Today Tirzah’s 3 month birthday…. i asked Ryan if he had any thoughts… He said, “Well, we’re three months closer to our eternity… to seeing her again.”
How true… I think the past three months I’ve been living more “in light” of Eternity then ever before…. the reality of my own *imminent* death (because really, compared to eternity, isn’t ALL of our deaths *really* imminent??)
In celebrating Tirzah’s life and birthday today, my one request, is for you to consider your own soul… and your own eternity.
To the person who thinks only of this lifetime and says: ” I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’… God says to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you,…” (Luke 12:19-20)
How do we know that anyone of us could have our soul “required” of us this very day….
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ~ Mark 8:36
How do we secure our souls for eternity? Mark 1:15 says,” repent and believe in the gospel.”
This is the Gospel: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ~Romans 5:8
When Jesus died on the cross He became the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)
And this is the promise that His death purchased for those who come to Him… the only requirement is **COMING** : “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” ~ Psalm 103:12.
This is a once-for-all-time transaction, the moment we come to Christ in faith. THEREFORE, we can have BOLD ASSURANCE on the day we stand before God. **KNOWING** that our sins have been removed from us… We will not bear our sins upon us in God’s court of Law on the day we stand before God’s judgment. We know that Christ bore our sins, and our penalty… and therefore, we know that we shall be declared **INNOCENT** and ushered into His Kingdom.
The invitation is open to ALL: “Come!” ~ Revelation 22”:17
{this is my addendum, which I thought good to add! Can enough ever be said of the Gospel of Salvation??}
Who can stand before The Lord God and before His Throne?
Psalm 24:4 asks this question, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?”
And answers: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”
Which of us can say that we have clean hands and a pure heart??
Jesus says that if we hate, then we are murderers at heart…. If we look on another person with lust, we are adulterers at heart… Matthew 5:22 says, “whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” Who of us has not done that?? Each one of stands before God as a murderer, a thief, an adulterer… and that’s just a start!
But God being *RICH* in mercy, has provided a way for us to be redeemed…
Just as Jesus took on our sin, to bear our punishment…. We take on His righteousness, as a cloak or garment, to bare his purity. This is known as **THE GREAT EXCHANGE**
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.~ 2 Corinthians 5:21
Isaiah 61:10- I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness…. {which is the righteousness of Christ!}
delight of my life 
Thank you, Catherine for reminding me of our Father’s words. Love you.
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I’ve been thinking of your previous description of Tirzah’s simple obedience to God’s call to come. Sometimes we make obedience more difficult than it needs to be. I thank God for Tirzah’s example!
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