Sinner, Set Free

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:32

from In the Grip of Grace by Max Lucado

Think of it this way. Sin put you in prison. Sin locked you behind the bars of guilt and shame and deception and fear. Sin did nothing but shackle you to the wall of misery. Then Jesus came and paid your bail. He served your time; he satisfied the penalty and set you free. Christ died, and when you cast your lot with him, your old self died too. The only way to be set free from the prison of sin is to serve its penalty. In this case the penalty is death. Someone has to die, either you or a heaven-sent substitute. You cannot leave prison unless there is a death. But that death occurred on Calvary. And when Jesus died, you died to sin's claim on your life. You are free.

Friend or Acquaintance?

I often consider my relationships in two categories: friend or acquaintance? An acquaintance is defined as personal knowledge or a person with whom one is acquainted. Friend is defined as one attached to another by respect or affection.

There are times when I run into casual acquaintances and we may talk for a moment and catch up and then not talk to one another again until our next happenstance encounter. A friend is usually someone you talk to everyday or multiple times a day, depend on, cry with, laugh with and cannot imagine life without.

I always try to keep Jesus my friend in my personal relationship with Him. I used to have Him as just an acquaintance where I called on Him when I really needed him after life just happened to run us into one another. But now that I am cognisant of the type of relationship I want to have with Him I make it a point to talk to Him everyday, multiple times a day, lean on Him when I can no longer stand and cry to Him. And with our friendship, which is one million times the relationship I have with my best of friends, I cannot imagine my life without Him.

In my walk with Him, I never again want to have Jesus as just my mere acquaintance. And He did in fact sacrifice the most ultimate gift for me and you. Is there a better friend you can have than that?

Love - No Greater Commandment

For the past couple of days I have been sort of reeling over a church I heard about on the news. The church is Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Their primary goal is to picket. They picket everything from soldier's funerals to the anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech. Why you might ask? Personally, I am not sure. But I did google them and I encourage you do so yourself because their actual official website address is so vile I don't even want to put it in blog. From what I can tell this church uses the mantra of hate instead of love. It has really bothered me. That sort of church is what gives us christians a very bad wrap. It upsets me because people who are on the fence about believing in God might see things about this church and blanket all churches and christians in that category. With that being said, I started researching the word love in the Bible. The word love is mentioned 310 times in KJ version and 531 times in the NIV version. Searching the word also lead me to one of the most important verses in the Bible spoken by Jesus himself.

When a teacher of law asked Jesus what the most important commandment was Jesus replied, ""The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:29-31.

God is love. And as christians we are commanded to love Him and our neighbors. I admit the second one is hard sometimes. I get so mad or frustrated with people, for example like while driving on the road, that I forget I am to "Love your neighbor as yourself." That is my new personal challenge. Every time I feel the urge to rant and rave over someone on the road, at the grocery store, in the line at Starbucks, or anywhere I am going to pray for an open heart to love my neighbor as myself. Max Lucado put it best, "He loves each one of us like there is only one of us to love." And I want to try and do the same.