Daily Readings – Articles – Devotions
Accepting God’s Gift
In Matthew 25:46, Jesus concludes the topic of judgment saying, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This is judgment in its simplest form. It is just like the judicial system. The innocent are free and the guilty are punished. Of course, mistakes do arise when judgment is left to mere men, but God does not make mistakes. No one who enters eternal punishment can say they don’t deserve it and no one who enters eternal life can say that they do deserve it. The only thing that matters is if they trusted in Christ or not. It is interesting how we can assume God’s gift is only salvation first and then believe the gifts of healing, tongues, prophecy, love, and so forth are a separate gift that are added afterwards. Not so! The gift from God through His grace includes salvation, tongues, prophecy, healing, love and so forth all in one package. Just as important included in that gift, we also receive God’s power in building and restoring relationships, helping others, and other humanitarian deeds. God is not a partial gift giver. He does not place His gifts on credit or a layaway plan. We can’t pick and choose the gifts we want. Rejecting one gift that God has for us in the package is rejecting the entire gift. Jesus Christ was completely crucified; not just certain parts of Him. When we accept the entire gift, we then allow God’s will to be done in our lives! In the end, if we reject God’s gift, we will be judged for wickedness; if we accept, believe, and come to know God’s gift, we will be declared righteous and enter into eternal life.
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