"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1 NLT)
The "Word" John was referring to is Jesus. So John 1:1 could also be said, "In the beginning Jesus already existed. Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God."
Many religions and religious leaders look at Jesus positively. This can be said of Gandhi (Hinduism), Muhammad (Islam), the Dalai Lama (Buddhism) to name a few. But considering Jesus as God is another thing. And Jesus: God is exactly what separates those who follow Jesus from all other world religions.
As mentioned in previous daily devotions, in all world religions, man needs to do something on his/her own part to obtain salvation, eternal life with God. Those who follow Jesus know from God's Word that there is nothing man can do to earn salvation. As Paul wrote, "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard." (Romans 3:23 NLT) Because of us always falling short, we needed an external source to save us; eternal life with God is something we could never achieve by good works. And if we are truly honest with ourselves and did the counting, how could we ever really count more good works done by us in a lifespan over our evil actions and thoughts? So this is what God did...He sent Himself to earth to save us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This act of Jesus: God is the epitome of the word grace.
Other religions use the word grace, but when you look deeply enough there are always strings attached, whereby negating what grace is supposed to mean (love with no strings).
How do you find what God did in sending His Son (Himself) as true grace ("undeserved love", "love without strings attached")? How has God's grace impacted your life? How may we introduce God's grace as known in Jesus: God to another?
No comments:
Post a Comment