Christ Is All – My Tuesday Three

Here it is Tuesday morning, and I woke up with no post scheduled and no idea what I was going to write about for My Tuesday Three. I began to lament ever having started this Tuesday theme because it would have been easier to just write a short post this morning, or to have written something short yesterday and scheduled it. It’s been a crazy week, between our cat dying, my birthday on Sunday, and movie plans with friends yesterday, I just never found the time to identify My Tuesday Three and figure out how they could be related.

So this morning, after my son and husband left, I decided that instead of trying to write something first thing, I would shower and spend some time in prayer first. As I prayed, I asked God to help me with my post today because I had nothing on my own. His answer? “They are in your blogroll.” After my prayer time, I went to my blogroll and here are the posts I was led to.

The first post I want to showcase is titled “No Other God Can Deliver” by Ben over at Justified Freely. I’ve been reading Ben’s blog for quite some time, and I love his simple format. He begins with a Bible passage and then includes a short 3 – 5 paragraph observation on the passage. This particular post is part of his series going through the book of Daniel, and is based on the outcome of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who were thrown into the fiery furnace at the order of King Nebuchadnezzar, but emerge unharmed. The passage Ben focused on in this post is Daniel 3: 28-30, where the King orders that no one speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego “because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.”

He found that zeal because he had seen something beyond the realm of possibility.  He had seen God deliver and deliver completely. . . .  It was one thing for them to come out of the fire alive.  It was another thing for them to come out of the fire with no evidence that they had ever been in the fire!

As I read this, I was reminded of how God will see us on judgment day, as if we had never been through the fire, because we will be clothed in Christ’s robe of Righteousness, washed clean of all our sin.

The second post I want to showcase is titled “All His Benefits (Part Two)” by Theresa Moore over at Moore to Ponder. In this post, she shares about the writings of one of her favorite Christian theologians, C. H. Mackintosh, and provides a link to read more of his writings.

He wrote a wonderful piece titled “Forgiveness of sins: What is it?” In this writing he very effectively explores that subject and presents it under three heads: First, the ground on which God forgives sins; secondly, the extent to which He forgives sins; and, thirdly, the style which He forgives sins.

The passage Theresa chose to share from Mackintosh is absolutely wonderful. It clearly and logically makes the argument that Jesus died for all our sins, past, present, and future. Once we are saved by His grace, we cannot lose that salvation simply because we sin yet again, because Jesus is there to forgive that sin as well. In the passage Theresa quotes, Mackintosh answers the concern that our future sin is not yet forgiven:

But I can imagine my reader exclaiming “What! do you mean to say that my future sins were all atoned for?” To this I reply, that all our sins were future when Christ bore them on the cursed tree. The sins of all believers, for the last eighteen centuries, were future when Christ died for them.

The third post I want to showcase is titled “Why would I be nervous when it’s all for God . . .?” by Rea over at bended spoon. Rea has a wonderfully whimsical way of writing and her wonder at how awesome our God is always shows through. In this post, she encourages us to trust in God to be faithful to bless us when what we do is all for Him. She encourages us that there is no reason to be nervous when He is at the center of what we do for others. 

If you feel that what you are giving is a big portion that eats your budget, know that the seed could grow into tree that will bear fruits and more seeds and more trees… The blessing will come around to you more than treefold — really fruitful!

So what ties these posts together? It is that Christ is all. Christ, the fourth Man in the fire, was all that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego needed to be delivered unscathed from the fiery furnace that took the lives of those who were ordered to throw them into it. Christ, who died on the cross, is all we need for the forgiveness of our sins – past, present, and future – so that we may stand pure and unscathed before God at judgment. Christ is all we need to provide us with the courage to not be nervous when all we do is for Him.

Christ was also all that was necessary to bring these three wonderful bloggers into my life so that I might be encouraged by them, and that I might in turn share their offerings with you so that you might be encouraged, too. So that for you, Christ might be all.