DCLM Daily Manna December 24, 2016 by Pastor Kumuyi – Eternally Grateful

Topic: Eternally Grateful [December 24, 2016]

Text: Galatians 3:13-21

Key Verse: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13).

A king saved a man from a life of misery and hopelessness and settled him in his opulent palace. He gave the man a well-furnished flat in the mansion. But his guest carved out an exclusive room where he frequented furtively to spend some moments every morning. He allowed no one else there.

The king's guards considered his movements suspicious and reported to the king that the man was probably planning some evil against the royal family. Confronted, the man meekly showed the king the room. It contained rickety furniture and rags. "What is all this filth?", the king asked. "And why do you spend hours here everyday?" With tearful eyes, the king's friend said: "These dirty collections are my cursed past …I come back to it to appreciate the new life you have given me. I come to look at it so I watch over my ways as a check not to go back to that dismal past".

Jesus Christ delivered us from a greater burden: the excruciating body of death. Apostle Paul traces the work of salvation by faith in Jesus our Lord to the time of the covenant God sealed with Abraham when He promised him a seed. The fulfilment of the promise was based on God's mercy, His Grace, not our fulfilment of the law. Nor was the law a condition for the working out of the promise. When Christians realise this, our stand shall exceed the sobriety and circumspection of the man in our story. We "shall serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling". We shall preach the gospel to all creatures and in all nations. If all the world is tarnished with sin, we shall vow not to join the multitude.

If all the world forsakes holiness and opts to drink from the cup of idolatry and iniquity, true believers must stand out in righteousness and show forth the praise of God Who has delivered them from darkness into His marvellous light.

Thought for the day: Show forth God's praise for having profited from His eternal glory.

Bible Reading in one Year: Revelation 1-3