Tag Archives: Salvation

Relate to Me-The 12th Day of Christmas

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On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a man who really got me (Hosea 3).

I once dated a guy who didn’t get me. He was beautiful but didn’t get me. He was suave but didn’t get me. And I so wanted him to get me because he was beautiful and suave and well dressed, but his middle class life came from his daddy’s blind pigs and other dealings to make ends meet. He said he couldn’t compete with my professor daddy; he just wasn’t that type of intellectual, responsible guy. He had a job but mostly lived off what his daddy left him, and I gathered that I was just something cute to do.

But before I came to this point I wanted him to know that it didn’t matter that my life was built on college education and his on street knowledge; that our love for jazz and films and care for family was enough, that he was enough for me. I don’t remember how I said this. I just remember that he heard my background loud in his foreground and that was too much for him. I went to church then but wasn’t saved then and when I did it was because I met a man who got me.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

This is Jesus Christ, the god-man, who understands perfectly how I feel. No degrees or pedigree or other side of the tracks keeps Him from relating to me. This is the picture we see in Hosea, when the prophet Hosea marries then redeems the prostitute Gomer from her whoredoms. God the Father had Hosea marry Gomer as a picture of Him being married to the Israelites who followed after idols.

And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.—Hosea 3

In Hosea, we not only see a picture of God redeeming His people Israel but also Jesus redeeming us through His work on the cross. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). We didn’t have to clean ourselves up or play our backgrounds down for us to be with Him. He accepted us just as we were, and, because He understands us, lovingly equips and prompts us to be all that He created us to be (Ephesians 4:7-16, Philippians 2:13).

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Election Tragedy-The 22nd Day of Christmas

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On the 22nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me a God who redeems from tragedy (Job 19:25).

Yesterday tragedy struck, at least that’s what many Democrats believe. After Election Day 2010, Republicans are now the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, leaving many folks disillusioned and resigned that their fate lies in the hands of people partial to corporations and special interests and who have no interest in helping them. Some may even want to curse God and die. Well, maybe they wouldn’t go that far, but we know that’s what Job’s wife told him to do after they lost just about EVERYTHING.

Thieves, killers and natural disasters took Job’s children, livestock and servants, and the physical pain of a body of boils compounded his deep emotional wounds. But Job didn’t curse God and die. Instead he said to his wife: “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil” (Job 2:10)? Later, pointing us to Jesus Christ, he declares:

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!—Job 19:25-27

Job knew that no matter what happened to him the One who saves him is alive and He is the One who will exist when the world ends. This is Jesus Christ, our Redeemer who lives and sees all our issues, our tragedies, and is in control of the entire earth (Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Yesterday, none of us lost everything. If we think we did, we definitely had our emphasis in the wrong place. Every one of our needs comes from Jesus. If He decides to use politicians He can, but He doesn’t have to. The tragedy is when we don’t elect Jesus as our Savior, and when He is our Savior, the tragedy is when we don’t elect Him to be the Lord of our lives. No human or political party can save anyone. Only the King of Kings can do that. He is our Redeemer, Savior and Supplier and no vote can change that.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Let It Flow-The 32nd Day of Christmas

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On the 32nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me a savior fit to redeem even me (Ruth 4-8-9).

I grew up in the ’70s, a time glamorized for its street life, where pimping seemed easy, prostitution a girl’s choice and pushing dope was just another way to make some money. Maybe this doesn’t sound different than any other recent era, but the ’70s are home to personal memories of the corner house of Rudy the Pimp and his parties, people hanging on porches with loud talk and music, smoking and probably some drinking, but I never got close enough to see. Rumors reigned of Rudy shedding blood and this was when Detroit got the infamous title of “murder capital of the world.” It’s when little girls and boys, at least on my block, tried to make strong bonds by shedding some blood of their own, theirs, and mixing it with each other. Blood brothers and sisters they became, requiring each to come to the others’ defense, personal saviors of sorts. Having a blood sibling made us feel safe, knowing someone more than a friend would help take care of you. I wonder if this is how Ruth felt when she met Boaz, her kinsman-redeemer.

Many of you know Ruth’s story. She was a Moabite, an outsider married to Naomi’s Israelite son. Their husbands died, but Ruth decided not to go back to Moab but to remain with Naomi. She said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The Israelite law was that the nearest blood relative, or kinsman, was supposed to marry a widow, redeeming her deceased husband’s blood line by giving the deceased’s name to any future children. Naomi and Ruth’s nearest kinsman couldn’t marry Ruth because his inheritance would be in jeopardy so he deferred to Boaz, Ruth’s next to near kinsman, who adored Ruth and purchased her and Naomi’s land so he could marry Ruth, be her kinsman-redeemer.

