Tag Archives: sin

Hallelujah

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by Sandy Kirby Quandt

During this season of Christmas it is easy for us to think only of Jesus as the babe in the manager and not think of him as God the Son, who stood beside God the Father and God the Holy Spirit when the world was formed out of nothing.

In Genesis 1:26 when God said, “Let us … ” he spoke to both Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

 

During this season of Christmas it is easy for us to think only of Jesus as the babe in the manager and not think of him as the Suffering Savior who paid the penalty for our sins on his perfect sinless self so we wouldn’t have to.

In Psalm 22:1 David spoke of Christ’s suffering on the cross when he said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The very words Jesus spoke as he hung from the cross of Calvary.

 

During this season of Christmas it is easy for us to think only of Jesus as the babe in the manager and not think of him as the Victor who won the battle over hell, sin, Satan and death. BOOM! The Mighty Warrior who will return and establish his kingdom.

In Revelation 21:6 Jesus says he is “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.”

 

As we look at the babe in the manger, let’s remember he is also the one who was and is and is to come. He is Jesus Christ, Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords now and forever. Emanuel. The one who is here with us.

Amen?

In all of the festivities of Christmas do you ever find it difficult to think of the babe in the manager as Jesus Christ the Savior who died for you?

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

Christ is the Word of Life. He was from the beginning. We have heard Him and have seen Him with our own eyes. We have looked at Him and put our hands on Him. Christ Who is Life was shown to us. We saw Him. We tell you and preach about the Life that lasts forever. He was with the Father and He has come down to us. 1 John 1:1-2 (NLV)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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Do-Over

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I’ve sat through plenty of discussions on Adam and Eve, and the fall of the human race. The way I see it, if it hadn’t been Adam and Eve, it would have been someone else. We’re all sinners. The only one to walk this earth and not sin, was Jesus.

When we visited with my mom during one of her nursing home activities — Bible Trivia — the question was asked…Who sinned in the Garden of Eden? Not missing a beat, Mom said, “Eve. Women get blamed for everything.”

She’s right. Eve did sin in the Garden. And she is blamed for it.

In The Story, the second song is “Good”. It speaks of Adam and Eve’s desire to have a do-over, of sorts. It speaks of changing history, if they could, and choosing differently. The song says Adam and Eve would leave out the part where they broke God’s heart. They long to turn back time, and walk in the sunset with their LORD again. But then they ask God how he could look at them, and what they’d done, and still call them good.

I’d like to submit many of us may feel the exact same way…we’ve sinned. Done what we know we shouldn’t do, but did it any way. We’d like another chance. We miss the closeness we experienced with our God. We want a do-over.

Fortunately, God gives us that chance through his grace. Undeserved favor. Something we didn’t do anything to earn. A gift. The gift of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, that paid the price for our sins. The Sacrificial Lamb. By his wounds, we are healed.

February. The second month of 2014. Already two months into another new year. No matter. Each day, we have a clean slate in front of us. It’s ours to use as we please. As we desire.

Do we need to choose differently than we did in 2013? Are there areas of sin we need to surrender to Jesus, for his help in overcoming? Are there people we need to reach out to, apologies we need to make, forgiveness we need to extend? A do-over?

Despite all our messes and faults, God still calls us good.

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. Genesis 1:27 & 31

I wish you well.

Sandy

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God’s Got A Big Eraser

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One of my devotions will be posted on Christian Devotions November 6, 2013. Please stop by and check out the site.

In the days before overhead projectors and smart boards, how many of you ever asked your teacher if you could erase the blackboard? Oh, yeah. Hand’s raised. It was a feeling of accomplishment, wasn’t it, when you pushed that black felt eraser back and forth, and obliterated the words dear teacher had scrawled all over the board.

Only, no matter how hard you scrubbed, there was always a trace of the written word on the board. Until it was washed clean with water.

Well, when I switched places, and became the teacher erasing the blackboard, I realized how really awful it is, and was more than glad to have little hands do the job for me. The dust got all over the place. Even the dustless chalk. It got on my hands. Particles flew through the air and made me sneeze. They settled on my clothes. Residue rested in the dust tray, which I inevitably leaned against, and ended up with chalk streaks across my backside. Not pretty.

One day, however, I found an amazing, new eraser. This thing was the best. It was made out of foam, or rubber, of some sort, instead of the usual black felt. Loved. Loved. Loved it. This eraser took away ALL the dust. It didn’t leave any residue on the board, or in the tray. Yes!

You couldn’t see remnants of previous words or numbers. They were all gone. All erased. All forgotten.

So, I’m thinking…God’s got an eraser like that, doesn’t he? When he erases our sins, through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, there isn’t any residue left. No faint reminder, where if you really tried, you could see everything that had once been on the board. It’s all gone. All erased. All forgotten. Washed clean.

Satan’s not real happy with that, though, and he wants us to use the black felt eraser. He wants to keep reminding us of our sins. He wants us to stay guilty. To walk around with chalk lines on our backside.

BUT JESUS took all our sins upon himself and nailed them to the cross. When we name him as LORD and King of our life, we don’t need to keep dredging up the past and its sins. Jesus has an eraser that’s far superior to the foam one I used. His eraser stretches from one scarred hand to the other.

Hanging on to past sins? Talk to Jesus about them. Let him forgive you and take them away.

As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is his love for those who honor him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins from us. Psalm 103:11-12

I wish you well.

Sandy

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Even Still, God Loves Us

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Full disclosure…I am a sinner. But most importantly, I am a sinner, saved by God’s grace.

God sent his son, Jesus, into this world to die for sinners just like me. Even still, God loves us. Amazing grace.

Yep. In a world that can be anything but gracious, grace is a difficult concept for me to understand. Unmerited favor which I don’t deserve. I haven’t done a single thing to deserve the gift Jesus paid the price for me to receive.

Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Nothing.

An illustration which one of my preachers used to explain grace went something like this.

You get pulled over for speeding. Instead of the punishment you rightly deserve for breaking the law, the officer decides not to give you a ticket. That’s mercy. You didn’t get what you deserved.

But, the police officer goes one step further. She pulls out two tickets to the sold out, sought after, event you had your heart set on attending. She gives them to you. Free. That’s grace. Undeserved favor.

We can’t earn it. We can’t bargain for it. We can’t sneak in under the radar and snatch it. It is a free gift to us from Jesus.

I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize. My friends, I don’t feel that I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead. I run toward the goal, so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize that God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done.

Philippians 3:12-14

 

Feeling a little undeserving? Join the club. But thanks be to our Heavenly Father who loves us anyway, for his amazing gift of grace.

Leave your comments below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

 

I wish you well.

Sandy

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