Soak That Up Real Good

by Alexandra Copeland

There are no words to define to what Jesus Christ has accomplished for humanity. It is beyond revolutionary. Even if one doesn’t believe to the point of accepting the salvation he offers so freely, they would still have to admit that even the very thought of his existence is hope above what any of us deserve. Some people don’t believe in the magnificence of his love because they think it’s too good to be true. Denying themselves of his liberty, they continue to be enslaved by their failure to reach to higher levels of faith. Those of us that do believe in our blessed and powerful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, have given ourselves the greatest gift imaginable.

For a very long time, a prevailing presumption has existed about those of us that are born-again. It is one that suggest Christians believe themselves to be perfect or that we have to be in order to maintain our ‘saved’ status. Rightly so, we are held to a greater standard of conduct, and therefore expected to act a certain way at all times. When we don’t, the chastisement of others is to try and defame our stand as believers and to make it seem as though God’s glue didn’t stick to us because we’ve failed. This isn’t true, but in their minds His glory glue was not strong enough, giving them more of an excuse (as if they needed an excuse) not to try Him for themselves.

Ephesians 2:8(NLT) tells us, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”  The more we know about God, the more thankful we are for His blessings. The more thankful we are about His blessings, the more spiritual capacity we obtain. In other words, our gratitude to God creates greater heart-space for the indwelling Holy Spirit to move and demonstrate his power. Ephesians 2:8 teaches us about the nature of our God. He is full of grace and mercy, and we desperately need it. Adam and Eve bowed to the devil, and in so doing revealed the human propensity to do the same. Their acquiescence to darkness reveals humanity’s true nature when we do not yield to the leadership and guidance of the Spirit of Christ.

God gave us enormous gifts; they come baked into our humanity. He’s also given us the gift of free-will choice, and we can do with His gifts as we choose. Talk about freedom, this is it! But there’s only one problem, and it’s a huge one. The devil, God’s archenemy, wanted what God so freely gave us from the very beginning.  God gave Adam and Eve dominion in the earth. He gave them authority and freedom, and the prince of darkness wanted those things because he wanted all power to himself. He, the devil, plotted to usurp God’s plan of abundance, unity, and blessings for humanity by tricking Adam into forking over the enormous treasure that God had given him. 

The enemy wanted and sought to obtain dominion in the earth. If you’re finding this hard to believe, look at what’s happening right now in our societies. It’s a live and in technicolor fight against evil, just as the bible said it would be. It’s wars, infighting, outfighting—a tooth and nail scramble by the workers of iniquity to take over the world.  

If we had continued in our broken state, without the love of Jesus Christ, the devil would have long ago snuffed out the human race. Our blessed Lord saved us from ourselves. The treasure that Adam and Eve lost was humongous, but Jesus Christ paid for their sin and ours too when he gave his life on the cross. He won back the dominion, authority, abundance, unity, blessings, and tons more through his sacrifice.

It’s not that Christians are so perfect. Without the knowledge of Christ, and without accepting his love, all of us would be goners. He took our place up on that cross.  2Corinthians 5:21 (NLT) says, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” Thousands of years ago we messed up big time, and every Christian that knows and appreciates the grace and mercy of God also knows that we’re still messing up from time to time, but Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave His only begotten son to die for us. It’s not because of our good works, and Ephesians 2:9 puts that ego-trip in check by telling us that we have no right or reason to boast regarding our salvation. We are saved because of God’s nature of love, mercy, and grace. Soak that up real good.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.