Word for Today, Fri, 05 Mar 2004: God With Us
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
Today's message is from a site I subscribe to, the The PCCWeb
Daily Devotional. I've used it before in my messages, but not
for quite some time.
If you study the entire Bible, you will realize that God has
always loved His people, and in one sense, He's always been near,
and He's always desired a relationship with us. According to the
Genesis story, though, because of sin (effectively, because we do
our own thing instead of obeying what God desires for us), we
became separated from God when Adam and Eve chose to eat from the
tree of life.
Later in the Bible, we see prophesy that says that the faithful,
those who not only believe, but act upon what they believe, will
actually get to be with God once again, and at that time, we will
indeed get to eat from the tree of life.
You see, God wants us to be with Him, and He wants us to enjoy
all of the bounty of live - forever - but He wants us to so
deeply love Him that we are willing to agree with Him and obey
Him.
Some of us do love and obey God, but let's face it, we obey Him
some, maybe most, but not all, of the time. Every one of us has
fallen short from complete obedience. Isn't it great that God
still loves us anyway, and that He's even made a provision to
account for our acts of disobedience? God is a God of complete
and perfect righteousness, He can't be any other thing. He can't
stand evil, nor can He be in the presence of evil. How does God
reconcile the fact that people make mistakes, we do evil things,
we do things that are wrong? God Himself blotted all of them
out. How did He do that? He sent Jesus Christ, the only perfect
One, His very own Son, to perfectly and completely pay the price
for our wrong doing. If that isn't full and complete love, I
don't know what is. Jesus Christ Himself is "God With Us" in
every possible way.
Yours in Christ,
Brian
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PCCWeb Daily
Friday, March 5, 2004
Today's Devotional
Jesus Loves Granny
Revelation 21:3-4 - And I heard a loud voice from the throne
saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live
with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with
them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for
the old order of things has passed away." (NIV)
"What is that?" My two-year-old granddaughter was pointing to
her great-grandmother's casket. I held my breath, and wondered
how her aunt would answer her. I certainly didn't want her to
experience the same nightmares that I'd had when someone forced
me to view my young cousin in his casket when I was only two.
"God, please give my daughter the right words," I whispered. The
afternoon was so busy with visitors that I had no opportunity to
ask what her response to her niece's question had been. However,
I did notice the small child in her red plaid skirt sniffing all
the flowers and playing with her new baby sister, so I felt
certain that she was satisfied with the answer to her question.
Later my daughter told me the outcome of the incident. "I told
her that the box took her grandmother to Jesus." Although this
is not strictly a sound theological explanation, it was perfect
for the small child, for she immediately clapped her tiny hands
together and said, "A present! Jesus loves Granny."
Sometimes we too question, "Why?" or "What?" Not always do we
find someone who can give us the answer that we are longing to
hear. But we can be comforted by the truth that, long ago, God
showed His love for us when He gave His only Son to become a
sacrifice for our sin. If we have received God's gift of
salvation, we will be presented and reunited with God Almighty
in heaven.
Prayer: Dear God, we bring before You today those who are
struggling to understand just how much You love them. Remind
them of Christ's sacrifice, and how He died in our place so that
we may be presented to You. Amen.
Elaine Ingalls Hogg mailto:hugh.hogg@ns.sympatico.ca
Smiths Creek, New Brunswick, Canada
Today's Canadian Bible Society Scripture Reading: Psalm 27:1-14
http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?passage=Psalm+27:1-14
The PCCWeb Daily Devotional on the Internet
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<dailysubmissions@presbycan.ca>, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
* Assistant Submissions Editor: Elaine Ingalls Hogg
<hugh.hogg@ns.sympatico.ca>, Smiths Creek, New Brunswick
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Torrance, Ontario
* Technical and Oversight Editor: Robin Ross <rross@telus.net>,
Mission, British Columbia
=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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