#DailyDevotion If Jesus Isn’t Your Everything Before God, You’re Still A Heathen

Lent Day 19

1 Cor. 1:30 He[God] is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

 

While God is the source of all life, the life in Christ Jesus is the life of God, eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” In Christ Jesus you now possess this life, eternal life. This is a constant them in the Gospel of John. Believing in Jesus is eternal life. It is a present possession. So we can say in death, Christians fall asleep. We don’t experience death like unbelievers.

 

Now Paul continues the theme of giving us the proper humility before God. Our course, acknowledging he is our life in Christ Jesus is a big start.  But now he reminds us Jesus is made our wisdom. It is only meditating on how completely Jesus saved us can we be wise in God. It is in submitting ourselves to God’s will, his way and his thoughts are we considered wise. Any wisdom of our own will fall short in dealing with God and our life in him.

 

Jesus is our righteousness. He have no righteousness of our own before God. We cannot be boasting before God and say look at all I have done. It is written, “All our righteousness is as filthy rags before God.” Our righteousness is unclean. Jesus is the Lord our righteousness. In baptism through faith, Jesus clothes us with his righteousness, with the righteousness of God.

 

Jesus is our sanctification. He separates us as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. His choice of us makes us holy. Christ gives us his holiness. His life in us through faith makes us holy. His Holy Spirit, who makes our hearts his home, also changes us inwardly day by day, renewing us. He gives us new thoughts, desires, affections, speech and actions. He conforms us to the image of Christ Jesus. It is all their work in us to make us holy but ultimately Jesus is our holiness, our sanctification before God.

 

Jesus is our redemption. We could not buy our way into heaven. We could not by our good works or with gold or silver redeem ourselves from sin, death and the devil. The blood Jesus shed in circumcision, the Sanhedrin, Pilate’s court and on the Cross, is the redemption price which saved you.

 

Everything in you which you think you can contribute to your salvation and life in God ends up being nothing. Jesus is your everything in everything before God. Jesus is our boast. How great Thou art the song says and is totally correct.

 

Heavenly Father, we give thanks that in Christ Jesus we have your life and in Christ we have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Always give us this faith which gives us these things that we may stand before you in confidence now and on the Last Day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.