By understanding faith and what Christ has done for us, we will be able to have more gratitude and live a more transformed life.  Once this happens, the result will be more faith, better relationships, more impact, and of more use to Christ.

We, as His disciples, must make every diligent effort to observe ALL that Jesus commanded–and more– to the best of our ability, (Matt. 28:20; John 8:31-32; 2 John 9), as well as stay free from the temptation and lure of materialism (1 Tim. 6: 9-10; 1 John 2:15-17)!  The good news, besides that of His grace, is that Christ gives us His mercy and strength, providing forgiveness and ability to those in Christ (1 John 1:9 Phil. 4:13)! Our call is not just to do good things, but have a good heart!  That means we must be virtuous in our thoughts, motives, and aspirations, with the best intentions toward others, as Christ did with us.

Allow Christ’s most amazing and wondrous gift to be imputed to you, so your most inward being is transformed and renewed!  Without this, we cannot be or do any good!

The point for us all is that it is only God Who satisfies us and quenches our deepest spiritual needs.  There is none other than can or will do–not the pleasures, fulfilling of desires, or even sin.  Jesus is contrasting what is physical, fleeting, and limited to what is spiritual.  Jesus is contrasting what is temporary to what is eternal and abundant–what we think is important to what really is important (Isa. 44:3; 55:1-3; John 2:19-21; 3:3-10; 1 Cor. 2:14).

For us today, we can receive forgiveness of our sins because Jesus represented us as a man and was also fully God to take our sins and receive God’s wrath in our place.  We can see Christ’s attitude and willingness to conform to God’s will even with the looming consequences that was to come.  By His power, grace, and obedience to the Will of the Father, we receive His righteousness by what He has done and can live with the motivation and guidance He has to offer us as Lord.

When we try to live for and by ourselves without Christ or even try to serve Him without relying on Him, we are showing an incredible amount of disrespect!

We need to have the right focus and perspective so we can know what God wants us–me– to do!   We can do this by learning about our Lord, His obedience and be willing to go through times of waiting, discouragement, and even suffering, and see them as opportunities for personal growth, faith building and strengthening.

We are to point to Christ and do our best to be a true follower of Christ.  We are to be disciples, learners who can look at what hinders us, reach out to Christ, and grow beyond the barriers that block our spiritual formation and intimacy with Christ.  We have to understand Him and His teachings, be deeply convicted, and be willing to grow through our trust and obedient actions.  If we do not do this as a church, we will stagnate into apathy, disillusionment, depression, dysfunction, or some other kind of abuse to one’s self or others.  We have to be convicted; Jesus shows us how by these examples, and He makes the Way for it!