Rosemarie Olson

Sin entered the world through Adam. Since we could never enter the presence of a Holy God, Jesus was willing to pay the price for our sins. If Jesus had not been willing to pay this price, I would have been eternally separated from God. Jesus died in my behalf and bridged the separation caused by sin. I am made acceptable through Him. I remember attending a chlld evangelism meeting in which the speaker showed us a red piece of paper, and told us that that was our sins. Then he took a piece of red celophane and said that was Jesus' blood. When he put that piece over the red paper, it showed up as white. That helped me to understand how God could look at me, and not see my sin. It was because of what Jesus did for me.

People get upset about being judged because they don't want anyone telling them that they are wrong in what they are doing. They feel they have a right to do as they wish without anyone telling them anything different. We live in an age where they feel that anything they want to do is o.k., and no one has the right to challenge that. Final judgement is reconciled with God's love because He is the Creator, and has provided a covering for His children. The core of the Gospel is that a substitue has been provided to cover our sins, and if we don't accept this provision, we are thereby judged guilty and separated from God. The Gospel is bypassed if the final judgement is left out or ignored.

Holiness is having a heart towards God. Wanting to do His will and live obediently. We are made holy by the blood of Jesus who died in our behalf. It is not something that comes about by anything we strive for. Self "holiness" is described in the Scriptures as filthy rags. My biggest struggle with holiness is my self!

Christ's return should get our undivided attention because He said it would come to pass. It inspires hope because we know He does what He says, and He will never go back on His Word. It inspires self-control and soberness because Jesus' return could come at any time, and we remember the story about keeping our lamps trimmed and ready at all times. When we get to the place that we don't think Christ will come soon, we get spiritually lazy and this world becomes our focus.

The inexpressible and glorious joy comes from knowing what God has done for us through the obedience of Jesus Christ to go to the cross to pay for our sins in spite of the fact that there isn't a worthy bone in us anywhere. It certainly is emotional for me. I have never been able to take communion without misty eyes, just thinking about what Jesus went through for me. Knowing that without this action from God the Father, and God the Son, I would be really doomed forever. Jesus didn't go through a "demonstration" for me. He died in my place. How could that not evoke emotion? It differs from the pursuit of "happiness" because the joy doesn't depend on anythiing other than God's provision. This is not something I pursue, but something I accept as a glorious gift. It doesn't depend upon me. It depends upon God alone. The genuine article doesn't waver or change. It isn't here one day and gone the next. It doesn't show up during only happy times but in hard times as well. It doesn't depend on what I do or what I don't do. It is constant and unchanging. The counteteit is fickle and changeable. It is not trustworthy.

Yes, I have been through some very hard times. Who hasn't? I caused my own hard time because I thought that God would bless my plan, rather than check the plan out with Him before I took the leap. In spite of this, God removed me from the situation eventually.......after many months going through the courts of this world for the "surgical" removal of the problem. I had people telling me to "name it and claim it" in order to keep the situation intact. However, I decided to give the problem to Him, and ask for His help in doing the right thing. Too bad I didn't do this beforehand. Anyway, there were some very difficult days, yet I found a joy and calm that I didn't know existed before that. Of course, there were many tears too. I found that tears were o.k., they just needed to be controlled so I would set the timer for 10 minutes, and when the timer went off, I'd wipe my eyes, blow my nose and get on with life. I also put a special message on my license plate of the car, and I would be reminded every time that I returned to my car, that God had caused me to be glad. I have had many people talk to me because of that licence plate, and that give me the opportunity to witness to them about the love of God. Another thing that I did was to play Scripture cassettes at night when I went to bed. I would lie there and listen to God's Word as I fell asleep. It was very comforting, and I remembered the Scripture that says, "He sent the Word and it healed them." Some mornings I would wake up singing Scripture choruses. It takes God to help you sing during very dark days.

The Bible describes the life that is more committed to earth than heaven, as being carnal. That is living more for the flesh than for the spirit. It takes a daily dying to self and feeding the spirit. It is very easy to get caught up with the affairs of this world. We tend to think that we are never going to leave, and act accordingly. I don't think that there is a Christian alive that doesn't struggle with this problem. To get our priorities straight, we have to repent and ask God to help us keep on the narrow path by reading the Word, prayer, and seeking out Christian friends for support.

God's part is providing the atonement for our sins. Our part is to accept or reject this plan.

Obedience is the flipside of forgiveness. A grateful heart wants to obey because of the wonderful gift of forgiveness. No amount of "works" can pay for this. We can say we are saved by grace because that is what it takes to get forgiveness. However, it isn't forced upon us. It must be accepted as the wonderful gift it is. The works are evidence of a grateful heart.