BIBLE PASSAGE:
“and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from
the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us
and has freed us from our sins by His blood”
(Revelation 1:5)
MEDITATION:
Blood is mentioned 392 times in the Bible (according to Biblegateway.com).
Several times in the New Testament Jesus spoke of His own blood. Why?
Because through the shedding of His blood, He made our salvation possible.
Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and redeemed us. The penalty for our sin
and rebellion is death; but Jesus stepped up and said, “I’ll take that death”.
He voluntarily laid down His life and took the penalty we deserve. That’s
what the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus is all about.
The blood of Jesus Christ not only redeems us, but it also justifies (validates)
us as clean. Being justified means more than being forgiven. We can say to
someone. “I forgive you”, but we can’t justify them. God not only forgives
the past, He clothes us in righteousness as though we had never committed
a sin. But the cost of our righteousness was the blood of His Son on the cross.
ACTION:
How amazing is it to know that even when we didn’t know Jesus, He knew
us and died so we could be saved? We might sacrifice our life to save a family
member, or maybe even a close friend, but would we die for a total stranger?
To make it even more difficult, would we die for someone who was against us
and didn’t want anything to do with us? Jesus did that for us while we were
sinners!
God created a plan for sinful man to be redeemed and Jesus sacrificed His
life as part of God’s plan. Is that all there is to His plan? No, it isn’t. We
must believe in His plan, accept it as Truth, invite the Lord into our lives,
commit to following and serving Him where we have been called, and have
a desire for others to be saved to complete His plan for our lives.
It’s a critical choice that is entirely up to us; nobody else can make that
decision for us. We can’t modify His plan to fit into our own desires; we
can’t justify or rationalize our disobedience; we can only understand His
plan, accept it, embrace it, obey it, and change our priorities so that our
lives will follow His plan for our salvation.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, now I understand the magnitude of what Your Son,
Jesus did for me. It amazes me that He would do that for me and every
other sinner in the world. Thank You, Jesus, for going to the cross for
me so I would have the opportunity to receive salvation. Thank You,
God, for covering my sins with the blood of Jesus and saving me. Jesus,
Your blood cleansed my sin and made me worthy of God’s forgiveness.
Help me to fully understand the physical and emotional pain You chose
to endure because of Your love for me, even before I chose to love You.
I look forward to spending eternity with You. Help me to live a life now
that shows others my faith in You is real, and will point them to You.
Show me the spiritual gift (or gifts) I received at salvation and teach me
how to use it (or them) to glorify You and create a venue for the Holy
Spirit to convict others of their need for You in their lives. Father God,
thank You for Your continual sanctification of my life so I can become
more righteous, as You are purging me of all unrighteousness. Thank
You for how sanctification is one of the ways You confirm that I have
been adopted into Your family!”
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Discussion
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