Lovingly Paid
Note from Jesus Dear Beloved, Today’s verses are full of deeply significant words, but they are not hard to understand. Read them and let them fall into your welcoming heart as the assurance of the Father’s love for you, My sacrifice for you, and the Holy Spirit’s presence in you! Since Adam, all humans have lived under the cloud of inevitable death (Romans 5:12-19). Death is the handmaiden of sin. As sin’s toxic effect has permeated each generation of people and left its lethal residue, death has held every mortal in its vice-grip of futility and pain. Human rebellion against the Father brought this inescapable toxic cloud of sin and death. There is no human way to escape, so you need Me as Savior, Liberator, Redeemer, and Reconciler. What you received from the Father through your faith in Me is glorious. Paul’s opening words in the verses below emphasize this gift of grace and reconciliation with the Father, a gift that I have brought to you: Since we have been acquitted and made right through faith, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King. Who you are now after being saved by grace is a far cry from who you were without Me. Paul’s words in today’s verses were written to the believers in Rome. However, the attributes Paul described are the true spiritual condition of all people before their reconciliation to the Father. Look carefully at the phrases and words recorded below — you can find them listed here and also in the bold text in the verses that follow. These phrases and words illustrate who you would be without your reconciliation to the Father through Me: Far from God. Powerless. Weak. Wasting… in sin. Enemies. This list is certainly not a glorious set of attributes. Nevertheless, regardless of how good anyone has tried to be or how far any person may have fallen, these terms depict the condition of each person who does not take advantage of My sacrifice to be reconciled to the Father. As Paul wrote, in spite of the fact that you and everyone else were “far from God” and “in sin,” I lovingly came to earth to pay the high price to redeem you. My sacrificial death was needed to pay that ransom price. Paul shared these words to remind you that the Father’s grace is not only sufficient for you but that His grace can also reach you no matter where you are! Look at the cost I paid to save you. Think about the love that led Me to pay the ultimate price to redeem you — whether your estrangement from the Father was because you were enslaved by the power of Satan or by your guilt or because you cannot live up to the righteousness of the Father. Notice the price I willingly paid to reconcile you from your isolation from the Father. The cost was lovingly paid, but it was exorbitantly high. The text that is underlined in the verses below and copied here describes the price that was paid and what was accomplished by My sacrifice. These are truths that Paul wrote about what I accomplished and now offer to you: The Anointed One [Jesus Christ] died for all, for us. The blood of Jesus has made us right with God. We will be rescued by Him from God’s wrath. His [God’s] Son reconciled us by laying down His life We [will] be saved by Jesus’ resurrection life. We stand now reconciled and at peace with God. Paul makes clear that I reestablished all that Adam had ruined by sin. I did it because of the Father’s love and My love. I did it at great cost; I did it for people who did not deserve it. Because I did it, you can now be declared righteous or right with God, liberated from sin, reconciled to God, and brought into a new and eternal life that death cannot end. Verses to Live All the proper sounding religious language in the following verses explains what I purchased for you in My incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. But to put it in the language you use every day, the essence is simple and clear: I loved you too much to lose you, so I paid the ultimate price to reclaim you and bring you home to our Father. You are the Father’s beloved and precious child. I AM your older brother in a family that will be reunited to celebrate glory together because of the Father’s radical grace. (As you read these verses, remember the words in bold describe your condition without My sacrifice and the underlining highlights the price I paid in that sacrifice for you and the eternal benefits for you.) Since we have been acquitted and made right through faith, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King. Jesus leads us into a place of radical grace where we are able to celebrate the hope of experiencing God’s glory. And that’s not all. We also celebrate in seasons of suffering because we know that when we suffer we develop endurance, which shapes our characters. When our characters are refined, we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness. And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was given to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love. When the time was right, [Jesus] the Anointed One died for all of us who were far from God, powerless, and weak. Now it is rare to find someone willing to die for an upright person, although it’s possible that someone may give up his life for one who is truly good. But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display —
03 Sep 2024
May we find relief in the fact that God helps those who are oppressed and in trouble. He is there for those who feel discouraged and don’t know what to do. May we trust in the Lord and see His deliverance. He is able. Psalm 146:5-9.
