin but ends up taking our sin.

God is holy and just. He cannot abide sin. He hates it. He can’t even look at it.

But He also loves us!

So making Jesus take our sin was the only way he could be holy and just and loving at the same time!

So, in light of the sin test, do you see how we would fail 100% of the time?

But Jesus makes it all possible for us to pass!

For our part, we need to accept his gift and live for him.

Our salvation motivates us to love others and do good works.

We love because He first loved us.

See you next week for a post about grace.

And yes, it is amazing!

Chronicles, the 2nd

Posted on by

1

If you recall, the first post in Chronicles of Calvary, is about Simon.

Simon was ordered to carry the cross of Jesus. You can read about him here.

Surveying the Cross” Simon of Cyrene – Daily Encouragement

Let’s move on to the second person in these Chronicles.

The centurion at the cross would have been the soldier in charge of the executions. It was his duty to make sure that all was in order and finally, that the prisoners would perish.

In Mark 15, the centurion at the crucifixion plays a prominent roll. Here are a few verses:

37With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

38The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

39And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, c he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

40Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, d and Salome. 

41In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

42It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 

43Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 

44Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 

45When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 

The Long Good Friday: The Story of Longinus the Centurion | The Inglorius Padre Steve's World

I bolded (is that the right word?) the verses that reference the centurion.

In 39, he made a proclamation. He was fortunate enough to be present at the most important moment in the history of the world. I think that he knew who that man was, hanging there on the cross.

Verse 45 tells us that he made a pronouncement. Pilate, the Roman ruler, wanted to know for sure, that Jesus had died. The centurion was responsible for that knowledge.

Isn’t it cool that we can learn from the centurion?

We can proclaim that Jesus is God’s son. He was divine and human while he lived on earth. That is information that we can confidently shout from the tallest mountain. Proclaim it today!

We can also pronounce that Jesus died…and is risen! Our faith is for nothing if Jesus never died. Because only in death, can he be risen. And that, is what Easter is all about.

Tomorrow’s post will compare the two thieves that were crucified with Jesus. God bless!

H.E.L.P. part 4

Posted on by

2

This past week has been uplifting. I am going to share some experiences with you but in order to protect the individuals involved, I am calling them Friend.

But before I do, here are links to the earlier posts in this series. This post, H.E.L.P. part 4, will be the final post.

Consider the Source

H.E.L.P.

H.E.L.P. part 2

H.E.L.P. part 3

Alright, back to this week. As I have been discussing God’s help in our lives, I experienced that help first hand. Here are some events that showed me how God decided to help me this week.

Friend 1 – told me that my family’s return to church (we have been going back to church in person instead of watching online for two weeks now) makes it feel “normal” again

Friend 2 – came over with his chainsaw and helped me cut wood for the fireplace

Friend 3 – gave me a hug

Friend 4 – asked me how my novel is coming along (yes, I am writing a novel but I am not ready to share it with the general public)

Friend 5 – sought out my advice on some board games he was thinking of purchasing

Friend 6 (and his wife) – had my wife and I over for dinner

These are real examples of how my day was brightened or I was encouraged in my faith. I had divine help this past week and it came in the form of People

H – Holy Spirit

E – Ekklesia

L – Logos or Library

P – People

Have you ever had a person step into your world, at just the right moment, to lift your spirit?

Did you ever need a word of encouragement only to have your best friend call you?

It seems that Jesus is often disguised in human form.

In fact, the Word tells us that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” John 1:14 NIV

God knew that we, as humans, could not comprehend the Divine. We needed flesh and blood.

Jesus was flesh and blood. And so are the people around us. And God uses them to help us.

So, to wrap up this little journey into divine help, we can know that God wants to and is able to help us whenever we need help. The question, then, is not a question of ‘will’ but ‘how’ will that help arrive.

Friends, stick close to Jesus. Look for Him and He will H.E.L.P.

God bless you!

Until next week!

H.E.L.P. part 3

Posted on by

1

Welcome to Terrific Thursday!

This week has been an abnormal week for me. Sometimes it feels nice to mix things up though.

Along with my week, I have been debating on which word to use for the letter L.

Click here to catch up with the first two posts if you are confused.

When you have two choices and both are good, how do you choose?

Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew?

Swiss or Cheddar?

How do you choose?!?!

3 Ways to Choose Between Two Things - wikiHow

So, in light of this minor dilemna, I will not choose one or the other.

Both words will win!

H – Holy Spirit

E – Ekklesia

L – Logos or Library

P –

In John 1, we see this word Logos. Not english Logos but greek Logos. Both ekklesia and logos are greek words.

Logos is simply defined as a word (as embodying an idea), a statement, a speech.

But we can take it a step further.

A word, being the expression of a thought; is preeminently used of Christ, expressing the thoughts of the Father through the Spirit.

This definition comes from here.

And now let’s connect this to the idea of God helping us.

God gives a word about Jesus, which is the expression of His thoughts, thus aiding us in our walk.

God uses Logos to reveal to us what He is thinking! The God of the Universe, Creator of all things is giving us a glimpse of His thought process. Wow!

The other word is Library. Right away, this seems to be no nearly as exciting as Logos but hang on. Let me show you something.

There are over 170 million items in the Library of Congress. Here is the website.

It is the largest library in the world.

With that in mind, let’s look at one more verse from John.

John 21:25 says, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” NIV

Understanding the magnitude of this means that Jesus is now the largest library in the world!

We could never exhaust the resource of Jesus.

So whether you prefer Logos or Library, it does not matter.

Both bring us to Jesus and He is the ultimate resource.

If you need help today, call on the name of Jesus. There, you will be satisfied.