Listen to this devotional: |
Listen while you read: "The Solid Rock"1 (Lyrics) |
I recently wrote a devotional about our foster child in the Philippines. She's a principal now and is in charge of several schools. We keep in touch through Facebook, and she often posts pictures of the schools, which are usually in old and dirty buildings. Under her leadership, they are renovating and beautifying these schools, painting the walls and the children's desks in bright, bold, beautiful colours: pink, green, blue. The schools are totally transformed into beautiful buildings! It's amazing how a coat of paint can transform a dirty old building.
This makes me think of our humanness. We are dirty — clothed in filthy rags — from our sin, but when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we are clothed in His righteousness and become beautiful in His sight. Jesus took away our sins when He died on the cross, and He gave us His righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 – For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (NLT)
Galatians 3:26-27 – It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus. You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. (GNT)
Isaiah 61:10a – I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. (NLT)
Ephesians 4:24 – Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy. (NLT)
Romans 5:17 – For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. (NLT)
This is our hope as Christians, that even though we are sinners, clothed in filthy rags, we can be transformed into the people that God created us to be. We are not left in our broken human state but rather clothed in His righteousness.
Thanks be to God!
The words of the hymn, The Solid Rock, sum it up very well:
- My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found.
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before his throne.
– Edward Mote (1797-1874)
How are you clothed?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Son Jesus shed His blood on the cross for us so that we can be clothed in His righteousness. Our hope is in Him alone, and we praise You for the new life that is ours through His sacrifice on the cross. We surrender our lives to You. Lead us and guide us so that we can respond to Your call to be the people that You created us to be and live our lives for You. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
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Thanks Dee!
Thank you, Dee, for this encouraging message.
Thanks for reminding us about the great news, Dee.
Thank you and Amen – a beautiful reminder and devotional!!
Thank you, Dee, for sharing this encouraging devotional with us. Blessings.
Thank You for your beautiful prayer.
God Bless you and keep you warm and safe.
Thank you. I used to sing this hymn in Toronto coffeehouses in my 20s.
Thanks again, uplifting!
Good morning Dee,
Appreciated your devotional this morning. Very good comparison that shows how much brighter our lives become when we accept Jesus into our lives.
Blessings.
Hi Dee,
So nice to hear about the wonderful work your foster daughter is doing for our Lord in the Philippines.
How thankful I am to be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Great song choice you chose to go along with your devotional. God bless
you.
The chorus is the best part…
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand!
Thanks for this reminder of an oldie but well-“grounded” goodie, the favorite of an old friend, now deceased!
Bless you for getting my day up and running!
(BC)
What a lovely message you shared with us on this blustery cold day. It is an excellent reminder that any beauty and glory we have is due to Jesus, and that His ‘clothing’ is what we need. As I look at my dining room table, covered in the deitrus involved with sewing a dress for my niece’s wedding, your message reminds me of so much more, of the love of a God that changes our inherent ‘dirty rags’ for a clothing too wonderful to even imagine.
So, thank you sincerely for your perfectly timed message. I will refocus.
Hi Dee,
Good devotional this morning. It is so good that you are in touch with your foster child. We supported a girl in Mexico from infancy until she was 18. Then we were not to support her anymore. I asked if we could stay in touch but the organization we dealt with advised against it. And there was also the language problem. She would be 20 by now. We had a good writing back and forth relationship. Sorry that it is over.
Blessings.