Day 7 – Choose Life
Two things happened at Jesus’ death and resurrection:
First, Jesus had paid for our sin. It was dealt with. It was paid for! 1Jn 3:5a “…he appeared so that he might take away our sins.”
Second, He made His life available to anyone who wanted to receive it. Eph 2:4-5 “God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ.”
Both were necessary, because if God had simply dealt with sin, although we would be forgiven we would still be spiritually dead – separated from God. But God’s whole plan was to restore us to a proper relationship with Him. He wanted us joined together with Him. For this to happen, He needed to restore our spiritual life. One of the key elements in spiritual life is righteousness.
Righteousness is having right-standing with God, or simply being “right” with Him. 2Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is wonderful news! Our sin is gone and we are in right-standing with God again!
But for us to personally experience these blessings, we need to make a choice. You will remember that back when God created mankind, He gave us the freedom to choose. When Adam and Eve chose death, we all suffered the consequences. So because sin entered because of a choice, righteousness also enters because of a choice.
In this case, the choice is ours individually. When we see what God has done for us in His great plan of redemption, we must choose to receive it personally. Rom 10:9-10 says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” This is not complicated, but it is a decision that each of us must make.
And we have God’s promise that “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved” (Rom 10:13)
Consider:
Have you ever purposefully chosen to receive God’s offer of salvation?
If not, why not?