Friends of God

October 3, 2017

Friends of God

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Romans 5:11

Read: Romans 5:6-11

In our culture, I think there is much confusion about the two concepts of punishment and discipline because they are often linked together, such as in this popular definition of discipline: “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.”

Punishment is the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense. In today’s passage, Paul alludes to God’s condemnation which is God’s punishment for sin. Those who are in sin are cut off from God’s presence. Paul announced how God dealt with the punishment issue: “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation” (Romans 5:8-9).

For those of us seeking the life in Christ as our way of life, Paul’s announcement is great news. The issue of punishment has been completely dealt with through the blood of Jesus. As a new creation in Christ, God is working in us, giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases him. To accomplish His purpose, God will discipline us, but he will not punish us because Christ has already and forever taken upon himself our punishment! Hallelujah!

My Takeaway: My heart’s desire is to begin each day rejoicing in the truth that through Christ I am a friend of God! May this be my last thought as I close my eyes at the end of the day!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2017 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.