Today at our Ladies' Coffee Hour at the church, a policewoman is coming in to discuss with the ladies the very real danger of identity theft. It is frightening to see how quickly our personal information can be stolen and used to fleece us. It go me thinking how the same thing is true spiritually. The Words of an old Imperials song came to my mind:
Now Satan is a liar
And he wants to make us think
That we are paupers
When he Knows himself
We're children of the King.
The enemy is constantly whispering in our ears that we are less than we are IN CHRIST. One of the stories I love in Scripture is found in Zechariah 3. In that passage, Joshua the high priest, dressed in filthy rags, is standing before the Angel of the Lord (personally I understand the Angel to be Jesus). Satan is doing his hateful work of accusing - pointing out Joshua's sins and failings. However, instead of listening to Satan, Jesus says that Joshua is a brand plucked from the fire and orders that his filthy rags be removed. Jesus then clothes him with clean white garments.
I believe this is a wonderful picture of what Christ does for each of us as we trust Him. We all are sinners clothed with our own filthiness. However, our Saviour plucks us from the fire and clothes us with His own righteousness so that we might be acceptable before a Holy God. The consequences are breath-taking. We who were sinners, are not children of the King because of Christ's work. We are adopted into the family. We are even made joint heirs with Jesus Himself.
O dear believer, do not listen to the lies of the evil one. Instead boast in the Lord and what He has done - what He has made us in Christ.
(Eph 2:19-22 ESV)
Now Satan is a liar
And he wants to make us think
That we are paupers
When he Knows himself
We're children of the King.
The enemy is constantly whispering in our ears that we are less than we are IN CHRIST. One of the stories I love in Scripture is found in Zechariah 3. In that passage, Joshua the high priest, dressed in filthy rags, is standing before the Angel of the Lord (personally I understand the Angel to be Jesus). Satan is doing his hateful work of accusing - pointing out Joshua's sins and failings. However, instead of listening to Satan, Jesus says that Joshua is a brand plucked from the fire and orders that his filthy rags be removed. Jesus then clothes him with clean white garments.
I believe this is a wonderful picture of what Christ does for each of us as we trust Him. We all are sinners clothed with our own filthiness. However, our Saviour plucks us from the fire and clothes us with His own righteousness so that we might be acceptable before a Holy God. The consequences are breath-taking. We who were sinners, are not children of the King because of Christ's work. We are adopted into the family. We are even made joint heirs with Jesus Himself.
O dear believer, do not listen to the lies of the evil one. Instead boast in the Lord and what He has done - what He has made us in Christ.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
(Eph 2:19-22 ESV)
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