The next time you’re feeling ashamed and hopeless because you’ve sinned or someone is reciting Bible verses like Jeremiah 17:9 as proof that our hearts are hopelessly corrupt, remember this: God’s word is merely describing reality, not ascribing permanence to it. Scripture interprets scripture. Jeremiah 17:9 is indeed describing the hopeless condition of the human heart in Jeremiah’s time, from his perspective. But now read Jeremiah 31:31-33. Read Ezekiel 36: 26-27. Read Ephesians 1:3-4. Last time I checked, God’s creation of the universe predates the word given to Jeremiah, not to mention even the first sin. Human beings were not conceived of, designed or created in sin but without sin. Adam and Eve walked with God in close fellowship and love for some time before they rebelled against him and broke the relationship; God deeply desires that sweet intimacy restored. So put your hope in the goodness and promises of God! He made a way through Jesus, and anyone who trusts him receives a new, clean heart and his own spirit inside! It is the catalyst of salvation, the beginning of our restoration! If you’ve felt confused or felt trapped in futility, stand up and walk out of the prison of the law and condemnation. The door is already open. Those who trust Jesus are washed clean by his blood and covered by his grace as they step into his new everlasting life! (Romans 6:3-8, 14-18; 7:4-6, 15-20; 8:1-4) All you need to do is believe and follow him. So don’t be fooled by those who prefer to stay in their familiar confines and would like you to stay as well. Leave your prison cell behind and never step back into it again!
Posts Tagged ‘jesus’
Leave Your Old Prison Cell Behind
Posted in Thought for the Week, tagged clean, condemnation, faith, fellowship, freedom, futility, heart, hope, intimacy, jesus, life, new, prison, restoration, sadness, salvation, sin, trapped, trust on April 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Give Yourself Permission
Posted in Thought for the Week, tagged celebrate, Christmas, freedom, jesus, love, peace, preoccupied, present, problems, season, troubles on December 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »
This Christmas season, as old problems call and new ones arise, consider a change: don’t make solving your problems your goal. That’s a set-up for failure and a preoccupied Christmas where you’re unable to be present and enjoy the season. Instead, vulnerably seek God as he has been revealed in Jesus. Move toward him and practice loving him, celebrating the way to real life he made! You will soon discover that, while they may not have vanished, your problems have changed and lost much if not all of their power.
Merry Christmas!
Novus (New) Vir (Man) 