Author: mary

“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace,” Ephesians 4:3 says. It is important as Christians to be peacemakers. Jesus was a peacemaker. See, Christ holds everyone together in perfect unity with his peace. While the enemy pursues us and longs to bring strife into our lives, our families and our churches, Jesus helps us remain peaceful through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Peace is the opposite of strife, a peacemaker is someone who is always looking toward the good of others and not seeking to cause ripples and someone else’s life.

Imagine what would happen if we began making an effort to keep ourselves united in our families, our churches, and our communities. God could do some amazing things! The end goal is always to bring people to Christ. So when we are unified, we are able to bring the Gospel to the people around us!

Ephesians 3:14-15 states, “When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.” When you think about your relationship with God, What comes to your mind? Is it how he rescued you from your sins? Is it how you can talk to him, or study His word and get to know him better? Or is God just something that you believe in, But nothing more than that?

This verse describes how the author falls to his knees. When thinking about the Lord, and all he has done. You can tell that, for the author, Paul, his Christian life means everything. Paul knew what it meant to live without God. So he was so thankful to live with God. What do you have to lose? There are so many benefits to living this Christian life both here on earth and heaven.

The call of the gospel of Christ is a call that is for everyone. Romans 1:5-6 says, “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Jesus came to free both the Jews and the Gentiles. His gospel does not discriminate but instead includes anyone who would deny himself (or herself) and follow Him.

That’s the thing about God. He created all, He sees all, and loves all. Does that mean He loves the sin? NO! The gospel is meant to take away sin if the sinner confesses to Christ. Sin is opposite of who God is; therefore, it cannot live in His presence. The world would tell you that God loves all, so we can live however we want. While the first part is true, the second part is not. It is because of His love for mankind that He sent His Son to die for our sins, that we might choose Him over our sins.

So the first part of what we should tell others about God is that He loves man, every person from every country around the world no matter their past sins. However, He does not love the sins in their lives, so He made a way for man to be with Him without their sins. Praise Him for that!

Romans 1:17 says, “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed-a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.'” To the world, the word righteousness is another word for “far right” or extremists. To society, it is an impossible and daunting task to live by faith. To live a righteous life is not something that the unsaved are interested in doing.

So why live a righteous life? Several reasons come to mind. First, God reveals Himself to those He loves and calls His own. His glory is worth more than anything we can ever receive on this earth. Second, living a righteous life will save the believer from a harmful lifestyle. Sin and unrighteousness bring about destruction and heartache. They send someone into a downward spiral until they no longer recognize themselves. Even if it is just a little compromise, they begin a journey toward a sinful lifestyle when they give in just a little. Righteousness brings about joy and peace. This verse says that in order to live a righteous life, the believer must first have faith. It is the first step to righteousness. Faith is “belief and trust in and loyalty to God,” according to Webster’s Dictionary. When you trust in the Lord, you will find that joy and peace you are looking for.

Spend some time praying today and ask Him to give you faith and help you lead a righteous life.

Before Jesus came to earth, the law was used to show the Israelites how to live. Romans 3:20 says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” The law is the mirror for the Christian. It shows them the depths of their sins. The ugliness of sin is exposed by the law and righteousness. This was the purpose of the law.

However, the law was never meant to save anyone. No one is righteous, so no one could be saved through the law. When Jesus came to earth, the Pharisees and Saducees thought that He had come to abolish or do away with the law; however, it was the opposite. He came so that the law may be fulfilled. The law was meant to point us to Jesus.

While the law gives us how to live, we need to make sure that we don’t get caught up in living to please the law, but instead living to please the Lord through Jesus Christ.