Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Monday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!

Have you ever found yourself thinking about the reason Jesus came and what He was really saying to us? I personally do not believe that Jesus came to say, "Why can't you be like me so the Father will love you?"

If Jesus had said that He would have made the Father’s love for us conditional with an unattainable standard applied.

Many years ago I was someone who thought that way and I was often discouraged as a result because I knew how much I wasn’t like Jesus. Thankfully the Holy Spirit revealed the truth of the good news to me.

I believe Jesus came because we were nothing like Him and even on our best days we still miss the mark. Thankfully we are told in,

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Think about it, God loved us even when we were not aware of Him and living in rebellion to Him.

Jesus gives us a righteousness we could never earn. A righteousness the Father would approve of and welcome. God’s own righteousness. The Bible says that God cannot deny Himself and since it is His Own Righteousness we now possess in Christ, He will not deny us.

The law of Moses was never a way of being made truly righteous before God. It revealed righteousness very clearly and as a result condemned us. That’s why when it was in force regular sacrifices were required due to the fact that no one fulfilled its demands. If the standard of holiness it required could have been attained there would have been no need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins over and over again.

The righteousness God was desiring from before the foundation of the world is the righteousness we now possess in Christ. It was the solution His Son Jesus would provide. You see it was God’s plan all along that at the right time we would be made righteous by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

We do not add anything to Jesus to have relationship with the Father and maintain it. Jesus completed the work at the cross, He rose from the dead proving He was authorized by God and then He ascended on high to sprinkle His own blood on the real mercy seat of heaven forever cleansing our sin. This means we are a people of great hope, promise and everlasting life! Jesus finished the work!

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus sweetest name I know! Go in the boldness this offers and share how you have a love that is guaranteed. Let them know that they too can know this love!