Monday, February 08, 2016

DJD208 - Righteous Fuel

Read More Daily Jesus
Scripture: 

Romans 5:19

Starting Question:

Have you ever eaten something that made you feel sick? What was it? How did you fix it?

Righteous Fuel

Imagine what would happen if you put jet fuel in a lawn mower. Depending on the lawn mower, it might be alright. It might run hot. It might run smooth. But one thing is sure, you’re paying too much for your lawn mower fuel.

Now imagine you had a chance to fly a jet and took along a few cans of lawn mower fuel from your garage. The owners would probably not let you come anywhere near their plane with your cheap fuel. But, let’s say you got the fuel into the plane. It might fly. It would probably sputter and stutter. But one thing is sure, you’ve undervalued the jet by filling it with sludge.

Created by God, we were intended to run on jet fuel. His image is meant to be shining through us, powering our lives. But, because of the sin of Adam - we are filled with sludge by default. 

Now, living on sinful planet Earth, our default setting is to live in the image of Adam - humanity’s earthly father. Because of the sin of one man the many were made sinners. So, we are jets running on lawn mower fuel. We sputter and we stutter because our hearts are filled with sludge.

But, Jesus came to show us the original plan. He lived on Earth in the image of His Father - flying on jet fuel. And then, just as Adam’s one act led to sinfulness, Jesus’ one act - of death on the cross in our place - led to righteousness. Righteousness, the fuel of God’s image bearers, was made available - once again - at the Cross!

So, now we can choose our fuel! If we fail to choose, we continue living as sinners - on spiritual sludge - looking to mankind for wisdom. But if we choose Jesus, we are given His righteousness - perfect fuel - to live in the Image in which we were created to live - His, not ours. 

In whose image will you live - Adam or Jesus? Both are available to you. Adam’s nature is our default setting. Jesus’ nature is our optimum setting. One leads to death. The other to life.

You were meant to live in righteousness not selfishness.

And now, thanks to Jesus, the choice is yours!

Reflection Question:
How will you live differently when choosing righteousness instead of selfishness?

Prayer time:
Before you pray together, ask: What would you like to say to Jesus today?

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