We still celebrate THE GREAT VICTORY,
Christ conquered death and the grave.
He rescued with deep, redemptive love,
Erasing Hell’s darkened way.
All of mankind was bought with a price,
He paid our debt, paving a way eternally.
For His dear children, in His image He made,
To walk in LIBERTY.
Resurrection power we still celebrate!
Our Savior, or lives now changed.
Yet the relationship doesn’t end right there,
Our daily walk with God remains.
What are the fruits of His image produced?
Is godly, submissive obedience seen?
Are we living only unto our own selves,
As if we didn’t need our King?
Our lives are not granted for our own will,
But to Him we must daily give.
Surrender to what He is calling for,
MY heart to obediently live.
Wendi Maddox
~Author’s Look
So there it is, we are free to walk in obedience to God! Probably not the most popular thing that I could say, but one that is utmost in truth. We, me, you, us are all who Jesus died for and made a way for salvation. Last week was Easter, and we celebrated that redemption power BIG, for it is a beautiful freedom we now have because He laid down His life to pay the debt that we owed. He resurrected to New Life, and we too can walk in ours, seeing how we were made in His image and must do as He does.
Bear His Fruits
The life we live is not our own to just do with as we please. We owe to God the very breath that we breathe, and we show it in our submission to Him. He has a way that is higher than the ways of this Earth, and He wants to see His children, who were made in His image to bear His fruits.
It matters what we do every day in our thoughts, decisions and actions. This does not point to works or perfection, because God is not interested in that. His interest lies in the beauty of His redeemed child coming to Him to seek His ways over their own and becoming a vessel He can pour into for His purpose.
II Corinthians 5:15 (KJV). . .And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
It’s Our Choice
Human self will does not like this, as it goes against our grain. We don’t like to be directed or told what to do, and feeling like a free agent can get our egotistical feathers fanned high. It’s true, we are free in Christ to choose how we live and who we are submitted to . . . God our ourselves. In all of that choosing, we have to keep in mind, that we do nothing on this Earth without the help of God, even the next breath that we take. Dependence is there and redemption is there, to remind us that we are not our own, but we are His, and He created us in his image to reflect HIS glory.
Acts 17:28 (KJV) . . .For in Him we live, and move and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Made in His Image
I heard a message by Victor Jackson this week on his podcast, Bible Centered with Victor Jackson that flowed with the thoughts I was having. In this podcast episode, “The Complexities of Eternity”, Bro. Jackson was talking about the Sadducees trying to entrap Jesus in his own words, so they brought up taxes and Caesar. Jesus asked for a coin, and then ask them whose image was on that coin. When they replied with “Caesar”, Jesus answered . . Matthew 22:21 (KJV) . . . Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God, the things that are God’s.
Bro. Jackson explained how Jesus was telling them to pay their taxes, with the coins that bear the image of who the debt is owed. We were made in the image of God, and we are to give to God what is God’s, which is a life surrendered to Him, doing things His way and bearing the fruits of one made in His image. Eternity is touched by this kind of humility.
The question for each of us today is . . .what kind of fruit am I producing? Does it bear the image of God, or of myself? May we all take a moment to look inside of ourselves and know that we are living unto HIM, who died for us, and rose again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzcILLh6UZo
My Life Is Not My Own!