Sanctification

Jesus is the answer

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 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in him,should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

I cannot overemphasize the fact, that whatever your need is, the answer is Jesus. It does not matter what you need , or think is now more grievously urgent for you, Jesus is the answer. God’s supply to you is inclusively packed in Jesus. Receive Jesus, have Jesus and all your needs are met.

Let me help you by pointing to you the greatest need you have whether you are aware of it or not. You need to do God’s will and be pleasing to Him. All your needs, whether are spiritual, emotional, physical are just symptoms of this one great need. If you’re a christian, you are aware of this need. You have already tried to do all you can to be and do all that is pleasing to your God, but down deep in your heart, you know that something is missing. Nothing of what you do or even all the sacrifices you have done is enough. You are not in rest, and you have no peace in your heart. Why it is so? Because you are looking to find the answer for your need in yourself. You can never be or do by yourself, what God wants you to be and do in His sight.

Only receive His love in the person of His Son. You believe in His love if you believe in Jesus. Only through Him, and because of Him you’re pleasing God the Father. Jesus is the only answer to this fundamental need. Only in knowing and believing God’s love, you will have real rest and peace in your heart. Receiving and believing in Jesus, brings such pleasure to God the Father in a similar way as an earthly father (how much more your heavenly Father) takes pleasure in meeting the needs of his children. Believe in Jesus and believe that all your needs are met. Know Him and you know that all your needs are met. This is the obedience that God wants from us. It’s called the obedience of faith or the obedience of the gospel. When we receive Jesus, then and only then, we truly obey God. When we believe in God’s love for us in the person of His Son, then and only then, we are truly pleasing God. Any action of ours no matter how noble or godly it might looks, unless is an expression and an overflow of our reception of His love, it’s sin. Our actions can have God or self as their source. If you consider,that you need to do something else, from just believing in Jesus, your actions of “obedience” will just derive from yourself. Receiving Jesus by faith, is not what we do once in order to be saved, but is what we are doing always if we want to live and walk in a pleasing way to the Father, where all our actions are from the overflow of God’s love, JESUS!

The most misunderstood Person

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For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son so that  whoever believes in Him shall not be perish but has eternal life. John 3:16

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

These two statements were made by the most important person who ever walked on the earth and tells us that our greatest and essential need is to know the true God. The world did not know Him and could not know Him if God did not love the world and did not give His Son for his sake. The world would be lost without hope, if God did not give Jesus for his sake.

The initiative was from God Himself. He gave His Son, because He wants every man to know Him. No man can on his own initiative know God. The Lord does not say that anyone who will love God in such a way to give himself to God will know Him and have eternal life. But man, out his great need to know God, does desperately all he can to fulfill his need. A need that most of the time is unable to identify and in his ignorance turns his attention to secondary needs that usually are the product of not knowing God.

God by giving Jesus, Who is the eternal life, fully fulfills man. Everyone who receives Jesus has eternal life and knows the true God. What is the man’s part? To receive, to accept Jesus Christ, to accept the love of God.

God wants us to know Him more than we want to get to know Him. He knows how much we need to know Him and His love. He knows that from our thirst to be loved we will turn to other sources that are never able to quench our thirst for love.

God is the most misunderstood person in the universe. Most people think that He is thirsty for love and woe to whom He does not love Him. They think that if a man does not stop sinning, God does not want to have any relationship with him. Did the world has ceased to sin and then God loved the world and gave Jesus to have eternal life?!!!

Our sin does not stop God from loving us and wanting to make Himself known to us. He does not stop wanting to be with us and have a close relationship with us. He is not afraid that He will be contaminated with our sin. But the opposite, He wants to have relationship with us in our sinful condition that He might impart His holiness to us.

Most people think that God is the most difficult person to please in the universe who asks for so much that whatever you do, He will not be pleased. When you hang out with Him, He will continually point out to you, your mistakes, and He will be nagging with you complaining about your sins and how little you love Him! Right now I can hear some say, but this is not what God usually does? NO “one million” NO. Can we do something by ourselves for our sins? If we could, we would not need to know the true God by receiving eternal life.

God is the most delightful person in the whole universe to get together. Being with Him is the most delightful thing in the world but also the most constructive. It is the only person who can love us as we have been created to be loved. His pleasure is to be with us and to love us. So, how difficult is it to please Him? So much difficult as to hang out with the most gracious person that exists and to accept His love. He takes pleasure when we are with Him and we are receiving His care and love.

God wants to have a relationship with us, so we will constantly grow in the knowledge of Him and His love, because this only can transform the way we live and without realizing it we will get rid of sins and evil ways and bad habits that we are struggling for years to get rid of. How can one get rid of poverty? Can he give it away and get rid of it? No. Only if  he receives wealth he will be delivered of his poverty. So God gave the riches of heaven, Jesus Christ, to deliver us from our poverty after receiving Him.

My friend, you do not need to change yourself to have a relationship with God but your relationship with God will transform you into the image of His Son as you are growing in the knowledge of the true God. You will be enriched by His riches! You will be enlightened by His light! You will be sanctified by His holiness! You will be embellished by His beauty!

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. John 5:20