Awareness, Come Follow Me, Come Unto Christ, Devotional

Reconciled Unto a New Life

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
~ Romans 5:6-11 ~

You lived in defiance of God until the moment you finally bowed the knee and humbled yourself and denied yourself and took up a cross and became a follower of Jesus Christ. I mean there it is in verse 10. It couldn’t be any more clear. It’s black print on white paper. “We – “. Who’s the we? Those who are now believers, every single one of us. “We were enemies of God.” We lived in rebellion. We lived in cosmic treason against God. And it’s true now of the whole world. “If while we were enemies –” and this word enemies means a hated foe. It means an odious opponent. … It means you are hostile against God. You had declared war against God by your disobedience, by your selfishness, by your self-centeredness, by your self-righteousness, by your self-pity, by your being self-absorbed. It was just all about you. It was all about me. “If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God – “. God was the offended party. We had to be reconciled to God. You’ll note that we were reconciled – not to get too technical here, but it’s a passive verb meaning we were not actively doing this. We couldn’t reconcile our self. We didn’t want to be reconciled.
~ God’s Love Demonstrated – Dr. Steven J. Lawson ~

During the days of living in defiance, the anxiety over what was happening in my life was certainly the most important thing. How could it be otherwise? I was living with it, saddled with it. I knew there was a world outside. A place where people lived in some degree of order and peace. Yet it was a passing thought of envy. I was swamped, overwhelmed, and drowning in my own troubles. There was no room for me to think of anything else.

When I came to the reality of my own depravity and rebellion I discovered there was a way out of my seemingly hopeless situation. I was able to find genuine fellowship of individuals willing to offer friendship and encouragement. I, in turn, found opportunities of service toward others. And so, slowly I climbed out of the pit of my own despair that I thought I was buried in. Rising up in a new way of living life.

When it dawned on me that my faith in Jesus Christ had something for me to use as I moved out of hopelessness and into hope and confidence. I gave up my despair and caught a glimpse of this hope – and knew I truly was awakened and spiritually reborn.

Through Christ, I am reconciled to my Heavenly Father because of His love toward me. When I was at enmity with him – God loved me enough to provide a way for me to come unto him through his Son Jesus Christ. I realized that faith in Christ is no magic potion that will instantly cure all my troubles. My faith in Christ is a pattern of living God’s will. A will that serves me to exactly the degree that I work at it.

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