Tuesday, April 6, 2010

LastCall: Easter means we're acceptable to God -Daily Hope

Easter means we're acceptable to God
by Rick Warren

God gave Jesus to die for our sins, and he raised him to life, so that we would be made acceptable to God (Romans 4:25 CEV).

" It is Christ's goodness in you that makes you acceptable. You're not perfect, but he is. "

Jesus' death and resurrection make us acceptable to God.

Would you be surprised to know that most people do not accept themselves? I've been a pastor now for over 30 years and I've talked to tens of thousands of people, and I've found that most people really don't like themselves inside. They wish they were different. They wish they looked different. They wish they acted different.

We don't accept ourselves and so we spend our lives trying to find acceptance among other people; but even more important than being accepted by other people is being accepted by God. That's a problem. Why? Because God is perfect and you're not. And neither am I. 

God lives in a perfect place called heaven, so God has a problem. How does he get imperfect people into a perfect place where he is perfect? (Because, obviously, if he allowed imperfect people in a perfect place it wouldn't be perfect anymore.) God has to come up with a plan for imperfect people to be able to live in a perfect place.

God's plan is what I call "The Great Exchange."

The Bible says, "God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us!" (2 Corinthians 5:21 LB).

I don't know how to make it any clearer than to say it like this: You're never going to be good enough to get into heaven because it's perfect and you stopped being perfect a long time ago. It is Christ's goodness in you that makes you acceptable.  You're not perfect, but he is. So God says, "We'll do an exchange here. Jesus will take your sins and you get my goodness in your life." That's quite a deal!

A lot of people feel trapped by their past. They say, "If you knew what I've done, you'd know I'd never be acceptable to God." I don't know what you've done, but God does and he still accepts you: "God says he will accept us and acquit us—declare us 'not guilty'—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like" (Romans 3:22 LB).

Devotions with Emotion

Michael James Stone

Fair Use Notice

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work herein is archived under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in reviewing the included information for personal use, non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Jesus  is Coming Very Soon.

“CLASSIC CHRISTIAN POSTS WILL NO LONGER BE POSTED WITH LAST CALL.”

They can still be found Mon-Fri here at The Classic Christian and Michael James Stone

­CLASSIC CHRISTIAN LINEUP

“My Prayer”

Daily Light

A.W.Tozer

Streams in the Desert

My Utmost for His Highest

God Calling

Spurgeon

Affiliate Sites

The Old Time Gospel     Sermon Index    

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

The material is being made available in an effort to understand scripture, news, technology and society especially as it relates to God and Jesus. It is specifically for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. This is a completely non-commercial site for private personal use. No fee is charged, and no money is made off of the operation of this site. Nor is any implied reciprocal gratuities implied or construed.

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest