Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - July 7, 2010

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

It's Covered

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
—Romans 5:1-2

A wealthy, well-dressed man was walking down the street when he passed a homeless man. He stopped for a second, turned around, and said, "Excuse me. You look familiar. Do we know each other?"

The man said, "Yeah, I'm Steve. English—third period. Remember?"

"I do remember you, Steve." The man could see that his former classmate had fallen on hard times. So he pulled out his checkbook and wrote a check for $500. He said, "Listen, I want you to have this. Let the past be in the past. I want to give you a fresh start. I hope this helps." Then he turned and left.

The next day, he walked down the same street and found Steve still there. When he asked what happened, Steve told him, "Well, actually I never cashed the check. I went down to the bank, saw all of those well-dressed people, and I thought they would take one look at me, think that I forged this check, and refuse to give me the money. I just didn't think it would work. So I didn't cash the check."

The man said, "What makes that check good is not your clothes or your appearance. What makes that check good is my signature. Now go and cash it."

In the same way, our worthiness is not what gives us access to God. It is based on the signature of Jesus Christ, written in His blood over our lives when He gave us salvation. We don't have to live in constant fear of what God thinks about us. We don't have to do things to earn His approval. We don't have to worry about where we will spend eternity. This is all covered in Christ—and this is what God has done for each of us.

Copyright © 2010 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

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