JESUS

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 1:21 “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”

Being in pursuit of holiness is simple but oh so hard to keep up. It is the process of sanctification that continues the blessing of our salvation from sin. Jesus cam to save sinners and whoever believes in Him will be saved.

The hardest thing for most to do is to shake off the guilt of sin For some reason we feel we still must be punished for our sin even though we know in our heads that Jesus took our full punishment on the cross. If you feel guilty about nay sin you have committed, you have not repented of that sin. Take a dump and flush your toilet!

Sin has no power over you. The devil can’t make you do it. He can only set up the circumstances whereby it appears to you that you can sin and get away with it. Just think of yourself soaked in lighter fluid and I think you will think twice before you play with a lit match!

Our Lord also saves you from the presence of sin because darkness has no fellowship with light. When I came to Christ I was afraid that I would lose all my friends. Well, thank you Jesus, I lost all my friends! And to my surprise to this moment, the Lord has filled my life with new friends who walk in the light with only the shadow of their old ways following them.

You soon not only forget how to sin you forget what sin is because your whole being; heart, mind and soul are focused on Him alone. I just sing hymns in my head and I don’t even notice the temptations that surround me. I would no more cheat on Jesus that I would my soul-mate wife.

Now with all these pursuits of holiness going on, we are saved from the consequence of sin which may include physical illness, divorce or incarceration to name a few.

Finally, it sinks in that we don’t deserve any punishment because He took it all. Guilt flees and smiles and joy triumphs. What a wonderful name the name of Jesus is! He died our death. Death stung Jesus and died so that we might enjoy eternal life with Him which begins right now in the name of Jesus.