March 29

“Faith is an absolutely necessary element in the reception of any gift...Love may be lavished on us by another without measure, but until we believe that we are loved, it never really becomes ours.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 3/29

This, I believe, is why there are so many professing Christians who are not saved.  They believe Jesus died for their sins, but they have not received the forgiveness for themselves because they do not believe they are loveable since they still feel imperfect.  In receiving the gift of forgiveness they are asking for the Holy Spirit to take up abode in them.  This is what reconciliation with God is all about.  Then it is the Holy Spirit--the Christ life in them--that “works out their salvation” bringing them into total submission. As redeemed creatures we become clay in the Potter’s hands as He makes us fit for His use.   Evidence of this is the Fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  So it is by faith that we believe we are forgiven and are no longer condemned to eternal separation from God.

“Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father we are the clay, and thou art our potter; we are all the work of thy hand.”  Isaiah 64:8