I am sorry it has been so long since I posted anything! I have a little catching up to do!
We had a fun Thanksgiving with some friends that live. We drove to their place in another city on Thanksgiving morning, and drove home that Saturday afternoon. Our time was filled with sledding (being pulled behind the pick-up truck on sleds - very fun!), a trip to a National Monument, and of course, eating!
We had a good Christmas, too! My dad and I got to lead worship for one of our Christmas Eve services. That was great! :) I also got to play guitar for the chapel my dad did at the hospital on Christmas. On December 30, my dad and I went to a Christmas/New Year's Ball. That was really fun!
We have gotten a lot of snow within the last two weeks. I love the snow! It is so pretty! Just like how a snowflake flows freely from the sky, also, God's grace is given to us freely covering over us and making us as white as snow.
Isaiah 1:18 says, "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'"
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works so that no one can boast." Where does this grace come from? From God - no one can gain their salvation. It is only by the grace of God.
Romans 3:23-24 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Do we deserve this grace? No, way! "ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, why, then would the God who created the universe, who is absolutely perfect in every way, who has never, ever sinned, offer "justification freely by his grace"?
Jesus came as a baby, was born in a stable, and slept on hay. From the very beginning of his life someone was out there who wanted to kill Him. He knew that would happen, but came anyway, and died for their sins, too. He knows everything, but didn't go around and boast about it. He cared for those that others did not.
He died for every person who had lived or would live on earth. He paid for every sin. Why?
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." ~John 3:16-17
He came because He loves you, and He wants to save you from eternal punishment.
Through Jesus, our hearts can be made as white as snow.
So, next time it snows, think about the grace of God, and His great love for you. There is no one, no one, who loves your more than Him.
"Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." ~Psalms 51:7b
Do we deserve this grace? No, way! "ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, why, then would the God who created the universe, who is absolutely perfect in every way, who has never, ever sinned, offer "justification freely by his grace"?
