Feb.26.03: Light For The Day - "From Heaven Itself" -- Colossians 2:13-14 "... God made you alive with Christ, and He forgave all your sins. He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow." --------------------- All the world religions can be placed in one of two camps: Legalism or Grace. Humankind does it or God does it. Salvation as a wage based on deeds done -- or Salvation as a gift based on Christ's death. A legalist believes the supreme force behind salvation is you. If you look right, speak right, and belong to the right segment of the right group, you will be saved. The brunt of responsibility doesn't lie within God; it lies within you. The result? The outside sparkles. The talk is good and the step is true. But look closely. Listen carefully. Something is missing. What is it? Joy. What's there? Fear. (That you won't do enough.) Arrogance. (That you have done enough.) Failure. (That you have made a mistake.) ... Spiritual life is not human endeavor. It is rooted in and orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Every spiritual achievement is created and energized by God. -- Max Lucas ----------------------- -- John 14:6 (NIVUS) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -- Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIVUS) "8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." -- Colossians 2:12-14 (NIVUS) "... 12 having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross."