God sings a song of affection over His creation!
Our Lord calls us to sing a new song of thanksgiving to Him!
God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. Bible Hub
Sadly, some angels chose to rebel and fell away from God. Satan the Tempter is the chief fallen angel, the father of lies and evil demons. Eve fell for the lies. Adam took it further when he disobeyed God. When God questioned him, he could have honestly, humbly, swallowed his pride and told the truth. Instead, Adam blamed both Eve and God for his own problem. Eve blamed Satan rather than admitting her mistake. Blaming others is not good and there are consequences for refusal to own your own failures.
Often, we don’t recognize the many ways we fall short of God’s standards. On our own, we can’t recover from guilt—we’ll never do enough [of what we think is good] to make up for our own brokenness. The curse of this world we live in is because of sin. Before creation, and while everything was perfect until pride entered the picture, God knew failure would happen. He’d already planned one Way back to Himself.
Complacency is vain confidence in—our behaviors, objects, processes—anything or anyone other than God.
Fallen human nature wants to replace or cancel our need for God. Corruption makes us apathetic and slothful—not caring about God’s Word. It magnifies personal desire, performance, money, affiliation, or someone we know. None of these arrogant behaviors make us right with God. Putting trust in anything but God alone makes for an indifferent attitude which allures us astray from the Truth toward perfectionism, envy and toxic selfishness. We are not forced to repentance, we are called to the Truth which leads us to it.
Zephaniah 3:17
 |
| The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17 |
Romans 11:29, Zephaniah 3:17, Psalm 34:5
 |
| For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:29. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. Psalm 34:5. |
Jesus came, uncomplaining, to set us apart from the world.
He suffered for us, died on the cross, bodily rose from the dead and ascended to heaven where He intercedes to defend us. He did not sin, yet took the punishment for our sin and shame. Those who move forward in Christian living are joyfully content to be judged according to Christ’s righteousness.
In Baptism and by the Word of God, we receive the gift of faith to believe our hope is in Christ Jesus, our Prophet, Priest and King, to save us from God’s wrath over judgement that we are sinners. Scripture claims we are to expect divisions and many bad things will get even worse before the end of time on this earth. Then, there will be punishment for those who denied the Holy Spirit. The Good News is: Jesus will return for those who trust Him! Now, we are waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises.
“Only through the second Adam, Christ, were the ravages of the fall and its consequences (God's wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation) abundantly made good and the means of pardon and grace provided for all men”
By the faith given and grace received, we have
- a merciful relationship with God, trusting His plan of forgiveness in the blood of Jesus
- power to grasp the gift of faith which believes Christ is the only Way to true peace and salvation
- grace to face God with the repentant heart He creates
- refuge from His anger over all types of sin
- humility to pray for all people—self, loved ones, and enemies
- insight and wisdom of His will
- contentment with God’s gifts and answers to prayer
- His gifts of growth in the faith
- desire to thank and praise Him
- encouragement to share His love
- joyful, wholesome confidence to trust in Him through the good and bad times
Believers—all who receive the true faith in Christ—have been made ready for death in this world and will never really die!
When Christians die, immediately their spirit is with Jesus in Heaven. They continue to live in the spirit, singing in harmony with God until the day of judgement when their bodies are restored to eternal perfection in a right relationship with Him.
