Tag Archives: God sent his Son

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Journey Toward Unselfishness

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. . . I die daily [I face death every day and die to self]. – 1 Corinthians 15:31

Selfishness is not learned behavior; we are born with it. The Bible refers to it as “sin nature.” Adam and Eve sinned against God by doing what He told them not to do, and the sin principle they established was forever passed to every person who would ever be born. God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins, and to deliver us from them. He came to undo what Adam did.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, He comes to live in our spirit, and if we allow that renewed part of us to rule our decisions, we can overcome the sin nature in our flesh. It doesn’t go away, but the greater One Who lives in us helps us overcome it daily (see Gal. 5:16). That does not mean that we never sin, but we can improve and make progress throughout our lives.

I certainly cannot say I have overcome selfishness entirely—none of us can on this side of eternity. But that doesn’t mean we don’t do everything we can to grow closer to God and die to our selfishness. We can have hope of improving daily. I am on a journey and, although I may not arrive, I have determined that when Jesus comes to take me home He will find me pressing toward this goal (see Phil. 3:12–13).

The apostle Paul made the following statement: . . . It is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me (Gal. 2:20). Paul meant that he was no longer living for himself and his own will, but for God and His will. I was greatly encouraged when I discovered through study that Paul made this statement approximately twenty years after his conversion. Learning to live unselfishly was a journey for him, just as it is for everyone else. Paul also said, . . . I die daily . . . (1 Cor. 15:31). In other words, putting others first was a daily battle and required daily decisions. Each of us must decide how we will live and what we will live for; and there is no better time to do so than right now.

Trust in Him Are you pressing toward the goal of living for God rather than yourself? Dying to yourself is a process that you can improve daily. Trust God to give you the strength to die to yourself daily.

 

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – God’s Gift to Us (Part 1)

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For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. —John 3:17

When you’re a child, Christmas is all about receiving gifts. In December, your head is swimming with nothing but images of your favorite toys.

But the true message of Christmas is not the presents we give to one another. The true meaning is the gift that God gave to us, His Son Jesus Christ.

During the next two days, I want to point out to you three things about the gift God gave to us in that tiny manger in Bethlehem.

The first thing we want to realize about God’s gift to us is that it came in simple wrapping. Some people will go to great lengths to wrap presents beautifully. But God’s gift came to us not in beautiful, ornate wrapping, but in a dirty manger found in a cold cave in a little-known town called Bethlehem.

That’s the beauty of the Christmas event. Jesus took His place in a manger so that we might have a home in heaven. The Savior was not wrapped in satin sheets, but in common rags. There in a manger rested the greatest gift in the plainest of wrapping.

The second thing I want to point out about God’s gift to us is that we don’t deserve it. Consider this: God gave us the ultimate gift of His Son Jesus Christ while we were still sinning against Him (see Romans 5:8).

We did nothing whatsoever to merit or deserve His gift. That is the amazing truth of Christmas. Despite who we are, God sent His Son so “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

With Christmas just days away, begin to prepare your heart for the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Meditate on the fact that Jesus was born to die so that we might live.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie –At the Right Time

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When the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. —Galatians 4:4

By nature, I tend to be an impatient person. I’m one of those guys who, when the pizza comes, doesn’t wait for it to cool off. I start eating it immediately. Of course, I have burned the entire roof of my mouth that way. But I just can’t wait.

In this day and age when everything moves so fast, we don’t need to wait for much of anything anymore. How did we ever make it without microwave ovens? Yet even these seem slow to me now. At the grocery store, even if it’s necessary for me to leave a few things behind, I will try to get in the ten-items-or-less line. When I’m on the freeway, if one lane starts to move, even if it’s just slightly faster than my lane, I will move to the faster one. I don’t like to wait.

Yet the Lord tells us to be patient for His return. As we look at this world in which we live and the way our culture is changing, we may think, Lord, come on! Return! Look at the way things are going! But God has His own schedule. He won’t be late. He won’t be early. He will be right on time.

When He came the first time, it was according to His perfect plan. Galatians tells us, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4, NLT). I love that phrase: when the right time came. At the appointed hour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And when the time is just right, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will return.