Once Far Off - Now Brought Near

"Christ also suffered, once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God." - 1 Peter 3:18

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." - Ephesians 2:13 

Peter and Paul give us a double knock out punch of grace... in both these passages we see that a believer's status has changed from being unrighteous (Peter) 1 Peter 3:18 and far off (Paul) Ephesians 2:13, to being "brought near" to God. Peter and Paul both attest that this miraculous change of status is because of the suffering and blood of Christ. We who were away from God because of unrighteousness and sin are drawn in close to God through Christ... We who once were His enemies are now His friends... Once strangers - now family... For a believer, Jesus Christ has changed the conversation... From hostility and aloofness on our part and sacrificial love on God's part. Once we were far away from God... but He has brought us near... very near... REJOICE! 

At the Cross We Shrink to Our True Size...

"Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, 'I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.' Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size."

 - John R.W. Stott, The Message of Galatians, London, 1968 

HUMILITY

"There is nothing that will put you in your place, nothing that will correct your distorted view of yourself, nothing that will yank you out of your functional arrogance, or nothing that will take the winds out of the sails of your self-righteousness like standing, without defense, before the awesome glory of God." - Paul David Tripp, "Dangerous Calling",

Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2012, pg.121

Be Careful What You Treasure

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)

   To treasure something is to assign value to it. When we treasure something we are assigning it's worth. When Jesus says that heavenly treasures are to be desired over earthly ones, He is telling us where to assign value -  To delegate "worth."

    The word, "worship" comes from the word, "worth."  "Worth-ship" describes the value we place on something or someone.   So what Jesus is calling us to in the passage is a life of worship (placing Him - the "heavenly things" above all else). 
 So the question is -  "What is Jesus worth?"  
                           - More pointedly, what is He worth to you?   

   Paul Tripp writes this very convicting statement: 
 "Once something is our treasure, it will command our desires and shape
   our behavior."      (Dangerous Calling, 2012, Crossway Books, pg. 103)
                           


My prayer for myself - and for you, is that more and more each day we will see "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."  (Philippians 3:8), 
and that HE will be my treasure.    

"... till we are united to Christ."

"The eyes cannot see what is right, and the ears cannot hear, and the feet cannot guide us in the right way, till we are united to Christ."  - John Calvin, 1509 - 1564