May 2016 – Sonshine's Journal

May 28, 2016

Psalm 51 “Sin, Forgiveness and Grace”

psalm 51 forgiveness2 Had King David remembered: “sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it” he would not have experienced an adulterous affair with Bathsheba nor committed murder to cover it up. Yet David concealed his sin and why God sent Nathan the prophet to him. As David realized this, a profound thought came to him as he confessed before a Holy God. “Against You, You only, I have sinned.”

No matter who the persons are involved, the sin is in reality against God and Christ who saved us and washed us from our sin. Like David, we think our sin is concealed or it does not impact anyone other than ourselves but this is a lie out of the pit of hell. Galatians reminds us that God will not be mocked and we reap what we sow. God told David, “ Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.[ 2Sa 12:10]

When David repented he heard Nathan the prophet say, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.” Reflecting on this, David entered the house of the Lord and experienced God’s greatest gift and mystery called forgiveness. All we have to do is to ask God to “Wash away my wrongdoing! Cleanse me of my sin!” Open hearts are ready to receive God’s grace and lovingkindness and understand more clearly God’s grace.

How do we know that transaction of forgiveness has taken place? Like David, we will experience peace and joy even as we face the consequences that follow.

May 26, 2016

Your New Identity….in Christ!

col 3 new identity in J+2 What does it mean to have a new identity in Christ? First and foremost it means that while once we were alienated from God due to sin we are now reconciled to God. Our identity is in Him because of our new birth into God’s kingdom of His Son. And lastly, God has blessed us with the gift of the Holy Spirit who now indwells us. This dramatic restructuring came about because of the price Christ was willing to pay for our debt of sin delivering us from the domain of darkness and transferring us to His kingdom.

Even though the enemy would like us to rehearse the past and return to it, we are to do an about face, look in the mirror and see what God sees while you say to the enemy: “I am dead to sin and alive to Christ.”

With a new identity comes responsibility. Therefore, seek that which is above not here on the earth as you glorify God in every area. Moment by moment put off the old man with its old ways—even if it struggles to remain! Remind the enemy of this truth: “I am a new man with a new identity and I am adopted into God’s kingdom.” God wants to give you an eternal incentive and it is this: “whatever you do…do it as for the Lord rather than for men.”

May 25, 2016

The Pre-Eminence of Christ

colossians 1 christa Christ is the supremacy of God eternal, invisible, God only wise, He is Creator of that which was before eternity; He is the head of the Body, the Church. He laid down his life on a cross and shed His blood for us. He is the firstborn of the dead.

“The Greek word “firstborn” implied two things: priority to all creations and sovereignty over all creation. In the first meaning we see the absolute pre-existence of the Logos. Since our Lord existed before all created things, He must be uncreated. Since He is uncreated, He is eternal. Since He is eternal, He is God. Since He is God, He cannot be one of the emanations from deity of which the Gnostic speaks…” [Kenneth Wuest]

It is because of Christ’s eternality we are to be grateful for when we have Christ we have all that is needed or wanted. He is the fullness of God in bodily form. The world would seek fullness in philosophy, rituals or traditions and why we must be on guard against false teachers who espouse false doctrine and in the end seek to lead us astray. We are to “tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.” We must model the Bereans who studied the scriptures to know if what was being taught was the truth.