07 11 07 Take Me Back Lord

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!
Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings.
For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace……”
(Hebrews 13:8-9)

Those Hebrew Christians the author was writing to were being lured back into the old rituals and traditions of the Jewish faith. We are reminded to follow what we first learned of Christ: grace is a gift from God and we can not earn by any ceremony or ritual act.

Christ and His message has not changed or been adapted over the years. There is still no faith plus works, grace plus giving, or anything else. While we were sinners Christ died for our sins! He sacrificed for us so we no longer had to worry about what we ate, what sacrifice was made for which sin, or what a family did to make God angry. We don’t need to rely on a human priest to make atonement for us or an animal to be offered as our scapegoat. Christ is our perfect blood sacrifice, our scapegoat, our precious Lamb, our High Priest, our Savior and King. He is Lord of lords and Ruler over all. TAKE ME BACK, LORD.

What sense does it make to trust in man, money, or ourselves? Grace is offered free too those of us who choose to believe and repent and allow the Spirit of God to teach us, lead us and use us to His glory. Our faith will produce good works to the glory of God. There is no guarantee of riches, fame, or success here on earth, but there is a promise of peace within our soul and eternal joy in heaven for eternity. We all will have hardships, some more, some less; that’s life! Jesus came that we may have abundant life in Him (perissos in Greek, in the sense of beyond this life): a secure hope for eternal life with Christ in heaven. Remember that day we first believed in His promises? TAKE ME BACK, LORD

Today we find security in our health, our families, our homes, our jobs, our cars, our home alarm system, even in our church building. Real security comes from the personal relationship with the Savior: knowing He has me and all my problems in the palm of His hand. He does stick closer than a brother. He is born for adversity. He will never leave me nor forsake me. He is my Rock and my Redeemer. He’s my God. I trust Him.

Andre Crouch wrote a song that said “Take me back; I wanna’ go back; to the day when I first received You.” I want to go back to the day I first received Him……every day I want to be right there. Just as innocent, just as trusting, just as sure. Jesus hasn’t changed one bit. We tend to move away. TAKE ME BACK LORD, back to the innocent and trusting faith.