OF OUR OWN VOLITION

To fulfill prophecy, Christ knew that He had to die on the Cross to purchase His Bride. He was God but He was also man and He knew that the pain would be excruciating. Therefore, when Christ knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to His Father to remove the cup from Him He had to be thinking about the possibility of the cup of premature death through the soldiers that Judas had left to fetch. Prophecy told Him that He must die on the tree [1]. Christ came to do many things but He also came to fulfill prophecy.

With what Christ had in front of Him as He prayed in Gethsemane, what could possibly keep us away from acceptance and submission to the Cross? Christ went through it; all we have to do is accept it. We all have issues that keep us away. Me, I hated to fail. . .at anything.

Although I’ve done some good things in my life, I’d always perceived myself as having fallen short, either in deed or in measure, probably stemming from a strict earthly father. I’d started out loving God and had ended up in the hog pen and drifting away from the Lord. This was not due to my dad, but because of my own bad decisions.

Why should I get back into Christianity if I was just going to fail at it [2]? I knew that everybody fails at Christianity. No one is righteous, no not one [3]. Why should I think that God wanted anything to do with me? I’d already let Him down once. It didn’t make any sense to me. This wasn’t just a wife, parent, sibling, or friend, that I’d let down, this was God, the Creator of the universe. I struggled with this for the longest time.

Then I realized that this was a lie straight from the pit of Hell. Yes, we all miss the mark, but He forgives us and as long as we get back up, we succeed. It’s when we do not get back up. . .that we fail. I recommitted myself to Christ and submitted to His authority.

Our identity is who we are in Christ and our destiny is who Christ is in us. Our perceived significance to God is who Christ is through us. It is the perfect threefold cord: us in Him, Him in us, and both of us in each other through Him [4]. We can accomplish anything through Him [5].
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[1] Matthew 20:18, 19; Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13
[2] Romans 5:12
[3] Romans 3:10
[4] Ecclesiastes 4:12;
[5] Philippians 4:13