Are you urgently witnessing for Jesus knowing that judgment looms?
3 Jan 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
Genesis 6
Genesis 7
Genesis 8
Matthew 3
And did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5).
Are you urgently witnessing for Jesus knowing that judgment looms?
God sees the widespread wickedness of mankind and says, “Enough.” He limits the duration of time until the worldwide flood at 120 years (Genesis 6:3). Yet Noah, who finds favor from God, not only builds an ark in obedience to the Lord but also preaches to a sinful world for 120 years. No wonder he is placed next to Job and Daniel as a model saint (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). Another preacher, John the Baptist, comes with an urgent message. His words are penetrating; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). Eternity is just around the corner. Let’s heed Paul’s words, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).
Employment Point: Proclaim Jesus to the lost, because judgment is coming.
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Reflections
We saw how God was angry with His own creation and finally decided to wipe out every human being He created, except for Noah. Noah has stand out from the rest of mankind as He has been found righteous.
The Lord had used Noah to restart the world and Noah allowed himself to be used by the Lord for
His higher purpose. The full obedience and faith that Noah carries is something that is of learning value. He built an ark by faith and by the command of the Lord. He never questioned God’s sanity or authority.
“Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground,”
Genesis 7:8 NIV - in this verse, we saw how God also saved unclean animals from His wrath. It was never about who they are in the first place, as God loves everyone. Similarly for us, God loves everyone and wishes for all to be save. For us, we need to have the courage to proclaim this good news to the people we meet, allow the truth to be told, share why we believe in Him. We have to bear good witness to the people around us, sharing why this God is so different from the others.
_Father may You guide the words in our mouth and our thoughts so that we will only say what is encouraging and loving to the people around us. Help us to minister to them and guide them to You. Thank You Lord_🙏🏻
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The Grace of God’s Forgetting
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
January 03
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. —Ephesians 2:8
No one can be saved by their own efforts. We have the sneaking idea that we can earn God’s favor by praying or by believing, by obeying or by repenting. But the only way we get into his favor is by the free gift of his almighty grace.
It takes some of us a long time to understand that we don’t deserve to be saved, and that nothing we do can make us deserving. We say to God, “I really am sorry for what I’ve done. I really am sick of myself.” If only this were true! We have to become sick to death of ourselves, even to the point of despair, even to the point where we can do nothing. Then we will be in the exact right state for receiving his overflowing grace. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
Think of what God’s forgiveness means: it means he forgets away all our sins. Forgetting, in the human mind, may be a defect; in the divine mind it is an attribute. God illustrates it through vibrant images drawn from his creation: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist” (Isaiah 44:22).
When we think of forgetting in human terms, we place limits on God’s grace that don’t exist. His overflowing grace never ends. When God forgets our sins, he forgets them completely: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). This is the grace of God’s forgetting.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure.
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Reflections
God chose to forgive us. Similarly we are saved by grace not of our own doing but simply because of His grace to us. It was never about who we are, what good we did or what merits we accumulated. Salvation comes to all even to the murderers. Remember the one who was nailed on the cross next to Jesus? He was worthy of death but Jesus looked past all those things and said he can come along with Him to heaven.
Reminds me of what I wrote earlier when Noah has to bring all clean and unclean animals into the Ark. He just did all these out of obedience to the Lord. And me, I am those unclean animals that the Lord chose to save by His grace. I was unworthy for whatever I had done in the past and I don’t feel deserving either. But you know what? God is good, all the time. By His blood He wiped away our sins and made us new. No other man or god has love me this much. The same for you too.
I don’t think the Lord forgets but He allows it to pass and not affect anything. He didn’t allow our past to come and judge us or affect how He is going to mould us. He even understands us, just as we are, and still accepts us, just as we are. He never once tells us to go to Him only when we are better or has became a better person. That was never His criteria. His only criteria is we go to Him and believe in Him and proclaim Him to be Lord.
So Father, help us to remember what Jesus did for us. Help us to recognise who we are and be thankful that You Lord is gracious and merciful to us.
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