Verse of the day: Joshua 5:9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.
I had the occasion to read an article recently about how “Christians” have had more abortions than non-Christians have had, once again painting a hypocritical picture of Christianity. The problem I had with this article, as I have with many of the articles about surveys taken amongst Christians, is that the people polled “considered” themselves Christians. When I read that, it immediately raised a flag about what these folks think makes them a Christian. Sadly, today, too many who are not born again believers have labeled themselves as Christians and the world has run with that to push their attempts to malign Christianity, thereby maligning the Name of Christ. This is not to say that not all of those questioned were Christians, but it is likely that many were not. Stop for a moment and ask yourself, “What makes me a Christian?” Is it our church attendance? Is it our religiosity? Is it because we do good things for others? Is it because we believe in God? I found it interesting that God did not roll away the reproach of Egypt from Israel until they were obedient in being circumcised, which was, for them, a physical sign of their faith and heart commitment to God. This is not to say that the circumcision itself saved them. We know this because Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised, as we know from Romans 4:11-12 which read, “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.” Today, we cannot call ourselves Christians unless we have called upon Jesus and trusted Him alone for eternal life. No amount of good works, days of church attendance, or any other religious act, can give us or earn us eternal life. We must have our hearts circumcised by God’s redeeming grace alone, as is written in Colossians 2:11, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ”. Galatians 5:6 also tells us, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” Some of what was written, in the previous article I mentioned, criticized how many of these women polled had abortions before they “considered” themselves Christians. This is typical of the world, and sadly, also typical of Christians who have not yet learned the true meaning of forgiveness and grace. As true born again believers, we have been forgiven of our past sins. Ephesians 1:7 clearly tells us, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”. Not only are we forgiven for our past sins, but for ALL our sins, as we know from Romans 8:1 which reads, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” As God’s children, we need not be burdened with the guilt of past sins that are under the Blood of Jesus. The bottom line is that we are not true Christians until we have put our faith in, and called upon, Jesus Christ for salvation. We may say that we believe that there is a God, and base our salvation on that, but James 2:19 tells us, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” Anyone can believe that God exists without putting their faith and trust in His Son. We can all have a head knowledge of who God is, yet fall short in accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord. As born again believers we know that our salvation is sure because of what Jesus did and not anything we have done. Titus 3:4-7 confirms this, “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” We need to be more discerning about what we hear and what we read when people claim to call themselves Christians. As God’s true children, we have forgiveness of sins (all sins) and we have true redemption that can only be found in Christ; for only God can roll away the reproach of our past, present, and future sins. The Apostle Paul put this best when he wrote this in Ephesians 2:11-13, “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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