Boaz is a beautiful type of Jesus Christ, looking lovingly upon an outsider and available, willing, and able to pay and actually paying the price of redemption. Jesus Christ is our kinsman-redeemer because he shed his blood for us, the price required to purchase back outsiders to God because of the fall of man. He willingly made himself available by leaving the comforts of heaven and coming to this gritty earth. He was the perfect savior for us because he was free from sin, the required specification for the sacrificial vessel. Those of us who confess and believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and receive Him as Lord and Savior of our lives receive His blood, redeeming us and bringing us into relationship with God. I praise God that Jesus let His blood flow and now it flows through me, through us who believe in its power, a power incomparable to what we kids thought Rudy had and what we thought we had with each other.

What types of “blood substitutes” have you had that you looked to save you? How did those sacrifices fail in comparison to the blood of Jesus Christ? I look forward to you commenting here on the blog.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Deliverer to Come: The 38th Day of Christmas

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On the 38th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a deliverer to set me truly free (Exodus 3).

Watching the classic movie The Ten Commandments gives me chills. I marvel at the elaborate production to recreate the Israelites’ exile in and exodus from Egypt with Moses as the great deliverer. The bejeweled costumes, the lush and plush sets and, of course, the parting of the Red Sea simply amaze me. We see earth’s riches and heavenly riches, giving us a visual glimpse of the grandeur of God. This is the account in Exodus, the second book of the Bible. And though there are no messianic prophecies here, Jesus Christ appears as a type with the great leader Moses.

Moses led Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, gave his people commandments to stay out of bondage and led them to Canaan, the Promised Land, a place with rich spacious land and luscious fruit where God intended for his people to prosper.* We see the same with Jesus Christ. Jesus leads those of us who believe in him from our bondage of sin, gives us biblical commands for how to live bondage-free, and shows us what our promised land, our place of living, looks like when we obey him. “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:7-9). When we seek God’s word for our lives and obey it, our lives, just like Canaan, will bear much fruit.

In Genesis we get the prophecy of what Jesus will do for those who believe in him. In Exodus we get a picture of how he will do that. If you have made a decision to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he took you from what would be the ultimate bondage, that of eternal life in hell. But freedom from bondage starts on earth. With Jesus, you can live free from whatever has you bound, be it a substance, an attitude or a person. So abide in Jesus—get into him so he gets into you and then you’ll be able to have a prosperous life, one where an abundance of good—thoughts, words and actions—springs forth from you. Get rid of your broken crutches. Walk straight in your promised land, with Jesus, the great deliverer.

*The Israelites could not keep the more than 600 commandments God gave them nor did God suspect that they could. God wanted them to see just how much they needed a savior, preparing them to receive Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the one who fulfilled all the commandments.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Main Attraction

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A Tribute to My Grandmother, Verlenia Thomas
For her homegoing service—February 22, 2005
She’s a star
Shining real bright
Beyond celestial clouds
Penetrating life
Making light from darkness.

She is there
Watching, waiting, hoping, praying that we get it
Understand the seasons of things:
A time to live and a time to die
A time to build up and a time to break down
A time to straighten up and fly
Fly right
Fly right
Get it right to meet her in glory.

She’s watching, waiting, hoping, praying
Beyond celestial clouds
Penetrating life
Making light from darkness
Waiting to be that angel who rejoices when a sinner becomes a saint.

She doesn’t just want you happy you knew her.
She wants you to know him.
She wants you to know Jesus.
Not a said faith. Not a going to church faith. Not an unsure faith.
A real faith. An intimate faith.
A faith like I know my career.
A faith like I know how to shop.
A faith like I know how to negotiate.
A faith like I know how to hustle.

She wants you to get to know him in the pardoning of your sins
To help you do away with your sins
To walk like her
To walk like Christ.

You’re not too young to do it
Not too old to change
You’re not all right just because you tithe or your name is on the roll.

She wants you to get to know him in the pardoning of your sins
To help you do away with your sins
To walk like her
To walk like Christ.

She was a classy lady, full of grace, a sage, organized, an administrator, great storyteller, a clown, recycler, dollar stretcher, fancy hat and shoe wearer, cook extraordinaire, loyal friend, full of common sense, a tower of physical, mental and spiritual strength. She was all that through God’s grace.

You want some
Come and get some.
Come to Jesus while you still have time.
And when it’s your time you will see her and all her watching, waiting, hoping and praying won’t be in vain.

Copyright 2005-2010 by Rhonda J. Smith