I started this series in October.
Then the world fell apart! Well, just The United States going crazy over an election.
In the midst of all the noise, I was reminded what my government thought of me in 2009, 2012, and now again in 2016.
In the midst of this, I was hit with not being prepared for the path placed before me, being Cancer in my husband. Even this plan has changed, and become up in the air!
Today, I saw a sweet young lady’s tattoo that had a lamb on it, with the words “The Lord is my Shepherd” above it. Interesting way for God to remind me that I need to get back to the work HE has placed before me!
Psalm 23.
I’ve been looking at the meaning of the first words of the first verse.
The.
Lord.
Is.
MY…and I ended with the first part of my understanding of MY.
Here’s a gift for the families, or for folks that want to color, as they meditate upon Psalm 23.
Here’s part two.
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When we want to own something, we go and purchase it.
By paying the cost we free that item from its previous owner, and make it our own.
Sometimes, that is done with the trade.
Our son Stephen has a gift for finding things people want who have things that he wants in order to trade with them and both parties are happy.
There is also the concept of bartering.
Our two daughters-in-love have a system of bartering for clothes and hair care. Some parents barter babysitting. “I’ll watch your kids this week and you watch my kids next week”. Both parties benefit.
The thing is, both parties need to want something from the other. Both parties have to agree upon the value of that item or service or relationship. If the price of one person’s belonging is higher than the other can pay, the owner has the ability to make or break the deal by adjusting, or making provision for the deal, or not. The person in the lesser position is at the mercy of the person with the more coveted belonging.
In the case of salvation I have to want to be set free from my old life and be given a new life in Jesus Christ. That wouldn’t make any difference if God did not want a relationship with me.
In the situation with Jesus, I don’t have enough to buy my salvation. I am so far in the hole that I cannot get myself out in order to purchase my salvation. The rules in the Old Testament prove that we cannot earn our way into heaven. The price for salvation is so immeasurably High that only the owner of that gift can meet the price.
At the time of Adam and Eve, God chose to provide the sacrifice. It was the first time that a life was given for a life. The first blood sacrifice. It was the first death in the garden. That is a serious message about separation from God, and that is the evidence of the cost for sin.
The wages of sin is death.
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
When we have sin in our lives we have enslaved ourselves to sin. Ever notice how easy it is to say yes to sin after you say yes once?
Ever notice how difficult it is to say no once you’ve said yes?
Ever try to only take one bite of a decadent dessert, and not finish it once it is sitting in front of you? I have! on all accounts!
There is an awesome chapter about sin, and slavery to it.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they separated themselves from their relationship with God who would walk in the garden with them normally.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Adam and Eve had never felt the need to hide from God before. Their disobedience (sin) separated them from a pure and free relationship with their creator.
The fact that God created a sacrifice for them or perform the sacrifice for them, shows how great was his desire to be in relationship with his creation. God paid the price on their behalf. Actually, He made the first sacrifice by creating them skins to cover their nakedness.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
And Adam and Eve suffered the consequences of their choices.
23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Adam and Eve were separated from the intimate relationship they had previously enjoyed with God.
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Step One – He paved the way long before we were born;
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Step Two – Recognize we are separated from God by our actions
10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
Step Three – We have to believe.
That is the first part of our part of the price. To believe.
30Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
It’s in the contract:
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Here’s the contract:
16 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.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Unfortunately we don’t even have that much that we can give towards this purchase!
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Back to my analogy:
“The thing is, both parties need to want something from the other. Both parties have to agree upon the value of that item or service or relationship. If the price of one person’s belonging is higher than the other can pay, the owner has the ability to make or break the deal by adjusting, or making provision for the deal, or not. The person in the lesser position is at the mercy of the person with the more coveted belonging”.
We can’t even come up the down payment to believe that we are sinners and we need a savior.
We can’t even muster up the down payment of wanting to have a relationship with God.
God in His grace and mercy saw our poor, wretched selves, and not only did he pay the price with Jesus Christ on the cross, he gave us the ability to say “I want you in my life”.
The point of being able to trade with someone is that both of you have to want the trade. Both of you have to have something that the other one wants. Even if that something is a $20,000 car, and your other person is the car salesman. If you don’t have $20,000 in your account, you can’t buy that car. Sometimes, when the car dealer wants to sell the car to you bad enough, they will actually set up a loan in order for you to be able to pay in parts. It’s not your money that is paying for the car, because you didn’t have any. It is the car dealers money and they are asking you to pay it in steps.
We don’t have enough in our account to pay or earn or by our salvation. The Creator God wanted a relationship with us so badly, it had such value to him, that he chose to pay off our debt. That is salvation.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
He paid a debt He did not owe!
Faith through Grace. IT’S A GIFT!
Which brings me to Step Four – RECEIVE!
GIFT
The other person in a deal can GIFT the item to you. That is the other way a deal can be made!
What is our responsibility in the event of being offered a gift? RECEIVE!
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That will be Part 3 of Psalm 23 – MY
I’ll discuss receiving the gift, not receiving the gift, and the payment plan!
What does this have to do with my one word, prepare?
This is the beginning, the preparation work, the foundation stone for everything else in my life. I hope you will join me!
Team Wildman
Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
I want to thank
- Blue Letter Bible and
- Bible Gateway and
- Bible Hub
for the ability to search the Bible online.
“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest
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