Just about everyone has the nasty habit of judging others and condemning in them what we condone in ourselves. Wanting to put ourselves in the best possible light we point out the worst in others—as though that makes us better. We would do well to remember 1 Peter 4:17 which says, “..judgment must begin at the house of God“, and that should start on a personal level with self-examination. James Smith wrote:

Sunday I preached a message from 2 Tim. 2:15 entitled “Conquering Confusion”. During the message I gave my definition of backsliding–“When a child of God ceases to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ”. The next morning I noticed this article from Senior Living entitled “What it really means to grow in the Word”.

Pastor Stephen Davey writes:”The word beloved is a special word that is reserved by God only for His children. While God has a general love for the whole world and a sustaining love even for His enemies—He sends sunshine to warm them and rain to water their crops, just as He does for believers—this term of endearment is unique for those who are His precious possessions.

You may remember the first time this word was used in the New Testament. Christ was to be baptized by John the Baptist, when a voice echoed from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 3:17). It was the voice of God the Father, who loved Christ dearly; that same voice still echoes today, calling you beloved.

You may be thinking to yourself, “How can God call me that? Doesn’t He know how unlovable I am?” The answer is simple. He calls you beloved, not because of some righteousness you have in yourself or because you are worthy of it, but because Christ has deposited His righteousness into your personal account.

When the Father looks down upon you, He no longer sees your sin, but instead, He sees the blood of His Son that was shed on your behalf. That is why Paul can say in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” You are eternally free in God’s eyes, and that is why He loves you as His beloved.

Think of it in terms of marriage. A wedding ceremony does nothing to change the character or personality of the bride or groom. In fact, several weeks after the wedding, both of them are going to realize just how much they need to change. Although their character and personality may not have changed, their status did. They first walked down the aisle as two independent people who could have belonged to anybody, but when they walked back up the aisle, they belonged to each other. Now they were one.

Just the same, when you became a believer…. Although the Lord will continually change your character over the course of your life, your status has been changed forever. You are God’s special possession and He deeply, unfailingly, eternally loves you.

You forever will be . . . His beloved.

Thank God for sending His beloved Son to die for your sins, that you could become a beloved child of God.

“Their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.”Isaiah 54:17

The longer the Christian lives, the more he learns; and the more the Spirit teaches him, the more he loathes himself and renounces his own righteousness as filthy rags. He hoped sensibly to grow in holiness, to feel his corruptions subdued, and to enjoy without interruption the presence of his God; but instead of this he seems to grow more like Satan, corruption appears to get stronger and stronger, and the depravity of his nature appears so dreadful, that he enjoys scarcely anything. He thinks himself a monster of iniquity, and wonders how God can possibly love him, or show any favor unto him. This experience endears free grace, renders Christ unspeakably precious, and the gift of righteousness invaluable. How can such a man be just before God? Where is his righteousness to come from? Jehovah answers, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF ME. Jesus wrought it; the Father imputes it to us; the gospel reveals it; and faith receives it, puts it on, and pleads it before God. O Jesus! in Thee have I righteousness and strength.–James Smith, 1840

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame;
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name;
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

In the Ozarks, where I was raised, it is common to find springs. On many occasions, tired and weary from hunting, I have taken a drink of cool water from a spring and been refreshed by it. That’s why these comments by James Smith caught my eye. People in ancient times depended greatly on water from springs, as a matter of survival, making them a great metaphor of Christ. Think about that as you read the following: