We are God's work

A new year begins in this troubled world as we continue our amazing journey further and deeper into the kingdom of God! As Paul wrote, God has already made us citizens of his kingdom when he “saved us from the power of darkness and set us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in which we have redemption, which is the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1,13-14).

Since our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3,20), we have an obligation to serve God, to be his hands and arms in the world, by loving our neighbors as ourselves. Because we belong to Christ, and not ourselves or the world around us, we are not to be dated Evil should be overcome, but should overcome evil through good (Rom. 12,21). God has the first claim on us, and the basis for that claim is that He freely and gracefully reconciled and redeemed us when we were still in hopeless bondage to sin.

You may have heard the story of the man who died, then woke up and saw himself standing in front of a huge golden gate with a sign on it saying, "Kingdom of Heaven." Jesus said, "You need a million points to go to heaven. Tell me all the good things you've done that we can credit your account with - and if we reach a million points, I'll open the gate and let you in. "

The man said, "Good, let's see. I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated or lied to her. "Jesus said," That's wonderful. You get three points for it. "The man said," Only three points? What about my perfect presence at the services and my perfect tithing? And what about all my alms and my ministry? What do I get for all this? Jesus looked at his scores table and said, "That's what makes 28 points. That brings you to 31 points. You only need 999.969 more. What else did you do? The man panicked. "That's the best I have," he groaned, and it's only worth 31 points! I'll never make it! "He fell to his knees and shouted," Lord, have mercy on me! "" Done! "Exclaimed Jesus. "One million points. Come in!"

This is a cute story that shows an amazing and wonderful truth. Like Paul in Colossians 1,12 wrote, it is God "who has made us fit to be inherited by the saints in the light". We are God's own creation, reconciled and redeemed through Christ, simply because God loves us! One of my favorite scriptures is Ephesians 2,1-10. Note the words in bold:

"You, too, were dead by your transgressions and sins ... Among them, all of us once led our lives in the desires of our flesh and did the will of the flesh and the senses and were children of nature's wrath as well as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, in his great love, with whom he loved us, also made us alive with Christ, who were dead in sins, by grace, you have been saved; and he has raised us up and intervened in heaven in Christ Jesus, that in the days to come he may display the effusive riches of his grace through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved by faith, and not from you: it is God's gift, not from works, that no one should boast. For we are His work, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in it. "

What could be more encouraging? Our salvation doesn't depend on us - it depends on God. Because he loves us so much, in Christ he did all that was necessary to ensure it. We are his new creation (2 Cor. 5,17; Gal. 6,15). We can do good works because God set us free from the chains of sin and claimed us for himself. We are what God made us and He commands us that we should indeed be what we are - the new creation that He made us in Christ.

What a wonderful hope and a sense of peace we can bring to the new year, even in the midst of troubled and dangerous times! Our future belongs to Christ!

by Joseph Tkach


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