02/07/2022
devo from Pastor Tim • The bible says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Everyone sins, but not everyone is a sinner. When I ask people to define a sinner, they typically answer, “someone who sins”. While this seems to make sense, the bible teaches otherwise. The popular phrase that a Christian is a sinner saved by grace, is an oxymoron. For a believer to think that way would be like a wife describing herself as a single, married person. You can’t be single and married at the same time and you can’t be a sinner and saved at the same time. The one negates the other. The truth is we were all born in Adam, separated from God, spiritually dead, sinners. We became sinners by birth, not behavior. Jesus drove this point home in His conversation with Nicodemus, in John 3. Jesus told “the teacher of Israel” (quite an accomplishment), that “you must be born again”. Apparently, with all that Nicodemus had done, it did nothing to close the gap between death and life. He was still separated from God. He needed to be born again. He needed a new birth. This new birth comes with a new name…saint. The moment you place your faith in Jesus, you are born again and made a new creation, called a saint. A saint is no longer in Adam, but in Christ. Identity is not about our doing by behavior, but our being by birth. Dear saint, you are a new creation that is joined to Jesus, alive to God, and given a new heart. Knowing who you are because of Whose you are changes everything! It’s His gift by grace and while no behavior could cause it or change it, now behavior can express it!
✝️ Eᴘʜᴇsɪᴀɴs 1:18…I ᴘʀᴀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇʏᴇs ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴍᴀʏ ʙᴇ ᴇɴʟɪɢʜᴛᴇɴᴇᴅ, sᴏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ᴏғ Hɪs ᴄᴀʟʟɪɴɢ, ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪᴄʜᴇs ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴏʀʏ ᴏғ Hɪs ɪɴʜᴇʀɪᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀɪɴᴛs
