In this fifth of our seven-part blog series on the theme of generosity, we focus again on Peter’s encounters with the generosity of Jesus.
Image courtesy of @xangriffin
Dr. Neil T. Anderson, in the second chapter of his book ‘Victory Over the Darkness’, quotes 1 John 5.11-12: ‘He who has the Son has life; He who does not have the Son of God does not have life’. Anderson explains that this eternal life is not something that starts after we die, but is a quality of life which we enter into when we accept Jesus as Lord (Chapter 2, p.44-45). He is our life. We have that life now, just as we have Him now, (though there is of course much more to come later). A lack of this understanding, Anderson says, can lead to us thinking that we are only ‘forgiven sinners’ instead of seeing ourselves – more accurately – as ‘redeemed saints’. That is what we become when we come to Christ. The life we have in Christ has transformed us at the deepest possible level. This, now, is who we truly are.
This New Year – Are your Resolutions based on your identity as a ‘redeemed saint’ in Christ? Are you trying to obtain something (through your actions) that you have already been given by God?
By Mary-Jo Coxhill