The Father's treasured Possession

Malachi 3:16-18

^“Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.  And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

The requirement of being a follower of Christ is a broken and contrite heart where you say to Jesus, something like this: I cannot live this life in my power, at my best I fine self wanting to be in charge.   As I examine my life I confess that you alone are God, you cover sin with your blood, and if I confess my sin, Jesus you have promised to forgive. You are my filter that Your Father sees me through, for it is Your blood that has covered my sins.

 I’ve come to understand this quote by Major Ian Thomas, “I can't, you never promise I could, You can, and You promised you would.”  I am no longer under the control of sin, but as the apostle, Paul so stated in the book of Romans, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:21-24)

As a follower of Christ, I no longer use the title Christian, for it has become too convoluted.  But this quote from Major Ian Thomas gives us an understanding of the Christ life, “Jesus Spirit living in you and me.  To be in Christ - that makes you fit for heaven; but for Christ to be in you - that makes you fit for earth.  To be in Christ changes your destination, but for Christ to be in you - that changes your destiny! The one makes heaven your home - the other makes this world His workshop.”

And because of what Jesus has done in and for you and me that makes us the Father’s treasured possession.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice