Thursday, August 28, 2014

Believing in the Miraculous: The Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross



John 6:29 (NLT) Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

There is very little I can do to please God, but only to believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior.

Rebirth.  New life.  His gifts are many.  Watching myself being sanctified is just icing on the cake.  But it's so important to understand the total completion of the work of Jesus Christ.  It's so important to abandon myself to God.  I've got to place utter trust in the work of Christ.  

I must believe in the miraculous.  I must believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  

Romans 10:9 (NIV) If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

It's just so simple.  Yet the alternative is so terrible, and so many can't seem to escape the illusion, the society, the modern mindset that can't seem to grapple with the simple message of the gospel.  

Many in the scientific field turn hard against the miraculous.  That's often the topic of apologetic work, 'are miracles possible?'  Why shouldn't they be?  Since everything that exists has a cause, the universe needs a cause, and that cause would have to be intelligent, omnipotent, and self-caused, thus God, thus what we humans consider the "miraculous" is not a big deal to God.  He created a universe from nothing, suddenly raising Jesus Christ from the dead doesn't seem like such a big deal!

1 John (MSG)  11-2 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.
3-4 We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

The joy is in personal contact with God himself.  I feel that joy sometimes, the incredible love of the Father interacting with my soul.  All thanks to Jesus Christ, and his atoning sacrifice.  He took the just punishment I deserved.  He stepped in for me.  And I can hardly understand the cost.  Terrifying enough that Jesus, God himself, was afraid of it.  The disconnection from God that I deserved, he received.  Incredible.  What love!   

So belief in Jesus Christ, his work on the cross, his defeat of death, his perfect life, is now mine.  His righteousness is gifted to me, so I can boldly speak to the Father of lights, the divine architect of the universe, space, time, reality itself.  My part is belief.  And I believe today, more so I place my trust there.  I trust Jesus Christ.  I trust God the Father.  And I know one day I will see my savior face to face.  That's a fact.  Until that day, praise him and trust him!  Amen.