Christ was appointed before the foundation of the world to provide salvation for all who are contaminated by sin, not being like God. This plan came to fruition in the last days when Jesus Christ came to the world in the form of a child. Through Christ’s miraculous exploits during his earthly ministry we see the manifestation of God, the Creator of all things. We who trust in Jesus and his salvation power have placed our hope of life forever in his loving hands. We know He was raised from the grave by the authority of God, breaking the power of death over the flesh. Since we have by faith vicariously accepted his death and resurrection as ours, we are made into new creatures with eternal life within us: the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our souls. We read in the word: And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:11) As new creatures, designed by God to be holy, we possess an earnest and passionate love for our fellow believers who are also new creatures in the likeness of Jesus Christ. We love one another deeply, from the heart. Our lives as born again people are no longer fixated on the servitude to the flesh, for we are truly born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. We are eternal in nature, not structured according to the finiteness of this world, with death like grass, here for a while, but soon the vitality of life will vanish and its glory will fail, shriveling into nothingness. But our lives are forever, for Christ is eternal. We are hidden in him. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3-4) As the word will never cease, so we will never cease. Heaven and Earth can pass away, but we will never pass away, for we will be with God. This is our hope when we trust in Christ; God’s plan from the beginning of time. With joy we trust in his way, understanding our existence as eternal with a knowledge of God and his righteousness, exactness, purity. By faith in Christ, with boldness we can enter the chambers of the Most Holy, as his children, adopted forever into his family.
Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6) Peter says, Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, love from your hearts. How do we obey the truth to obtain this purification? Perfect purity comes from the absolutely pure one: God. We have minds with great abilities and possibilities. Otherwise, our minds are fantastic. Even as you read this breakfast, focused on its content, your mind accepts and processes other information. You possess an acute awareness of your surroundings: sounds, colors, comfort, distractions, and so much more. Sensory input is constantly in action. The neurons in your brain incessantly fire: receiving, interpreting, categorizing, and sending input throughout your neuro system. If your chair is uncomfortable, your mind sends that signal. If there is noise in the other room, your brain processes that. Even though you desire to pay complete attention to this devotional, you are not able to control your mind to focus only on the words in front of you. The input you receive from the words is processed too slowly for the fabulous computer in your head. Consequently, the expansive energy of your neurotransmitters receives information other than what you are reading. You may be unconscious of your mind’s processes, for they occur faster than nanoseconds. At times, this ability of our brains to take in a myriad of thoughts all at once troubles us, as our minds seem to spin out of control, piling up information. Some of this input is not supportive to our spiritual well-being. In some situations, we feel swamped with critical, angry thoughts; thoughts we do not desire to hold to ourselves. Even when we are performing a spiritual activity, picking up manna for the day, our minds might be battling fear, anxiety, doubt, impurity. But we ought not condemn ourselves, for true holiness is not our work but a work of God—a faith work. Our minds of the flesh are wonderfully made, but they are not holy. Our exposure to a fleshly world and its ideas keeps us from perfection, total godliness. Consequently, we must receive Christ’s perfection, his purity, in place of an uncontrollable mind of firing neurons. IN CHRIST we inherit rightness with God, paid for by Jesus’ blood on the cross. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:47-51) No one will see God in us without the bread that comes down from heaven, Jesus Christ. Partaking of that bread makes us holy, right with God. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. We are not the bread; our supposed purity does not open the gates to heaven. As we have seen, our minds are too elaborate and too active to be right with God in the flesh at all times. Consciously or subconsciously, we cross over the plum line of purity, righteousness, perfection. God never varies or moves from perfection. Therefore, we need a Savior who is God, perfect in every way; in thought and action.
Time dictates how long we will live in the flesh. Even the healthiest of us will die sometime. Peter quotes from Psalm 103 when he writes that people are like grass and the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall. But he knows that when we deal with God, we are dealing with timelessness, with existence that has no beginning, no ending. When we approach God by faith, we enter that domain of spacelessness, timelessness. There are no boundaries around God. We who become alive IN CHRIST have no boundaries; we extend as far as the farthest galaxies for we abide IN GOD. In God, we are without boundaries and do not have the dictates of time on our souls. We become as He is: embedded in his nature. Christ, who is our Savior, is our Lord today and forever. The Bible says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5) His perfection is always the same. He is not partially perfect or exact, or almost perfect and exact—He is forever perfect and exact. We too take on that nature when we are found by faith IN CHRIST. Our metamorphoses into his likeness and nature will be fully realized when we see Jesus. As Christians we know God has given us special names, and under those names, ascribed to us by God because of Christ’s works, will be the words: perfect, holy, complete. God is a good Father, and all of his children will be honored as being a good work—a perfect, holy, complete work. We who were once corrupted by sin, headed for the garbage pile of eternal damnation, have been salvaged, redeemed. We are saved not just to survive in a quasi-state of existence, living outside of the intimate presence of the Creator. No, our forever existence with the Father God will be much more than just existing. For we who are free from the shackles of sin will be everlastingly free with him in his household. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. (Romans 6:22 KJV) As Peter says, this is the word of truth that was preached to all who would hear from the beginning. The just shall live by faith. (Habakuk 2:4, Romans 1:19) Believers embrace this enduring truth to be told forever, for the word of the Lord does endure forever.
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