The message of salvation given to Paul by divine revelation is the hope of all of mankind. Christ died, He was buried and He rose again and only in Him is our everlasting hope!! Resurrection power sets us free.
Isaiah 55:6-9
Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Here’s the good news: God wants to be close to us, and He’ll come to us! When we turn to God, He’ll forgive our sins and help us become more like His Son, one step at a time. God’s thoughts are so much higher than ours that we can’t fully understand His amazing love and patience for us.
Romans 5:10-11 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
The law was introduced to provide mankind with a clear understanding of what constitutes sin. However, the presence of this knowledge also brings the grace of God, who can offer forgiveness and cover our sins when we humbly invite Him into our lives in the righteousness of Jesus not our own.
Romans 10:10-13 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
With the heart, man believes in salvation. Jesus, the Christ within us, is our sole hope. He is the narrow path that leads to God, and few can accept that it is grace, not works, that saves us.
There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile for the Lord is God over all who call on Him in faith. Those who proclaim the completed work of the Cross and share the Good News cannot keep it to themselves but must spread the Word of God. It is the glorious gift of salvation to His creation.
For everyone who believes, Christ is the end of the law. This righteousness by faith in Jesus is salvation, a free gift from God to all who believe in Him. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. The moment we believe in His birth, death, and resurrection, we are saved. For 1900 years, God’s chosen people, the Jews, have been hated by the nations. But God will protect them now as He did then. Carla
Paul probably has in mind both humanity’s sinful rebellion against God’s ways and God’s wrathful response to their sinful ways. The Greek word used here, katallassō, describes bringing two hostile parties into friendly relations. The death of Christ was the means by which God and humanity were reconciled. Through Christ’s death, God pardoned the sinner and condemned the sin (Roman 8:3), thereby demonstrating His care and concern for sinful humanity.
By His life refers to the resurrection life of the risen Christ. People are saved by their union with the risen Christ and His mediation on their behalf. Jesus has repaired the relationship between God and humankind (Corinthians 5:18). Faithlife Study Bible
God loved us when we were helpless, ungodly enemies, how much more will He love us now that we are His children? By His blood, through the death of His Son we have been justified, that is “declared righteous,” and reconciled, meaning our state of alienation from God has been changed. Believers are no longer enemies of God; they are at peace with God. Many take these verses to refer to final salvation from the presence of sin. But in this context, Paul goes on to discuss being saved from the power of sin. Thus wrath here is God’s present wrath and His life is the life of Christ in believers.
The point is that since God’s love and the death of Christ have brought us justification, then as a result of that love, we can also expect salvation from God’s wrath. The NKJV Study Bible.
You are gifted with the permission, to let the list (of expectations) go. And when you do, you make space, and receive gifts to savor. The gardener in me thinks of that created space as soil. Because it is the dirt that matters. And this I know: in the good dirt, the good stuff grows. Like honoring and savoring, paying attention and groundedness, tenderheartedness and self-care, restoration and forgiveness.
All of it, wrapped in gratitude.
And every single one of those gifts is fortified by hope.
And our candle we light on this first Sunday of Advent? The candle of Hope. During this Advent Season, I want to tend to my heart. Which means that there is a place I will choose to visit from time to time; a place called Enough. You know, that place where the heart finally slows, where gratitude spills, where we can touch the root of inner wisdom (a taproot some call the soul), where we are not afraid or adversarial, where we do not need to shy away from sorrow or disappointment, where grace is alive and well.
This week I will take with me this invitation, “Live gratefully. Love generously. Speak kindly. Dance daily. Smile freely. Forgive willingly. Inspire joyfully. Hope as if your life depends on it.” (Thank you Margaret B. Moss). Sabbath Moments
When you feel yourself breaking down, may you break open instead. May every experience in life be a door that opens your heart, expands your understanding, and leads you to freedom. Elizabeth Lesser
What kind of light must this have been on the first day of God's creation? As we ponder His power, one thing we do know: "The light was good" (Genesis 1:4), revealing the beauty of God Himself. In these first few verses of Scripture, we can already see God's eternal presence from the beginning of time as well as His unparalleled power as He spoke light into existence.
In Revelation 21, the Apostle John described a vision God gave him of a new heaven and new earth where God's people will someday live with Him for eternity, a "holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:2). This city will have "no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb" (Revelation 21:23).
No more darkness, just the beauty of the light of God … forever. First5
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