Daily Prayer for September 3
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, NIV Lord our God, we thank you that you come to help us with your power and might. We thank you that you come to us in our suffering and strengthen us in all we must endure on earth. You help us so that what is good and full of light comes more and more to us and to all people. We thank you and pray that your power, coming from the invisible world into the visible, may continue its quiet working in us until the day when everyone can see Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and into all eternity. Amen. Recent articles on Plough How Do You Know a Christian? Cody Cook Here’s a quick test from the early church. Read now A Deft Poet of Grief Nick Ripatrazone A review of Stephen Sexton’s melancholy and gentle book of poems, If All the World and Love Were Young. Read now The Joy of Watching Football Annie J. E. Reed Does watching sports together fulfill a deep and significant longing? Or is it just plain fun? Read now Jesus Is Coming – Plant a Tree! N. T. Wright In the new creation, the ancient human mandate to look after the garden is dramatically reaffirmed. Read now God’s Grandeur: A Poetry Comic Gerard Manley Hopkins and Julian Peters A comic artist illustrates Gerard Manly Hopkin’s classic poem. Read now
Today’s Verse – Isaiah 9:2
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. —Isaiah 9:2 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… God fulfilled this great promise of the prophet Isaiah with the coming of John the baptizer and Jesus (Matthew 4:15-16; Luke 1:76-79). Jesus came as the Light of the World (John 9:5) to cast out the darkness of Satan, evil, and death (John 12:31). So, as darkness falls tonight, find a street light and capture it in your memory to remind you to do two things every time you see such a light: Thank God for sending his Light, Jesus, to cast out our darkness. Commit to sharing that Light with those you know trapped in darkness. My Prayer… Loving and eternal God, thank you for shining your Light into my heart through Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6). I ask you, dear Father, for the Holy Spirit’s help as I use my words and actions to bless those around me. I want them to see the Light of your grace and salvation that Jesus brings. My heart yearns for others to find their hope in him, your Son, our Savior. So, I pray in Jesus’ name, hoping my influence helps others see Jesus more clearly as the Light for their lives. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Credited as Righteousness
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, The promise of today’s verses focuses on your answer to one question: Do you believe? Do you believe that I AM the Father’s Son and that the Father took My lifeless body and raised Me back to life as the conqueror over sin, death, and hell? Believing that the Father can bring life out of death as well as beauty and order out of nothing is a fundamental aspect of Christian faith. This belief is the kind of faith Paul talks about in the verses you will read today from his letter to Roman Christians. When you base your life on faith in My resurrection, everything changes. However, having faith in My resurrection in the face of life’s most difficult challenges is not easy. Like the philosophers in Athens did with Paul, some in your day will laugh “in contempt” at you because of your faith (Acts 17:32 NLT). You may find yourself doubting, like My apostle Thomas, who wanted physical proof of My resurrection (John 20:24-29). You may find yourself like some of My disciples who “disbelieved for joy” (Luke 24:41 ESV). After all, if something seems too good to be true, then you assume it can’t be true. Some of My disciples doubted all the way up to My ascension (Matthew 28:16-17). You may be like the father who had a son controlled by a demonic spirit (Mark 9:17-29). He wanted Me to help his son… if I could! I told that man, and I am telling you today, “Everything is possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23 NIV). If you struggle with believing in My resurrection, that man’s prayer can become your own: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NIV). The kind of faith the Father calls you to have is not easy, but it is life-changing. This faith also comes with a blessing. When Thomas finally came to faith after I showed Myself to him, he confessed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28 NLT). I told Thomas: “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:29 NLT) I know that believing in My resurrection will be hard for some of you. But please know that your commitment to believe comes with My promised blessing! My closest disciples had been afraid and failed Me during My trials, crucifixion, and burial. However, they were made strong, bold, and fearless when they became convinced of My resurrection by spending time with me after My resurrection. Their testimony was spread across the Roman Empire as they gave their lives to tell the world that My resurrection was true and that they were witnesses of this truth (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:32-36). As Peter so eloquently said to disciples years after My resurrection as they were about to face bitter persecution for their faith: You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9 NLT) Paul explained to the Christians in Rome that the Father counted them as righteous because of their faith. Today, I tell you that your righteousness, your “right standing before God,” comes from the same place that Abraham’s did: faith. For Abraham, the Father credited his faith as righteousness because he believed that the Father could take his old and impotent body and Sarah’s lifeless womb and create a new nation through the gift of a son out of his seed and Sarah’s womb. Like