A Faithful and Just God
One of the central aspects of the gospel message is that every human has fallen short of God’s moral standard. We have all sinned, or missed the mark of living rightly. We’ve all messed up, made mistakes, and acted in a way that goes against God’s way of living.
Sin separates us from being in a right relationship with God. But while we were separated from God, Jesus made a way for us to return back to God through His death and resurrection.
Now, we can be in a relationship with God again. But even though we’ve been forgiven for our sins, it doesn’t always feel that way. We frequently carry around the guilt and shame from our sinful actions even though we’ve been forgiven by Christ.
That’s why 1 John 1:9 is a great reminder: when we confess our sins to God, He is faithful to forgive us. Our forgiveness is not based on our own faithfulness— it’s based on God’s faithfulness. Since we know God is faithful and cannot lie, we can trust that He will forgive us and purify us from everything that keeps us from Him.
This means that we don’t need to live under the weight of our own guilt. We have truly been freed in Christ. Forgiveness should empower us to continue to live righteous and faithful lives with God.
Take a moment and thank God for forgiving your sins through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Thank Him that you are now a child of God, free from the guilt of the past. Ask Him to strengthen you as you walk in that truth.
“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the ...
A God Who Stays Close
Psalm 121 is a psalm of protection, sung by travelers making their way to Jerusalem on a religious pilgrimage. As they journeyed through difficult terrain under the blazing sun, this song reminded them where their true help came from: the Maker of heaven and earth.
In verse 5, the psalmist writes: “The Lord is your shade at your right hand.” For a weary traveler in the Middle East, shade was life-saving. The sun wasn’t just uncomfortable, it could be dangerous. So, shade meant relief, protection, even survival. That’s the kind of watchful care God offers. The Lord is right beside you: “at your right hand.”
His protection is personal and present. He’s not watching over you from a distance; He’s close by—actively guarding you from the elements that would otherwise wear you down, drain you, make you delirious, burn you, or even kill you.
In Psalm 121, we see a God who keeps watch day and night, who never slumbers, who guards our lives in all our coming ...