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The free gift we offer
is more than just something from us. It’s really God’s gift that
He offers, and this gift is essential for life. But to receive that
gift, you must first – understand how the need for the gift
originated and that all need it, secondly – that you personally
need it, then thirdly – accept the gift by faith, seeing your need
for it. So, let’s look at why we all need this gift.
When God made the
world, everything was just how He wanted it to be. The best part
about it was that God’s relationship with man and woman was
perfect. He made man and woman to love each other, to have children
and love their families, but the most important and central aspect
to life was in place – God was fully included in it all. They
enjoyed everything about the world together, and there was no
distance between God and humanity. While everything was perfect and
just how it needed to be, something happened where things took a
turn for the absolute worst.
When God made the man
Adam, He gave him rule over every other living creature that was
made, and He also gave Adam and the woman Eve the freedom to enjoy
all of the marvelous things in a garden that He gave to them. God
said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you
must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…”
(Genesis 2;16,17). Anything they wanted in the garden was theirs to
enjoy, except for the fruit of just one certain tree that God
restricted in that garden. As it would happen, the two of them did
not take advantage of all that God did give to them to enjoy, and
disobeying God, ate from the fruit of that restricted tree.
And like
a drop of ink on a new white shirt ruins the shirt, Adam and Eve’s
disobedience to God (who is perfect and totally pure in nature)
ruined the relationship with God, not just for themselves, but for
everyone that would ever be born into existence. This inherited
spiritual disease that separates us from God is called sin. Sin is
the reason we want what isn’t right for us, and why we don’t
want God to tell us what we should and shouldn’t want or do. If
you notice, it is uncomfortable to think about including God in our
everyday living and thinking, that is a result of sin. And although
bad things happen and are real hard to deal with, the most
devastating part about sin is that it separates us from the God who
made us. It is because of this separation that things happen that
weren’t meant to happen when God created life.
The final result of
sin is that it brought about death, which God warned Adam and Eve it
would do if they did what God told them not to do (Genesis 2:17).
When we die, however, the spiritual part of us will live forever.
Now, because God is holy, pure, and perfectly righteous, He will not
be united, or even be associated with the sin that we brought into
the scene of life. So, when one dies in his or her sin, that person’s
spirit is judged and then cast away from God into a place of eternal
darkness, despair, and torture called hell, forever. Now what hope
is there anywhere if this is the result for having sin in our lives?
Well, all of this bad news actually paves the road for the good newz
of God’s “free gift” that He offers to those who want to be
right with Him.
At a certain point in
history, about 2000 years ago, God came through with the greatest
plan in all of history which He promised out of His love for us ever
since the relationship was ruined. Can you imagine taking someone
else’s sentence for a crime that was committed, or someone else
being punished for a crime that you committed? Well, check out God’s
move for His lost love – us! God the Son lowered Himself to be
born in human flesh, and took the name Jesus. He lived a perfect
life without sin, just as we were meant to have lived, and then took
our place in punishment as a man. While innocent from crime or sin,
He was spit on, beaten, whipped, and finally nailed through His
wrists and ankles to hang torturously on a tree in the shape of a “t”
– the cross. But check out the good newz – after being left
nailed to the cross to die and then placed in a tomb, He rose up
from the dead three days later in perfection, conquering death. Now
the good newz is because He took this punishment and in the end beat
death, He also beat the separation between us and Him for those who
believe in Him and ask Him for forgiveness for their sins. It must
be understood that there is no hope in being able to earn God’s
favor back. Remember how the one drop of ink ruins an entire shirt?
Well, if we take an honest look at ourselves, imagine the countless
wrong thoughts, intentions, and desires of our hearts. In our
thoughts, words, and actions we are a lot more often wrong than
right in our natural response to things, let alone one little drop
of disobedience. And so knowing it was hopeless for us to be able to
earn God’s favor back, God sent us His free gift as our One and
only hope. God loved the world so much, He gave His only Son, that
whoever would believe in Him wouldn’t be punished, but would have
everlasting life (John 3:16).
If you never asked Jesus Christ to
forgive you of your sins and restore your relationship with God,
than you still face the consequences of your sins - to never be
fully satisfied with whatever you hope in or depend on to make your
life meaningful, and also to be forever separated from God in hell
with no more chance of asking for forgiveness when you die. But, if
you want to be forgiven, it’s simply a matter of believing what
you just read, and then expressing to Jesus Christ in simple
conversation that you believe He died in your place and was raised
from the dead on your behalf, and you accept His free gift for you
to be saved from your sins. The first thing that will take place is
that you will be forgiven and set to be with God in heaven when you
die. Absolutely no record of your sins will be held against you, and
you no longer have to fear dying. As if that weren’t enough,
different areas of your life will begin to get restored in your
relationship with Jesus Christ in this life, you will grow in your
knowledge and love for Him through regular prayer, Bible reading and
teaching, and relationships with other people who believe and are
saved. You’ll start seeing and living life for what God meant it
to be for us when He first made everything, and you’ll find
yourself telling others about the marvelous gift of being saved from
your sins, and offering Him to others around you. If you have read
this and God spoke to your heart and you want to pray to ask Him to
forgive you, than you will be accepting the only message of hope
that God offers to all, and we’re excited about it. Most
important, God is excited that you would have accepted the free gift
of Himself to you.
What made Him
bleed /
and cling to a tree /
and
get nailed to the form
of a lower case t? /
IT WAS LOVE!” /
If you've
just now prayed this prayer, we have a special ministry team, please, let
us know about it! Your e-mail will go the The Cross
Movement and then be directed to a special ministry team, very
loving couple, Lovell and Tennel Rhodes, partners of Cross Movement
Ministries, who would like to keep in touch with you and
help you in your New Life in Jesus Christ. You may also be
interested in our Devotions
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