The Entrance Fee Has Been Paid!

Last year at Christmas we got season passes to Disneyland. It is pretty nice to be able to take off on a Sunday afternoon and zip into the park and go on a few rides and come home. Sometimes we are even given special early entrance days when we can enter Disneyland an hour early. Pretty cool. We didn't always have passes. A commercial for Disneyland would come on TV and my wife would say, "I love Disneyland, I want to go." Then of course the kids would chime in, "I want to go too!" And of course we wouldn't go because we didn't have passes.  But, now we can go almost anytime. In a way that reminds me of our salvation. 

"- remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ." Ephesians 2:12-13

Sometimes we forget the exclusivity of being a child of God, of being a Christian. You are not a Christian if you have not given your life to Christ. If you haven't given your life to Christ, you don't have a pass to enter into his Presence. I talked to someone once and they were very distraught so they called this hotline from the church I was attending and serving on. I felt really bad for her because I understood how anxiety can trap you within yourself. I asked her if she knew Jesus as Lord and Savior. She became angry and said she just wanted some comfort and hope. She just wanted me to tell her that God would work everything out, no matter what her relationship was with God. The truth is that unless your are a Christian you don't have a right to claim the promises of his children. But, if you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9), then you are saved and you can enjoy all the benefits of sonship! She just wanted to feel good but live the same. 

You were far away from God, no hope because you were without God. Now, through the blood of Jesus, you are brought near, you do have hope and God is with you in this world. Before when you were confronted with hardship your hope was in blind chance that things might work out. But now, in Christ you  have a promise backed by the very words of God, that God works in all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). 

Here's the to do: Come near to God because the blood of Jesus paid the price for you to enter.

Father, you that  have brought us near to you through the blood of Jesus Christ, use us to bring someone else near to you. Show us yourself. Praise be to you in us today!