Friends, there may be days when we feel like a disassembled puzzle with pieces scattered here and there. But nothing can be further from the truth. In Christ, you are complete. You are wholly beautiful. While our lives and spaces may get disorganized at times, we are well put together and held by our completeness in Christ: “And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” Colossians 2:10, NKJV
~Word for Life Says
He carried so much. More than “our sins and griefs to bear,”1 He carried the weight, the pain, the inner turmoil, and mental anguish the results of all the by-products of those sins and griefs, upon a heavy-laden heart and mind. Tears welled inside to the bursting, refusing to fall from the eyes that were singularly focused upon a greater joy.
It was the psalmist who wrote, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” Psalm 30:5, recognizing the temporary hold tears and sorrow have, especially when one’s heart is fixated upon a greater joy to be found in the morning.
For Christ, the illness of sin had made its mark on His body and throughout His person. Yet, in the heaviness of the load He carried, and the pain His holy vessel endured, we are told, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:2.
Although the joy was there for what it would accomplish, let us not approach the pain He endured physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in a lackadaisical fashion. Let us not brush aside what strength of heart and mind this endurance called for. Let’s not subtract what the man, the person of Jesus felt and suffered at the hands of all these afflictions.
So heavy it was, and so hard it was, we couldn’t do it for ourselves: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” 2 Corinthians 3:5.
The tarnished state of man could never find in himself the satisfaction this heaviness of sin required, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23. But in Christ, “ God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” Romans 3:25.
Sin was paid in full. Joy came at the thought and complete process and plan of the redeemed being ransomed from the clutches of darkness. But let us not be unmindful or take lightly the night afflictions He suffered through before the day dawned. In it, there was real pain and real sacrifice beyond the scope of what we can imagine. All for the joy that we might experience a glory unimaginable, where “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9.
The weight of what Jesus endured could not dim the glory of the greater joy in the morning. Aren’t we glad about it!
He suffered,
To save,
His greater joy
Came to our aid,
And satisfied the debt,
We could not pay.
His joy is complete,
In the sky
We shall meet,
The blessed Savior
Our sins impaled
Hands and feet.
Absent are tears
Or turning away,
Forever with Him
We shall surely stay.
Accepting His sacrifice
Paved the way.
The affliction of sin
Forever is gone,
A holy transformation
Undergone.
Awakening now
A new, joyous dawn. ©Word for Life Says, 2024
1 ©“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” by Joseph M. Scriven, Charles C. Converse
Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic). See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.
Now is a powerful word, my friend. It speaks of the present moment. It tells the story of your today.
What is today saying? It is saying because you are here; because you are experiencing me, His grace is working in your now moment.
Oh, for feet that could travel to the past and remedy every wrong. But you and I have been given this gift of today. Along with this ability to go forth and enjoy this day, there is grace.
Grace. That beautiful five-lettered word that reminds me, I didn’t earn it anyway. I didn’t deserve it any more than I deserved this time to experience my now moment. But God gifted them both to me. And He gave them both to you, too.
Anything we think that we can add to the pot to suppose that we are counted worthy to receive this on our own, remember what His holy Word says: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (2 Corinthians 3:5). Remember that God’s grace is poured out upon us and our day from the pure motive of love.
The grace of now says come and enjoy me, partake of me, walk in me, live in me, work in me, and be renewed in me.
As the Lord spoke to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9) is He speaking those words to you today? Whatever your “now” looks like, the grace of the Lord is still alive and active in this moment of today.
Above photo by Pixabay
Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic). See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.
Incomplete really speaks to the idea that I, we, us, don’t really have it all together like we think we do at times. We often feel so short from where we need to be; from where God wants us that we can sense a dragging of lack in our spirits. If we were really honest with ourselves we would see within us the deficit our humanity brings without any real way of adding up to that holy mark of perfection our soul so desperately longs for. If left to ourselves and our own ingenuity we would find that we are an incomplete mess.
But, thanks be to God that our completeness is not dependent upon us. Rather, it is in Christ alone where we find everything that makes us one hundred percent whole in Him. In our relationship with Jesus as our Savior, there is no lack. The Bible assures us, “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” (Colossians 2:10). On the cross, Jesus secured everything we need to have a full relationship with God Almighty, leaving nothing out. Jesus Christ really does become more than enough for believers to rest in His salvation. Through Calvary’s sacrifice, Jesus turned our incomplete mess into something completely beautiful.
We may feel like we’re not there yet, but we are being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:17). Like a caterpillar in transition to becoming a butterfly, I can’t wait to see the beautiful end results of what we all will be in Christ Jesus.
More encouraging verses:
2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”
John 1:16 “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
Colossians 1:19 “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”
Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic). See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.
Incomplete really speaks to the idea that I, we, us, don’t really have it all together like we think we do at times. We often feel so short from where we need to be; from where God wants us that we can sense a dragging of lack in our spirits. If we were really honest with ourselves we would see within us the deficit our humanity brings without any real way of adding up to that holy mark of perfection our soul so desperately longs for. If left to ourselves and our own ingenuity we would find that we are an incomplete mess.
But, thanks be to God that our completeness is not dependent upon us. Rather, it is in Christ alone where we find everything that makes us one hundred percent whole in Him. In our relationship with Jesus as our Savior, there is no lack. The Bible assures us, “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” (Colossians 2:10). On the cross, Jesus secured everything we need to have a full relationship with God Almighty, leaving nothing out. Jesus Christ really does become more than enough for believers to rest in His salvation. Through Calvary’s sacrifice, Jesus turned our incomplete mess into something completely beautiful.
We may feel like we’re not there yet, but we are being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:17). Like a caterpillar in transition to becoming a butterfly, I can’t wait to see the beautiful end results of what we all will be in Christ Jesus.
More encouraging verses:
2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”
John 1:16 “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
Colossians 1:19 “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”
Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic). See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.
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