The Bottom Line

Leviticus 17:11 - For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

All of life revolves around Jesus.  He's our bottom line. He is also THE lifeline. If we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are part of the spiritual bloodline that connects us to Him. As in the Old Testament where people were forever giving blood sacrifices to atone for their sins, so Jesus became our blood sacrifice on the cross in the New Testament. It was all about the blood, physically at first, now spiritually. Hebrews 9:22 - And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Death, the end of self, brings life in Christ. That's the bottom line.

All life is about Jesus. It's about His birth, life, death and resurrection...all that we might learn of Him, take from Him the gift of life which He offers so freely, which life we can have through faith in Jesus. Then we can learn from Him, as His Word, what He has to tell us about how we are to live our lives, what promises are ours when we do, what fears may be cast aside because He tells us to "fear not" because He will be with us...and what will happen if we do not.

As a follower, I know He is with me if I am in His will. Am I always? Probably not. Do I want to be. Yes.  Seek first the kingdom of God... It starts with Jesus. It ends with Jesus. The beginning and the bottom line!

Jesus doesn't care about religion or denomination. It's about a relationship between yourself and an all powerful, loving God, one whose love for us is greater than we can even imagine. He is to be our first and foremost Love. If anything comes before that, we do not have that relationship. It's not about the good deeds we do in this world. There are many who do good things. But if it is not coupled with a relationship with Jesus...God with us, our Emmanuel, the Word which became flesh in the form of a humble baby, who grew in humbleness and obedience only to His Father in heaven, even unto death on the cross...our goodness is as filthy rags. 

I was reminded yesterday how He has us engraved in the palm of His hand. A picture so powerful it makes me weep. If you press your fingers into your hand and hold that grip for a few seconds when you open your hand you will see the imprints of your fingernails. If we so desire to be the objects of God's desire, we must allow ourselves the opportunity to receive Him into our lives that we might be securely engraved into His hand.

Although some will say we celebrate the birth of Christ at the wrong time of year, I don't believe it's the time that is important. It is even looked upon by some as a pagan ritual because several of the elements come from pagan worship. I don't worship the season or the stuff of the season; I worship Who it is all about. It shouldn't be just at Christmas anyway. It should be every day. We can celebrate what He has done for us at any time. He does such wonderful things each day. 

Jesus, You are the Lord of all. You transcend all things. It all began with You in the very beginning when You created all things. You then came down from Your heavenly throne to take Your place among men that all would know You, know Your awesome power, know Your love, and receive You for our righteousness and freedom from sin, to know what true forgiveness is all about. You came that we might have life. You came to remove the heaviness of shame and guilt. You came to heal the brokenhearted and transform lives.

Lord God, thank You for this time of year when we are once again celebrating Your birth. Such birth led to a sinless life in this world that we might see. Faced with You we see our sins and are either drawn to You for our salvation from those sins or we are repelled because we cannot stand believing we could be with sin. Convict us all, Lord. It is for our own good, that tough love like that of a parent. You choose that none should perish and You are there to pick us up when we have fallen. But sometimes pride just gets in the way...or our own desires in the world.

The opposite of bottom line is a point of creating. All things have a beginning and an end. Jesus, as God, created this world. He stepped down from heaven to live among His creation when things didn't quite go according to His plan and we needed restore our relationship with Him after man sinned in the garden. And then His life ended. He was in the beginning, has been all throughout the middle and is our bottom line, the end. And yet...He has been resurrected...and so can we be brought back to life if we look to Him, our Creator and Bottom Line.

Hebrews 12:1-2 - Therefore...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares  us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.