Answer The Challenge

Why are so many “believers” content to live a life of mediocrity in Christ – a life partially devoted to following God and partially devoted to following the ways of the world? Without question, some have only put on the face of a Christian and have never given their heart to God through a saving faith in Jesus. But others are true believers in desperate need of a spiritual kick in the pants!
Paul’s letters comprise much of the New Testament. They were written to give instruction on the Christian faith and to encourage perseverance through times of testing. Paul often wrote of the simplicity of the gospel message; “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). But he also wrote to encourage those who truly put their faith in Jesus to live a life of service, holiness, and unity.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we begin a new life. We are set free from the bondage of sin (Romans 6:22) and are called to follow Christ as we are conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). But Paul saw many believers sitting on the sidelines of the Christian life; “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1).
Paul gives encouragement by “urging” a life worthy of Salvation. This has nothing to do with earning our way to Heaven; rather, we are encouraged to live in holy thankfulness for the gift we have received. The word Paul uses for urge can also be translated as beseech, beg, implore, exhort, or challenge. He’s not giving a gentle pat on the back which says, “You’re doing well, keep running a good race.” Rather, Paul is presenting a firm challenge to draw nearer to God and give our lives more fully to Him. Paul uses the same word in his letter to the Romans.
Romans 12:1
“Therefore, I urge {beg, implore, exhort, and challenge} you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”
We have been set free and made new! We are a new creation and CANNOT continue to walk with one foot on God’s path and the other being allowed to tiptoe along worldly desires. These simply have no place in the life of a worshipper of the One True God!
Today, we are being urged (challenged) to trust God more; to talk with Him more and seek His presence more diligently; to not get pulled away by the lies of the world! We are being challenged to love Him with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). As we face this day with its multitude of struggles, let’s live a life worthy of the calling we have received and forevermore answer the challenge!

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Christmas in Eden

  “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed” (Genesis 3:15).
Although you may not see it at first glance, Christ is in this verse. He is the ultimate Seed of the Woman who would one day come to crush the serpent’s ugly head. In the process his “heel” would be bruised on the cross. In short, this verse predicts that Jesus would win the victory over Satan but would himself be wounded at the same time.
As the centuries rolled on, Satan kept winning victories and God kept raising up men and women who would continue the godly line on the earth. I like to think of this verse as the top of a wide funnel. When the promise was given, no one could have imagined the coming Jesus Christ. The “seed of the woman” simply meant that he must be a member of the human race. But after the flood the line was narrowed to Noah’s descendants, then later to Shem’s descendants, and later came to rest on one man-Abraham, the father of the nation Israel. Then to his son Isaac, to Isaac’s son Jacob, to Jacob’s son Joseph, and then to Joseph’s son Judah. Centuries later the line was narrowed to the house of David. Finally some nine centuries after that, the line came to rest on the firstborn son of a virgin named Mary. What started with the whole human race has narrowed to just one man-Jesus Christ.
He didn’t come in the usual way; he came by means of a virgin birth. No one before or since ever entered the world as he did. Thus he is the ultimate “seed of the woman” since no man was involved in his conception.

When God wanted to save the world, he didn’t send a committee; he sent his Son.
When God wanted to say, “I love you,” he wrapped his love note in swaddling clothes.
When God wanted to crush Satan, he started in a stable in Bethlehem.

Even in Eden, God was planning for Christmas. He was thinking of you before you were born because he knew that one day you would need a Savior.
As we begin our Advent journey, let’s remember that Christ came in fulfillment of a promise made amid the wreckage caused by Adam’s sin. Our sin may be great, but as the promise is greater than the transgression, through Christ’s great sacrifice we have been set free.
Lord Jesus, with your own blood you kept the promise God made. Glory to you, our Savior and King. Amen.  

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