Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Do you know how much God loves you?  Can you comprehend the love He has for you?  Can you even begin to fathom how His love can transform you and how it will have an eternal impact upon your life?

Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt where you will spend eternity?  Are you thinking, I hope to be in heaven?

I know where I will spend eternity, and that is with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  You might think, wow, she is full of herself.  What makes her think she is so special that she knows she is going to heaven.  My dear readers,  I cannot assure my salvation anymore than you can.  But I know the ONE who can.  I know Jesus, and my salvation is dependent upon Him.  I cannot take credit for where I will spend eternity.  I didn't earn it.  I don't deserve it.  I cannot buy it. I cannot even imagine or fathom how wonderful it will be.

All I know is someday this earthly body will take it's last breath and I will close my eyes one final time here on earth and the next time I open my eyes it will be to look upon the face of my Savior.

It is not about what I have done or what I am going to do.  It is about what Jesus did for you and for me on the Cross.  When Jesus cried out, IT IS FINISHED, it meant the separation between God and His people had ended.  It meant the debt has been paid in full.  We could never fulfill the debt, no matter how much we want to, we are unable to.  God the Father knew we could never make the payment and so He sent His one and only Son to pay the debt for us.

Last week I shared scripture from Romans Chapter 8 and I am going to share some of those verses again.  I know too many people who have questions about whether they will be in heaven or not.  It breaks my heart when I think of them not being assured of their salvation.  And although they might not ever express it to me, I think they might feel I'm arrogant in my absolute certainty of where I'm going when I die.

In Romans 8:1 It states, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  We are poor miserable sinners each and every day. But Jesus paid all penalties for us.  There is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  To think we as mere humans could do anything at all to save ourselves is arrogant. 

We can live consumed with the guilt of our sin wondering if we will ever be good enough to enter the gates of heaven.  The truth is we are not good enough...but in Jesus we have been made clean.  Based upon His work for us on the Cross we are saved.  There is NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus.

At the end of Chapter 8 we hear this blessed promise: "37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I hope you will take the time to allow THE WORD to soak into your heart and your soul.  Your salvation does not depend upon you or your actions.

1 comment:

Shannon Jacobyansky said...

My dearest friend, I'm so gald you have started writing on this blog again! This piece is heartfelt and simply beautiful! How much you have pleased your Father...our Abba! I love you and continue to miss you with all my heart!