Sunday, September 30, 2012

Alienated or Reconciled?

(I'm happy to be participating in the GoodMorningGirls.org Colossians Bible study this fall! Here's just a bit of what I'm getting from this wonderful study. Check out their blog for more information or to join in on future studies!)

Alienated.  Not a pretty word. Images of a solitary confinement and concentration camps flood my mind as I ponder the meaning of this chilling word.

Alienated. That’s what I was once… before Christ.

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. BUT NOW he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Colossians 1:21-22 NIV (emphasis added)

But now… those two little words in the middle of the passage change everything. They erase the alienation and reconcile me to God. Through Christ’s death, my account has been cleared! Reconciled! The debt has been paid!

Because of what Jesus has done, three things have happened:

1.     I am now holy in God’s sight.

2.     I am “without blemish” – clean, pure, whiter than snow.

3.     I am free from accusation.

Matthew Henry’s commentary says it best: “There was such value in the blood of Christ that, on account of Christ’s shedding it, God was willing to deal with men upon new terms to bring them under a covenant of grace.”

Ever heard the old hymn “There’s Power in the Blood”? When we were kids, my brother and I used to joke around in church and make a muscle every time we sang the word “power.” But it’s no joke, friends. There is such POWER in the blood that I am free from accusation! I am clean! When God looks at my account, He sees a reconciled balance. The debt has been paid by the precious blood of Jesus!  

I don’t know about you, but when I truly meditate on this truth, it brings me to my knees and causes me to praise God for all He has done on my behalf. Have you placed your trust Jesus alone for salvation?

Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood.
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood!


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