Abraham, your faith is credited as righteousness. All who stand before the Father as His righteous children do so because they believe as Abraham believed. Like Abraham, you believe that your Father “creates out of nothing and holds the power to bring to life what is dead.” You believe that this is what the Father did to raise My dead and lifeless body and liberate Me from the tomb. As Paul wrote: The story of how faith was credited to Abraham was not recorded for him and him alone, but was written for all of us who would one day be credited for having faith in God, the One Who raised Jesus our Lord from the realm of the dead. He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and raised so that we might be made right with God. Your faith in Me is powerful, life-transforming, sin-forgiving, hope-restoring, and righteousness-giving. Verses to Live Paul wrote in the verses below about Abraham’s great faith in the Father Who is also the One Who did the humanly impossible and raised Me from the dead. Your faith in the Father’s action means He receives you as His righteous child! The promise given to Abraham and his children, that one day they would inherit the world, did not come because he followed the rules of the law. It came as a result of his right standing before God, a standing he obtained through faith. If this inheritance is available only to those who keep the law, then faith is a useless commodity and the promise is canceled. For the law brings God’s wrath against sin. But where the law doesn’t draw the line, there can be no crime. This is the reason that faith is the single source of the promise — so that grace would be offered to all Abraham’s children, those whose lives are defined by the law and those who follow the path of faith charted by Abraham, our common father. As it is recorded in the Scriptures, “I have appointed you the father of many nations.” In the presence of the God Who creates out of nothing and holds the power to bring to life what is dead, Abraham believed and so became our father. Against the odds, Abraham’s hope grew into full-fledged faith that he would turn out to
02 Sep 2024
Reliance on Jehovah requires that we believe He is our protector. May we be encouraged when we feel exposed. May we have the confidence that He is our refuge, strength and shield. 2 Samuel 22:1-20
Daily Prayer for September 2
Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger…through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. 2 Corinthians 6:4–5, 8b–10, NIV Dear Father in heaven, you are always near to us on earth, and we thank you for all the love you put into our lives so that we can be joyful, even in all kinds of temptations and struggles. How much you have given us and how often you have rescued us from distress! Again and again you have let the light of life shine out. You give us light not only for the moment but also for the future, enabling us to draw strength and assurance from the present, the past, and the future, to the glory of your name. Amen. Recent articles on Plough A Deft Poet of Grief Nick Ripatrazone A review of Stephen Sexton’s melancholy and gentle book of poems, If All the World and Love Were Young. Read now The Joy of Watching Football Annie J. E. Reed Does watching sports together fulfill a deep and significant longing? Or is it just plain fun? Read now Jesus Is Coming – Plant a Tree! N. T. Wright In the new creation, the ancient human mandate to look after the garden is dramatically reaffirmed. Read now God’s Grandeur: A Poetry Comic Gerard Manley Hopkins and Julian Peters A comic artist illustrates Gerard Manly Hopkin’s classic poem. Read now Farming in Chicago Nathan Beacom Like many cities, Chicago lost its connection to local food cultivation. But the tide is already turning. Read now
Today’s Verse – Psalm 9:1
I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. —Psalm 9:1 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… The words of Jessie Brown Pound’s old hymn, “Will You Not Tell It Today?” say it best: “If the light of his presence has brightened your way, O will you not tell it today?” Prayerfully select someone who needs to know of the goodness and graciousness of God, then please, lovingly, share Jesus with that person. A heart filled with praise to God will not only praise him but will lead others to do so as well. I can’t think of a better example of this than Andrew, who heard about Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was tell his brother Simon Peter and bring him to Jesus (John 1:40-42). My Prayer… O LORD, I praise you from the bottom of my heart. In addition, dear Father, please bless me today as I seek to bring others to know and honor you more fully by following Jesus. In Jesus’ name, I pray, asking for your power and grace to be with me as I seek to lead others to Jesus. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
The Only Way for All
Note from Jesus Dear Believer, No one can rightfully boast about being more righteous than others. No one can rightfully claim to be righteous because of the superiority of his or her race, religious heritage, religious law, or even religious behavior. Each person has failed to be what the Father called people to be. No one measures up to the Father’s righteousness. All people need My sacrifice as the sin-offering that paid for their sins and opened the door for a new way to be righteous based on their trust in Me and in what I did to save them. Paul wanted both Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome to know, and I want people in your day to know, that all “people are justified, that is, made right with God through faith, which has nothing to do with the deeds the law prescribes.” Law-keeping cannot make anyone righteous. The Jews needed to admit this. Law can convict of sin. Law can make clear what the Father’s standards are