Believe and Receive

August 19

“Jesus is far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all,” Ephesians 1:21-23.



The Church, though irrelevant in and of itself, is considered by the Lord to be the earthly compliment to His Heavenly persona. We can add nothing to Christ's divinity, but He does not consider Himself to be complete until He will be united with His bride.

As He sanctifies and shapes us after the likeness to Himself, He gradually transforms His bride into an entity that will fully glorify God. Unless and until the Bride of Christ is conformed to the image of the Lord, she is unfit for her intended abode in Heaven. While no mortal can attain that celestial residence alone, with Jesus as Savior and Lord, every believer’s home in heaven is assured.

While other religions anticipate a place with God for eternity, it is only Christianity that makes such an exalted residence possible because of the initiative of the Deity. Other belief systems deny the interjection of an exalted being who loved man so much that He sacrificed Himself for man’s eternal salvation.

In no religion but that established on the work of Jesus at Calvary is an individual’s eternal soul assured of an abode in Heaven because the Holy One sacrificed Himself that the espouser of the faith might be redeemed. Every other religion requires that there be a performance of some deed, a compliance with some task in order for salvation to become a reality.

Only Christianity affirms that a man may earn hell, “the wages of sin is death…” If an individual decides to achieve his own salvation, he will be paid in full for his endeavor, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” and it can only be received by accepting the freely given treasure from the hand of the Savior who spend Himself to purchase it. (See Romans 6:21.)

If this seems illogical or impossible, it is because one is attempting to grasp an infinite truth with finite understanding. Until we have “the mind of Christ,” I Corinthians 2:16, we can’t understand how a Being who has all power and authority can sacrifice Himself for lowly worms like us. How precious that we do not have to understand, we need only believe and receive.