The Value of Life

I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well.  (Psalm 139:14)

This Sunday we celebrate Life Sunday – a day that we set aside to look at the value of life as a wonderful gift of God.  When you look in the mirror, do you say along with the psalmist, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”?  Did you know that you are wonderfully made?  It’s true – God personally created each and every one of us!  Psalm 139 tells us that God knitted each of us in our mother’s womb.   

The fact that God has created us each by hand and breathed into us His life-giving breath shows us just how valuable life is – and how valuable you are!  What an amazing difference that makes in our lives!  Satan though, loves to show us the effects of sin – to show us our frail bodies that are slowly dying.  The devil says to us, “How valuable could you be?  You sin constantly, your bodies are full of imperfections, you fight and quarrel even with your closest family members – how valuable could you really be?”

God answers that question by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior.  We are so valuable to God that we couldn’t be bought with silver or gold – but only by the blood of Christ.  1 Peter 1:18-19 tells us, “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” 

So the next time you look in the mirror, remember the words of Psalm 139, and rejoice in the gift of life our Heavenly Father gives us – and rejoice in the fact that you are His creation – fearfully and wonderfully made!

 

Resolution Check-Up

How are you doing on your New Year's resolution?  I know we are only twelve days into January, but that doesn't mean resolutions are still being followed.  The statistics are pretty amazing when it comes to New Year's resolutions.  Almost half of Americans make a resolution each year.  Out of those, only one out of three keeps their resolution through January.  Over the course of a year the statistics say that only 8% of people are successful in keeping their resolutions.

With such low success rates when it comes to New Year's resolutions, we can be thankful that our life in Christ is not lived in that kind of way.  As Christians we can rejoice in the fact that we are not saved by how well we live up to God's standard for our lives.  We are saved by grace alone as Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9. 

We are all sinful and in need on God's forgiveness.  That is why we take joy and comfort in what Christ has done for us through His life, death, and resurrection.  The victory over sin, death and the devil and the forgiveness and salvation Christ won is given to us - free of charge, without any merit or worthiness in us.

So back to New Year’s resolutions.  We’ve all made them, and we’ve all broken them.  Some of us have made new ones and already broken them, and some of us have given up on the whole idea.  But instead of making a resolution that is all up to you - make one that relies upon God to be at work so you can do everything in Christ.

Our resolution, then, is not the one we make and fail to keep, but the one God has made for us.  God the Father made a resolution to send His Son to secure us unto life everlasting.  Jesus made a resolution to live, die, rise and intercede for us 24/7 - and He does.   The Holy Spirit made a resolution to create and strengthen faith within us.  God is faithful and He does it!

 

 

Baptized into Christ

A lot of times we talk about the gift of life – and it certainly is a precious gift.  But, we don’t hear much about the gift of death.  Perhaps that’s due to our realization that death really isn’t much of a gift.  At least, its not a gift we’d typically want, and with good reason – death is our enemy.  But St. Paul speaks to us about Baptism in such a way that it gives the gift of death….and life!

In Holy Baptism, Christ bestows on us the gifts of His death and resurrection.  Holy Baptism is all about gifts – gifts from your Lord and Redeemer to you.  And yes, those gifts include both His death and His resurrection.  Without Christ’s death, Baptism would have no power, for the forgiveness that it bestows is dependent upon His sacrifice on the cross.  Likewise, without Christ’s resurrection, Baptism could never give you life everlasting, because the power of sin, death, and the devil would be proved stronger than even God.

We’ve been rescued from sin, death, and the devil – not by our work, but by the Lord’s work and mercy.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has become flesh in order to die for our sins on the cross.  But, Christ is risen!  He lives forever!  He has died and risen for all the world – and for you and me.  That is what Holy Baptism is all about.  In Baptism, we were buried with Jesus Christ into His death.  In His death, He suffered God’s judgment for our sins; in Baptism He joined you to that death.

Instead of the scourge and nails, you only felt a splash of water.  But by that water and His holy Word, when God looks at us, He no longer sees our sin: He sees those whose sins are gone, because – with Jesus – we’ve already died to sin.  And “the one who has died has been freed from sin” (Rom 6:7)

In Holy Baptism, Jesus also joins us to His resurrection.  While God originally created Adam and Eve to live eternally, the wages of sin is death – death of the body and soul.  Jesus has conquered death, and conquered death for us!  While our body must suffer the wages of sin in this world, we already have eternal life in Christ Jesus.  We are alive!  We have new, eternal life!  That’s what it means to be baptized.

We do not declare, “I was baptized”, but “I am baptized”.  It is the difference between saying, “I was alive” and “I am alive”.  We are baptized and so we are alive – forever!  We live in the newness of life right now.  It makes a difference in how we face the day – knowing that not one failure, not one mistake, not anyone’s words of hatred – nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord – for we are the Baptized children of God – His beloved.

Your baptism birthday is the most important day of your eternal life.  It is our defense against satan who accuses you of your sin.  It’s our spiritual marker that defines our identity.  It’s our frame of reference to see the world from an eternal perspective rather than merely a temporal one.  We bear the mark of the cross of Jesus claiming us for eternity.

As long as we have sinful flesh, we still face death of our body unless the Lord returns first.  The spector of death is a haunting thing, and as it approaches we can be sure the devil will use it as his final attempt to make us doubt our Lord’s promises.  At such times, should you wonder whether or not God loves you, remember the answer and say, “I am baptized.  Jesus has joined me to His death – and He also joined me to His resurrection.  Just like sin, death is not my master – for is death no longer has dominion over Jesus, then it has no dominion over me.  Just like sin, death is like that would-be robber who would seek to destroy me; but it is also a conquered enemy, one that Christ will use to deliver me from this world and raise me up to eternal life.”

Thanks be to God – the gifts of Christ’s death and resurrection are real, certain, and everlasting.  Without any merit or worthiness in us, Christ our Lord has suffered death on our behalf – taking all the power away from sin, death, and the power of the devil and all the circumstances of life that discourage us.

Beloved of God, it’s not that you were baptized – but you are baptized.  It’s not that you were alive in Christ, but that you are alive in Christ.  It’s not that you were forgiven for all your sin, but that you are forgiven of all your sin!

All this is yours, because Jesus has joined you to Himself, to His death and resurrection.  Baptism is all about the gifts and all those gifts remain yours – now, and forever!