Chains and Thorns
PostPosted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:36 pm
It's been a long time since I posted last... well... here is what I've got for today... a little devo I'll share.
Some people believe you can be a Christian without suffering from spiritual conviction. The assumption is that we can all find the Love of Jesus without facing the condemnation for sin. But this is not the case. As Paul stated in Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The grim part of that statement is that it is that sin within us that keeps us from fellowship with God. However, the good side is that Jesus came because of that very sin and died for that sin so we would not have to suffer the penalty of eternal damnation. It is because of sin that Jesus suffered for you and I. Nevertheless, as I said, there are those who want to have a relationship with Jesus without getting into all that nastiness of the cross, his blood, his death, his pain, and his suffering. Yet without Christ all of that "nastiness" would be the fate of the individual. Life without Christ is grim. Life with Christ saves you from that grim fate but only because someone took the place as a sacrifice and that someone was Jesus Christ. Let us be reminded everyday of the crown of thorns. After all, it was that thorns that broke the chains of sin. It was his blood that paid the price which weighed so heavily on our blood. Let us so remind this watching world of its fate and so sear conviction into the sinners that they will cry out and say, ‘intense is the agony when the eye begins to see, when the ear begins to hear, when the pulse begins to pound, when the heart begins to throb, when the soul feels its flesh and the flesh feels its chains.’ It is only when they start to see their chains that we can point them to his thorns.
-God Bless
Some people believe you can be a Christian without suffering from spiritual conviction. The assumption is that we can all find the Love of Jesus without facing the condemnation for sin. But this is not the case. As Paul stated in Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The grim part of that statement is that it is that sin within us that keeps us from fellowship with God. However, the good side is that Jesus came because of that very sin and died for that sin so we would not have to suffer the penalty of eternal damnation. It is because of sin that Jesus suffered for you and I. Nevertheless, as I said, there are those who want to have a relationship with Jesus without getting into all that nastiness of the cross, his blood, his death, his pain, and his suffering. Yet without Christ all of that "nastiness" would be the fate of the individual. Life without Christ is grim. Life with Christ saves you from that grim fate but only because someone took the place as a sacrifice and that someone was Jesus Christ. Let us be reminded everyday of the crown of thorns. After all, it was that thorns that broke the chains of sin. It was his blood that paid the price which weighed so heavily on our blood. Let us so remind this watching world of its fate and so sear conviction into the sinners that they will cry out and say, ‘intense is the agony when the eye begins to see, when the ear begins to hear, when the pulse begins to pound, when the heart begins to throb, when the soul feels its flesh and the flesh feels its chains.’ It is only when they start to see their chains that we can point them to his thorns.
-God Bless