January 30, 2014

The saints in New Testament Bible days experienced the reality of the life of Christ. They experienced by faith the resurrected life of their Lord and Savior. It was not the letter…not words on a piece of paper, but a life that they knew on the inside and a life that they could live and fellowship with daily. Jesus was real to them. They lived for God through great trials and sufferings but never complained. Rather they counted it all joy to suffer for Christ’s sake. They allowed themselves to be stoned, thrown into lion dens, boiled in oil, and never raised their voice to God for deliverance. They learned that in their worse hour, God could be trusted. They lived so that He could get the glory out of their lives. They learned that when they were weak, God would be their strength. They believed in His love for them. They lived in the reality of His presence at all times. Jesus was their joy, their peace, their strength, their life. They had the faith to believe that because Jesus suffered and overcame, they too could suffer and overcome. They learned, beloved, that real, genuine life came only when they were willing to give up life the way they knew it and live by faith the new life that comes by way of the cross and the empty tomb.