This is the Bottom Line!

There is no doubt that the Christian life has its’ hills and its’ valleys. When all is said and done however, what is the bottom line?

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 1John 4:16 (NLT)

This scripture exemplifies what the bottom line is in regards our faith. God is love. God loves us. If we trust in that love, and live in that love, God will live in us. Therefore we can say:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which. I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

I love this verse, for it takes the pressure off of me trying to get everything right with my own strength. As the old saints used to say, “I’ve already been to the water, I’ve already been baptized”. My old life is gone. My new life has come. My pilot is not my own mind, will, and emotions. My pilot is the Holy Spirit taking orders from the Father of all.

Admittedly, sometimes “I” still get in the way. Sometimes I miss God. Sometimes I even fail God. Yet there is another promise in 1 John that I hold fast to:

 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 4:8-10 (KJV)

An assurance that even if the worst happens, that I try to take the throne that now belongs to my Lord, that even then, I can find that the blood of Jesus will cleanse me and enable me to walk in the light once again.

I can hear the words of that great gospel hymn::

What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, Leaning on the everlasting arms…

Maria