“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” –Ephesians 2:13
I’ve been revising a book I read last year & wanted to share a portion that has stood out to me; especially in light of today being Good Friday. May it remind you of Jesus’ great love & lead you to be in awe of His sacrifice ♥
The excerpts below are taken from pages 33 thru 39 of
“True Worshippers: Seeking What Matters to God” by Bob Kauflin.
“The first couple lived in a world ablaze with God’s presence & glory. Adam & Eve instinctively knew why they had been made. They breathed, ate, slept, played & labored to exalt the goodness & greatness of God. There was no need to exhort human beings to worship — their entire existence revolved around the God who had made them. When they ate the forbidden fruit their worship was redirected. Duped by a serpent, they rejected the gift of worshipping God and chose to worship themselves.
… the Old Testament ends not with jubilant celebration but with the painful realization that all our efforts to bring glory to God result in failure and condemnation [and yet] God continues to invite & pursue. Our inability and God’s grace are on full display. Diety becomes dust, the Maker becomes the maligned, the Creator becomes the cursed. God comes in Christ to restore the relationship that was rejected in the garden. We learn that the greatest gift God gives us is Himself.
… Jesus provides the ultimate statement that He will provide a way for us to worship Him; not only in this life but for all eternity.
Where our offerings are tainted with self-reliance and self-exultation, Jesus empties Himself to bring glory to His Father on our behalf. Jesus’s perfect life, substitutionary death on the cross, physical resurrection, & glorious ascension accuse once and for all that those who trust Him can be numbered among the worshippers of God. … In His sovereign mercy, I turned out to be one of them.
Jesus came to die in my place to give me a gift. Not something I had to earn, prove myself worthy of, or labor to keep. A gift.
He cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” so I would never have to.
Worship never begins with us; it is always a response to the truth. It flows out of an understanding of who God is and what He has done for us in Christ. It begins with His revelation & redemption. ♥”