Church Article

This is the article from the April 1 newsletter of my church:

In a prayer, Saint Francis of Assisi asked God to make him an instrument of peace. He desired to sow love where there was hate, pardon where there was injury, faith where there was doubt, hope where there was despair, light where there was darkness, and joy where there was sadness.

Ezekiel 16:6 reads, “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.” Despite God washing and caring for His people, they played the harlot. Even still, God remembered His covenant.

God kept His promise to Israel. Each time His people sinned, God was faithful and just to forgive them and keep His covenant. This covenant was sealed when Jesus Christ died on the Cross to pay for our sins and give us life. Because of Christ, no one is beyond repentance or forgiveness. No sin is too great that the Blood cannot cover it.

Before Jesus died on the Cross, He uttered the words, “It is finished.” Christ completed His purpose, and His death gave us life. When Christ died on the Cross, He died for our sins, our hurts, our pains, and any and everything else that attempts to hinder us. Christ replaced our death with life. He replaced our sin with redemption. He replaced our hurt and pain with healing.

Even if we stand polluted in our own sins, God is so faithful to forgive us. Even when we deserved the punishment of death, God’s grace and mercy pardoned us. It is in this demonstration of the awesomeness of God’s love for us that we can begin to become instruments of His peace.

Christ died that we could be light shining in the darkness. Christ died that we could be hope in the midst of despair. Christ died that we could be love in a world full of hate. Christ played His role, now we must play ours. Through Christ in us, we can sow and manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

Even in our darkest hour, deepest valley, and personal crisis, we can be comforted with the knowledge that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is with us. In Psalm 40, David said he waited patiently for God, and God heard his cry. David wrote of the Lord bringing him out of a horrible pit and out of the miry clay and placing his feet on solid rock and establishing his goings.

As we die out to ourselves, we are transformed into the likeliness of Jesus Christ, who came that we could live.