Ginger

Here is a recent encounter that I sense God's hand in arranging:

Here in KC I've been able to spend time with a woman we call "Ginger". She's a divorced middle-aged woman who came to Kansas City to visit relatives. She's very religious but her understanding of the Gospel includes doing good deeds - not motivated solely by the love we receive from God - but to help you pay off the sins you and others commit.

She also believes that Jesus was not the only person in who lived without sin. To her, Jesus is not the only person who mediates between heaven and earth. In particular there's a deceased woman to whom she is loyal to and asks for help from.

Recently I had the chance to discuss faith with her in a non-confrontational way. By God's grace I was able to highlight to her that she claims to follow the Bible, but disobeys it. The Scriptures tell us if a person doesn't get right with God on earth, there is no working/waiting to be worthy of heaven or a second chance. The Cross is enough to pay for sins, we don't need to add our efforts to what Christ accomplished on the cross. Our religious/good deeds - in an effort to make ourselves holy - are like filthy rags. That's in the Bible!

The Bible is clear about giving all honor to Jesus Christ, and that all people have sinned (deceased or living, men and women), and fall short of the glory of God. Justification (which could be taken as "Being considered righteous and clean in God's eyes") of our souls comes by grace through faith in Jesus. If this is not the case, what is Jesus the Savior of? If he took the punishment we deserved and carried our shame and guilt, then why would you have to earn merit or credits to be free from its curse? What kind of Good News would that be? Feeling a sense of "regret for one's wrongdoing or sinning" is Penitence. That's a healthy thing to experience. But to believe the weight of your sins remain on you and that you have to "make penance" to "compensate for offense" devalues how Jesus sacrificed himself to on the cross.

Please pray that Ginger sees the distinction between her religion and God's word. I hope and pray that she puts her trust in what Jesus completed at the Cross for her sins, and begins to give Him ALL her praise and honor. It is by grace that we are saved, through faith, not by works, lest any man should boast. "...each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment..."
The Bible is the "plum line" for theology, philosophy, and is consistent in its message of grace in Jesus Christ.

It's an old Christmas song, but it rightly describes Jesus, and we all probably know:
We Three Kings :)
"Glorious now behold Him arise, King and God and Sacrifice"
"May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering" -Moravians, 1732

Merry Christmas! Thank God for His mercy in coming to earth!!!
Yvonne