Soul Piercing (Colossians 1:13-14)

Scripture: Colossians 1:13-14 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Who can stand before the infinite God whose Holy glory outshines the sun? Does not His light make our sins more visible… shining on what is obviously born in darkness? Were we not dead… unable to rescue ourselves from the mire of sin which was our nature? Christ-ones, we once fell short of the perfection required by the Holy of Holies in order to stand in His blinding presence. We thought we were decent folk until the Lord reminded us that even our good deeds were like filthy rags to Him. Yet we persisted to justify our selves through comparisons to others, who we considered much worse than ourselves. We compared our so-called righteousness to other people and not to Christ- God’s standard. We tried to become right with God through religion and other self efforts instead of laying down our pride at the foot of the cross. We were undoubtedly self-righteous and proud. The cross was foolishness to us. A stumbling block. Once we began to compare our own so-called goodness with the One whose essence is goodness, we began to see our utter need for the Savior. We began to recognize that we transgressed the law of God daily and made ourselves or our money to be god. We were unwilling to serve the King of Kings. We did not even believe in Him. Did we not also lift up our souls to idols, speak His name vainly, forget to rest in Him, rebel against authority, murder our brothers with our words, commit adultery with our hearts, steal, lie, and desire what we did not have rather than trust and be grateful for our Lord’s provision. Not by our standards but by His we stood in the court room of God, justly condemned by His goodness. We stood up as servants of the Evil one, shaking our fist at our Maker because we were haters of God, liars, thieves, and and adulterers at heart only serving the father of lies. We worshipped demons without knowledge. Our punishment for our alliance with evil was God himself. Eternal wrath was our lot. God’s righteousness burns against all that is unjust and it is His hatred of the wicked from which we needed to be saved. He could not let us (if He were to remain Good) escape from the penaly we deserved because our condemnation was a necessary requirement of his infinite Love. A good Judge requires a penalty to be paid for crimes committed.  But…….that great day upon which we were born from above and believed and repented and trusted our Savior’s work on the cross, God our most merciful and gracious Father rescued us from the domain of darkness. He transfered us into the Kingdom of His marvelous Light- the Light of the world, his beloved Son, Jesus. In Him alone do we have redemption. Jesus paid it all. He stepped into that courtroom and took the consequence for our crimes- the death penalty. The good Judge of the whole earth required our condemnation yet took the penalty for our crimes upon Himself- satisfying His justice and showing off His mercy and grace. His death on the cross at Calvary paid our debt and became our life. Not only did He forgive our sins and set us free from the wrath to come but He imputed to us His very own righteousness. Even while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. It is truly amazing grace- a sweet sweet sound that saved a wretch like me. Oh glorious day, glorious day, when He washed our sins away!

Prayer: Lord, I will forever be in awe of your greatness. I’ll stand or bow or kneel or do whatever you require of me if I can only be in your presence. I am a man of unclean lips and my desires are too often for my own glory and not yours. Despite my self-serving heart you still ran to me when I was far off. Thank you Father for choosing me to be crucified with Your Son. Help me Lord to live and breath and walk after Your Spirit and to seek first the Kingdom and Your rightousness. Please don’t leave me alone for without you I am nothing. I owe my life to you. I am at your disposal. May your will be done in my life. Please draw my sons to you and help me to be the father they want me to be. In Jesus name, Amen.