THE REFUGE
Blessed be the name of the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised. May the Holy Spirit allow us as Christians to seek to tread the great depths of God’s love which He displayed upon the cross. Though this is a mountain too high to climb or an ocean too deep to plumb, may our hearts be still before the Lord in silence. Let us meditate upon Jesus Christ, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood to demonstrate His perfect righteousness so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. For it was an infinite love that loved us from the foundations of the world. Oh, that we could say with the Apostle, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how unfathomable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, God is to be blessed forever, for the scriptures tell us, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for us.” Yes us, for we were the ungodly. That is, at one time we were enemies of the Most High, lost and held captive by the bondage of sin. We were by nature children of disobedience seeking to indulge the pleasures of the flesh. Without being aware of it, The Lord’s wrath hovered over us like a violent storm that could’ve broken out at any moment. The fire of his anger was kindled against us. His sword was unsheathed ready to strike the death blow to our fate because we had broken all of his holy commandments inscribed upon our hearts, with our conscience bearing witness to this fact. But as The Lord’s anger burned violently against us, His grace pursued us and the message of Jesus Christ pierced through our very hearts.
Our consciences then became stricken and we knew that in light of God’s holy righteousness, apart from His grace, we would be condemned to everlasting fire. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
May our hearts become overwhelmed with gratitude saying, “I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; I bow down before you and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you have saved me and delivered me from hell and death. And by your eternal power You will one day bring me into your Kingdom safely to be with you forever.”