He is our Everything!

I love 1 Corinthians 1:30. It states: "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption..." Boy oh boy, I seriously need all 4 of these things!
Wisdom! I can do and have done some truly stupid things. And guess, what,  I've repeated a whole lot of them. I'm even still doing some of them. But praise God if I'll let Him, He will direct me, because He is made unto me wisdom, and His is perfect!
Righteousness! I know myself well enough to know that Paul is absolutely right, that is in me, my flesh, there is nothing good. (Rom.7:18)  And if he said that about himself, then there's no need for me to waste a second looking in myself, there's just nothing good in God's perfect sight there. My so-called righteous acts on their own are so tainted with self-interest that they're filthy rags to God. But praise Him again, He is made unto me righteousness! In fact He IS my righteousness! (See Jer.23:5-6)
Sanctification! We all like to be called special, in the sense of set apart from the pack, like we have certain possessions that mean a lot to us so we set them aside for special use. In Christ, we're set apart for God! Also, according to Romans 8:29-30, in God's eyes because we're in Christ, we're already perfected!
Redemption! He bought me back out of the slave-market of sin and death! I had really made a mess of it all, and because of His sheer love for me and you, at Calvary He just gave His own dear Life for us! The whole process is His, we can just sit back and rest in Him! Of course we have holy work to do, but He does it through us if we'll just let Him. (Matt.11:28-30). What wonderful truth! I just HAD to share it with you. May the Lord bless you all.

When He Comes

Have you ever thought of what it will be like when Jesus returns, and we're in His blessed presence? I know that I almost always think of the fact that I'll see those wonderful Hands with nail-pierces in them, that paid such a dear price for my salvation all because of His great love for me. We who have come to Him as He invites us to, and has given us glorious rest from the tyrannical burden of our sin, we know that it will be a joy beyond description and even the possibility of full expression now when we see Him! We'll run to Him, and rejoice in seeing our Best Friend! I know this because we have Scriptural proof of it. Peter, who sinned as much as any of us, yet he came to know Christ, and even after he had denied his Savior so terribly, as we often do, when he realized Jesus was on the shore after His resurrection, what did he do? Did he run away from Jesus in shame and fear because he had failed his Savior so badly? Let's let the Scripture speak for itself on it. "But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.”  And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea." (Jn.21:4-7) Peter ran to his Savior! Not long after this, the Lord Jesus in His loving way, allowed Peter to express publicly his genuine love, imperfect as it was, for his Savior, and then He told him to feed His sheep, which he did through his 2 great epistles. Our sins are gone, as the great old hymn sings with joyous abandon, and we need to do as Psalm 107:2 says, let those of us who are redeemed by the Lord, say so!!I'm saying so right now. Maybe you want to as well, then go for it! May the Lord bless you.

Our Brother..........

"Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church here, greets you. So do Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus." (Rom.16:23, Amplified Bible).

Paul was naming some special people God had used in his life in this tremendous final chapter of Romans, & he had said something specific about just about all of them, & then comes this man, Quartus. As far as I know, he is only mentioned this one time in all the Bible. The KJV simply says of him, "...& Quartus a brother." Some other translations of the Scriptures have Paul saying of him, "...Quartus the brother..." & the like. I am probably making far more out of this than is actually in the text, but something really neat just seems to be in Paul's mind as he mentions this brother in the Lord. Under divine inspiration, he doubtless had a good reason to include Quartus in this special list, & also to describe him in such simply sublime terms. I envision a humble believer who was just there for you if you had a need, & was so in tune with his Savior that he just radiated the joy of the Lord. I may be way off-base, but I don't think so. Paul had made the amazing yet true statement that without a single automobile or Internet or airplane, the Gospel had spread all over the then-known world! (see Col.1:23b) No doubt it was through the Spirit of Christ working through quiet, unassuming brothers & sisters who gladly presented their entire beings to the One who died for them & rose again. Oh, brothers & sisters, I'd like to be a brother like ol' Quartus, wouldn't you?
Thoughts?