The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Colossians 2:13-14,
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross."
The heart and soul of our salvation has to do with the forgiveness we have received for the sins we have committed. Here Paul reminds his readers they were "dead" in their sins and in their sinful nature, "the uncircumcision of your flesh". Condemned to spend an eternity in a fiery lake of burning sulfur (see Revelation 21:8), we have all faced God's judgment for our sins. However, out of his love for all mankind (see John 3:16), he sent his Son to make a way for us into his family: eternal life!
Some fail to recognize their sins. Not me. I'm all too familiar with the choices I have made in this life, represented in the things I have thought, said and done. I was certainly dead in my sins, living in the graveyard of my own sinful nature. It was in this hopeless estate my God reached out to me, offered me his forgiveness and a place at his table! Imagine that! I, who deserved God's just judgment for my sins, was provided a way! Jesus Christ came and paid my penalty for me, for all mankind! All he asks is that we place our trust and faith in him.
It was in the void, the darkness, dead in my sins that God made me alive. I find that is consistent with the many acts of our wonderful God. Out of nothing and out of destruction he brings life! I am reminded of what Paul said in Romans 4:17 in speaking of Abraham and Abraham's God, "He [Abraham] is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not."
Some may struggle with the notion that their lives have no merit, have been spent in opposition to God, that the opportunity for eternal life is a reach. Not with our wonderful God who makes a way, our God of love and compassion. From nothing, just as in Genesis, chapter one, our God brings life!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved youabout him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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