for people. The law can make clear how they have fallen short. However, law cannot pay the price for sins. Trying to live without the law isn’t better. Non-Jews have to acknowledge this. No one has lived up to the Father’s standards with or without the law. The only way to be righteous before the Father is the same for both Jew and Gentile alike: So since God is one, there is one way for Jews and outsiders, circumcised and uncircumcised, to be right with Him. That is the way of faith. My death satisfied the Father’s justice. I paid the atoning price for sin and provided grace for all who receive the Father’s gift of mercy and grace by faith. For the next several days, you will join Paul as he explains this amazing grace — how it is provided for you out of the Father’s love and how you receive this grace. For today, it is enough for you to know and believe these words of Paul: [T]hat He [God] is just and righteous and that He makes right those who trust and commit themselves to Jesus. That’s the bottom line. That’s the standard of all standards. That’s the ultimate gift of grace purchased through My cross, celebrated at and validated by My resurrection, and received by faith. Verses to Live The words below that Paul wrote to the Romans come after he has strongly emphasized that all have sinned. No one has measured up to the righteousness of the Father. Jews had failed to live up to the Mosaic law. Gentiles had failed to live up to the righteous demands of the Father that they knew in their hearts as true goodness. Every person who has lived has fallen short of being holy and righteous. With the words that follow, Paul began to shift the focus of his letter toward salvation that is found in giving My life as a sin-offering for all people. Salvation is the gift of God’s grace and is accepted by faith. Paul acknowledged that the penalty of Adam’s sin has been passed on to everyone: everyone sins and everyone will die — or meet Me in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Everyone needs mercy and grace, so the Father provided mercy and grace through Me. Now for the good news: God’s restorative justice has entered the world, independent of the law. Both the law and the prophets told us this day would come. This redeeming justice comes through the faithfulness of Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, Who makes salvation a reality for all who believe — without the slightest partiality. You see, all have sinned, and all their futile attempts to reach God in His glory fail. Yet they are now saved and set right by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Jesus the Anointed. When God set Him up to be the sacrifice — the seat of mercy where sins are atoned through faith — His blood became the demonstration of God’s own restorative justice. All of this confirms His faithfulness to the promise, for over the course of human history God patiently held back as He dealt with the sins being committed. This expression of God’s restorative justice displays in the present that He is just and righteous and that He makes right those who trust and commit themselves to Jesus. So is there any place left for boasting? No. It’s been shut out completely. And how? By what sort of law? The law of works perhaps? No! By the law of faith. We hold that people are justified, that is, made right with God through faith, which has nothing to do with the deeds the law prescribes. Is God the God of the Jews only? If He created all things, then doesn’t that make Him the God of all people? Jews and non-Jews, insiders and outsiders alike? Yes, He is also the God of all the outsiders. So since God is one, there is one way for Jews and outsiders, circumcised and uncircumcised, to be right with Him. That is the way of faith. So are we trying to use faith to abolish the law? Absolutely not! In fact, we now are free to uphold the law as God intended. (Romans 3:21-31) When the law came into the picture, sin grew and grew; but wherever sin grew and spread, God’s grace was there in fuller, greater measure. No matter how much sin crept in, there was always more grace. In the same way that sin reigned in the sphere of death, now grace reigns through God’s restorative justice, eclipsing death and leading to eternal life through the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord, the Liberating King. (Romans 5:20-21) Response in Prayer O Father, I believe that You sent Jesus as the sacrifice for my sin. I believe that Jesus is my atoning sacrifice providing what no one else and nothing else but His
Daily Prayer for September 1
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV Dear Father in heaven, open our hearts to see what is good in our lives. May the light in our hearts shine clearly so that we see, recognize, and live in accordance with what comes from eternity and belongs to our true nature, brought to us through Christ. Keep us from being blinded and deafened by experiences that will pass by. Help us to rise above them even in suffering and to wait patiently for what is becoming new and perfect. Praise to your name that we too can say, “The old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Amen. Recent articles on Plough Jesus Is Coming – Plant a Tree! N. T. Wright In the new creation, the ancient human mandate to look after the garden is dramatically reaffirmed. Read now God’s Grandeur: A Poetry Comic Gerard Manley Hopkins and Julian Peters A comic artist illustrates Gerard Manly Hopkin’s classic poem. Read now Farming in Chicago Nathan Beacom Like many cities, Chicago lost its connection to local food cultivation. But the tide is already turning. Read now The Terrible Truth Melissa Ohden The survivor of a botched abortion searches for her mother. Read now Enjoy the Moment Daniel Whyte IV What are we missing when we try to record every experience digitally? Read now