DID YOU SIGN SOMEONE ELSE'S CONTRACT?

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If you're at all familiar with the Old Testament, you know that God made of Abraham the great nation that he promised and then led them out of Egyptian captivity and provided for them in every way as they made their way to their promised land. When God told Moses his name was “I AM,” it was like giving the Hebrews a blank check that read, “I AM ________,” on which they could write whatever they needed him to be! The only thing God asked from them was faith and he would give them the world – and they responded with a complaining, distrustful attitude, always trying to do it themselves instead. That is why God finally gave them the law – so they could prove themselves worthy if that's what they wanted! Israel collectively signed the law contract in Exodus 19:1-8 when they declared, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do.”

It occurred to me the other day that, although today we are under God's grace and not Israel's law, God asks basically the same thing of men now: “Will you simply place your whole trust in me?” God is looking for that same child-like faith and trust in his goodness, mercy, and grace to make it possible for him to shower those who trust what his word through our apostle Paul declares about his Son with everything he has given his Son Jesus Christ!

Today there are countless people who refuse to even believe in him, much less trust Christ! And there are countless others who profess to believe and trust Jesus Christ; but instead of accepting God's mercy and grace, like Israel of old they insist that they can do it themselves by keeping Israel's law. They see God's commandments in the Old Testament and those that the Lord Jesus Christ expanded upon in the four gospels, and filled with self-righteous pride, they declare, like Israel, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do!”

When Israel's program resumes, God will again ask them to cast their cares completely upon him and trust him to get them through the great tribulation scheduled to come. He says in Hosea 14:1-2: “O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips.”

What a special relationship those of us in the body of Christ have with God, for we have asked him to “receive us graciously,” and so have we rendered to him “the calves of our lips”! (Think of a loving child lifting his face for his father's kiss.) Have you allowed God to shower you with his grace, or have you stiff-neckedly declared, “Look, God, I can do it myself!” Don't sign Israel's law contract by mistake! They couldn't keep it without the total infusion of the Holy Spirit God promises the kingdom believers – and you can't keep it either! Trust the Lord Jesus Christ – in his death, burial, and resurrection – and be saved!