Romans 1:16-17 (Amplified Bible)
16For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God’s power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,
17For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith.
Faith in Jesus is the cornerstone of Christianity. The foundation of our faith comes from believing that Jesus is the son of God, he was born of a virgin, he knew no sin, he died in our place, rose from the dead and will return for us one day. To someone that has no faith all this would seem impossible. For us who call ourselves Christians, we believe that all of the above is true and there is no way to get to God except through Jesus. By Faith, we receive the sacrifice of Jesus and we are made “the righteousness of God in CHRIST”.
In the NKJV verse 17 says: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith… in what? “It” refers to the Gospel of Christ and Salvation talked about in verse 16. The righteousness of God is revealed in and through the faith that brought you to salvation. Your faith is founded on who Jesus is and what he did FOR YOU. He died for you! Everything Jesus did and everything he suffered was for you. In HIM you are a new creation. In HIM you have power. In HIM you can overcome every obstacle.
Your faith in Christ is the foundation and the seed that allows your faith to grow and become stronger. Once you really understand and believe who you are IN CHRIST, you can believe that he will be everything else you need and this causes your faith in HIM to grow. Your faith grows in believing what Jesus will continue to do FOR you, IN YOU and THROUGH YOU.
I keep stressing the IN HIM because we can never think we can do anything in our own strength. So do me a favor, break the mirror of low self esteem, pride, arrogance and look at yourself in a new mirror. When you look in this mirror I pray you begin to see who you are IN CHRIST. This will give you a new image and you will see yourself differently. When you see yourself in Christ you will live, talk and act different.
This is a deep subject for a short blog, but I hope this will inspire you to get in your new mirror and study Gods word for yourself so this new image can be revealed to you.
