THE KINGDOM OF SIN

Doing my daily journaling, one of my reading requirements was the Book of Amos. If you don't already know, Amos was a prophet/shepherd and what he had to say was not always taken well. Discrimination was alive and well in his day. Sound familiar?

But discrimination is not Amos' main theme. No, Amos was the ear that God spoke to and the mouth that revealed to the Israelites just how disgusted God was with them at that time. God so much wanted His people to straighten out, be less proud, be less tempted toward man-made gods and follow His teachings. Sound familiar?

Where is the Kingdom of Sin, by the way? I've never heard of it. Is it a place? No, it is a natural attitude for a human being. We are born with a screeching voice that says, "Me! Me! Me! Me First!" And that's our natural sin. And we are full of it! I wonder, did God ever get tired of it? Oh, yes, He did!

Long about A.D.33, God must have been fed up. God kept urging people to change their ways and stop sinning. Our "Me first" attitude must have worn Him down. Yet God never stopped loving us, in fact, he allowed something to prove His love for us for all time and at the same time allowed Him a way to forgive us for our "Me first" sinfulness. He had this very special Son who was born with a purpose. He was born as a human, but perfect in every way. He didn't sin in any way! None!

That son was called Jesus and He became our Savior, because God asked Jesus to die on a cross in our place!! That's how the Romans killed criminals in those days. Jesus,admitting to being the real son of God, wasn't liked at all by the leading Jews and they talked Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor at that time, into using Jesus as an example for those who speak out against religious leaders, and in Jesus case, claimed to be the Son of God. So, Pilate treated Jesus as a criminal to appease the Jewish leaders. And Jesus was crucified.

This would maybe have been uneventful, but after 3 days, Jesus rose from the grave! Now that's an event! What a strange, wonderful, unbelievable, miraculous, Godly thing to do! The greatest gift the world has ever known, given to you and me!

What a forgiving God! My. how he loves us! All nations! He loves all nations! All of us living in the Kingdom of Sin can be redeemed. Choose Jesus and we live in the Kingdom of the Son! Sins forgiven and forgotten--that's me! I chose. (I hope you did, too.)

Thank you, Lord! Love, Jo