How we can be like the Sequoia? Sequoia trees are noticeable. Believers that give God the glory through testimony of Christ’s forgiveness can stand out and exalt, make Christ tall and epic to others! Through our identity In Christ and His keeping power we can withstand intense spiritual pressures. We can endure, stand firm and grow stronger through trials and even sufferings.
One of the secrets to the strength of a true Christian is what goes on below the skin, inside the person and by their faith beliefs. Unlike unbelievers, Gospel-living Christians reach out and interlock their real roots with other believers around them. Each “becomes empowered and reinforced by the strength of the others” (a reflection of the quote from The Love Dare, page 171).
We are to live, show and tell of what Christ has done for us, in us, through us, as He leads us. The natural flaws, our sinfulness, the realness of who we are, allows others to see the realness of Christ at work. How sad if instead we pretend to be perfect. How sad. We are much more beautiful to God when we are real and allow God to accept us the way we are and redeem us by what Christ has done!
Pretending to be something we are not is fraud, a miserable way to live and does not show The Gospel. Being real and authentic honors God, helps us live abundantly and shows God’s great work in us.
Christ died and was buried and He took our sins away. We can discuss and even exalt in what Christ did for us! If we would let His redemption, (the sins God forgave us) be the roots of truth that are our foundation, perhaps others would see their need and desire Christ too.
The challenge is to connect on a deep level by these roots, as brothers and sisters In Christ. What great freedom we will have to be ourselves, and what great testimonies to the transforming, loving Grace and Mercy we have received all because of Christ. We are a ‘show and tell’ that is to be worthy of Christ’s first importance:
1 Corinthians 15:3-4- For we pass on to others the first importance we received that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Please get a hold of, truly receive and give out, as Paul did, God’s great love: The Message Bible puts it this way:
The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says.
May we declare the gospel which we have received, and wherein we stand to tell others of the forgiveness of sins through Christ alone.
The roots: the love and truths of Christ, His Redeeming Good News are anchors and are to be strengths uniting us as believers. In Christ these roots are the foundation of our faith!
He died was buried and rose to carry our sins away so the light of Christ could shine in and through us. We are made alive spiritually and are children of the Day In Christ!
Does our life speak these truths? May God shine in us! Matthew 5 tells us we are the light of the world. His Light shines in us all because He overcame the darkness we used to live in! How Almighty the LORD is, The Great I AM has come and resides in us, Let Him Shine! 🙂 ✨
