Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (8)

 

 

“May I always known that a clean heart full of goodness is more beautiful than the lily, that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day, that such is heart is mine when I abide at Calvary.”

 

I woke up this morning singing the hymn Nothing But The Blood in my heart. “O precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

 

I often meditate on Romans 4:1 – 5:11 to bathe in the reassurance of justification. “Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD will not take into account” (Rom. 4:8; see Psalm 32).

 

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1).

 

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (5:10).

 

Justification means, in part, that our Father sees us as having never sinned and as having always kept His righteous commandments – we are holy and pure in His sight because of what Jesus has done, which includes us living in Him and Him living in us. We are one with Christ, one in Christ, living in the Vine (John 15:1 – 5; Galatians 2:20).

 

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). I don’t think a more amazing statement has ever been written – to proclaim this statement is to proclaim the Gospel, to mitigate or qualify this statement is to diminish the Gospel.

 

In Jesus Christ, we have continual cleansing.

 

“If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have koinonia with one another, and the blood of Jesus His son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). We experience continuous cleansing as our Way of Life in Jesus Christ. Being washed in the blood of the Lamb is our daily, our continuous, experience.

 

In justification we have glorious freedom to live in unbroken fellowship with God and with one another. Our consciences are cleansed (Hebrews 10:19 – 25) and we are free to give our lives away to God and others. We no longer live in condemnation (Rom. 8:1), rather we have received the spirit of sonship, crying “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:14 – 17).

 

Every day we can have an adventure in Jesus, every day we can walk with Him and talk with Him, every day we can enjoy His love and joy and kindness and pass it along to others. We can spend every day in conversation with Jesus, for is He not our Best Friend? We can learn, every day, to love Jesus more than we did the day before.

 

We can do all of this because we are the objects of His love and care and affection. We can do all of this because we are the joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12:2). We can do all of this when Calvary is our Anthem.

 

As I write this my heart is singing the words, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful Face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

 

AMEN.