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An
Outreach Publication of the Church of Christ at
Creekwood |
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The Right Scent What
does a shepherd do with a motherless lamb? So, what can be done with a hungry orphaned lamb? This is what shepherds have done through the years… They will take the skin of a lamb that has died in birth and wrap it around the motherless lamb like a sweater. Then the “clothed” lamb is presented to the mother of the dead lamb. The ewe sniffs the lamb, recognizes the scent, and accepts the lamb as her own. Due to our sin, you and I don’t have the right “scent” to be accepted by the holy God. His eyes are too pure even to look on evil (Habakkuk 1:13). Our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and we are left as needy orphans destined to die. But God loves us so much that He has provided a remedy to our predicament: He gave His Son – the Lamb of God (John 1:29) – to die on the cross for our sins (Ephesians 1:7). Jesus, the sinless Lamb whose heart and life are a sweet savor to God (cf. Matthew 3:17), took upon Himself the sins of the world, paying the price for them. Now you and I can be accepted by God THROUGH Jesus (John 14:6). “For God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). To be accepted by God as one of His sheep, we must be “clothed with Christ.” To be "clothed with Christ", we must: believe in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. When we, in penitent faith, are immersed into Christ, we are clothed with Christ: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). When we submit our lives in trusting obedience to the Shepherd, He clothes us in the unspotted wool of His own dear Lamb. Now we have a different “scent,” the right scent, and God accepts us as His own. We are no longer orphans with no future. We are the people of His pasture with a place at God’s side, both now and forever (cf. Psalm 95:6-7). Have YOU been clothed with Christ? David A. Sargent, Minister Church
of Christ at Creekwood * Some of the information above has been gleaned from Michael Wilke To Subscribe to "Living Water" send a blank e-mail to:
HTML version: subscribe-livingwater@lyris.dundee.net Follow this link to locate the church of Christ nearest you: www.churchzip.com Archived issues of "Living Water" can be accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org
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