Saturday, August 18, 2018

What We Were Made For


Once there was a garden
Where the presence of the Lord
Was evident everywhere
But an angel with a flaming sword
Now guards the garden's entryway
For mankind was cast out
And the story of the One who is the door
Is what the Bible's all about

But with our souls at enmity
With the God whose image we bear
There was no way we could devise
That could give us entry there
But though the entryway was sealed
And death became the wage of sin
The righteous Son has suffered
That he might make a way back in.

He opened heaven's gateway
God's son who holds the keys
Was slain for us that we might live
And change our destinies.
And now we are forgiven
He takes our guilt away
He justifies us justly
Because the price he paid

He is propitiation
He drank the cup of wrath
And now no condemnation
Can ruin the narrow path
He is the resurrection
And that's what dead men need
Eternal life and a new body
And our spirit now is freed

We approach the throne now boldly
To stand redeemed and cleansed
Before God's grace and glory
In a home that never ends.
This is what we were made for
To enjoy God forever
Fully freely in His presence
In a bond no sin can sever.

Everlasting and immortal
Undying-beyond time
Perpetually persistent
In the presence of love divine.
This is what we were made for
With our Father to abide
Free to enjoy Him fully
Washed clean and purified

Free to enjoy Him fully
Because our Savior died
Free to enjoy Him fully
Forever unified!

1 Peter 3:18
Anthony Foster
August 18, 2018


Devotional by John Piper
Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

The greatest good of the good news — the gospel — is the enjoyment of fellowship with God himself. This is made explicit here in 1 Peter 3:18 in the phrase “that he might bring us to God.” That’s why Jesus died.

All the other gifts of the gospel exist to make this one possible.

We are forgiven so that our guilt does not keep us away from God.
We are justified so that our condemnation does not keep us away from God.
God is propitiated so that his wrath doesn’t stand between us and God as our Father.
We are given eternal life now, with new bodies in the resurrection, so that we have the capacities for being with God forever and enjoying God to the fullest.

Test your heart. Why do you want forgiveness? Why do you want to be justified? Why do you want the wrath of God to be propitiated? Why do you want eternal life? Is the decisive answer, “Because I want to enjoy God now and forever”?

The gospel-love that God gives is ultimately the gift of himself. This is what we were made for. This is what we lost because of our sin. This is what Christ came to restore.

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).


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