…sometimes it’s with rejoicing. Sometimes it’s in stunned silence. This morning it was with tears.
I am currently reading John Piper’s book “Finally Alive.” His commentary on 1 John 5:1 appears in chapter nine.
Piper quotes the verse in the English Standard Version – “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God…”
According to John Stott who Piper then quotes, the combination of present tense (believes) and perfect tense (has been born) is important. “It shows clearly that believing is the consequence, not the cause, of the new birth. Our present, continuing activity of believing is the result, and therefore the evidence, of our past experience of new birth by which we became and remain God’s children.”
The next sentence is what grabbed me…
“God’s act in bringing about the new birth is the bringing into being of a believer where once there was only spiritual deadness and unbelief.”
If the Lord hadn’t touched my eyes and heart with His kindness and grace through His Word, I would have continued in my blindness and unbelief, never seeing the worth and the beauty and the treasure that my Savior truly is.
The kindness and grace of God…may it always catch our breath, startle us into grateful rejoicing and praise, and move us into acts of love and obedience.
Giving to the Poor
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