Affectionately Dependent means that although every man is utterly dependent upon Jesus for breath, redemption, and the Christian life, those who have been called by his name count this dependence not as shame but as glory.
Every man left to himself is a lawbreaker, a sinner and under a curse, with God’s wrath upon them (Romans 1:18, 3:23, Deuteronomy 27:26, Galatians 3:10) and has no hope of making himself right before God in his own power–“No man shall be justified by the works of the law”.
But thanks be to God that there is a redeemer, the God-man Christ Jesus. By his double obedience–Active: living a perfect life and possessing a perfect righteousness and Passive: becoming a curse for us, bearing God’s wrath against sin as a propitiation on the cross––Christ Jesus redeems all who come to him by faith. He forgives our sin justly as he has paid the price and dresses us in a righteousness not our own but his alone.
On the cross Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3). Well did Isaiah prophesy, “the Lord has laid on [Jesus] the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). By faith, apart from any works, the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to us––helpless, depraved sinners––and we are made the children of God (Romans 8:17).
Therefore, the Christian loves Jesus for the selfsame reason the woman who anointed Jesus before his crucifixion did––we love much because we have been forgiven much (Luke 7:47). We’ve been saved from eternal destruction and have been made right with God, even children, by the forever and full, once for all atoning work of Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ has brought us to God where there is fulness of joy and pleasure forevermore (Hebrews 10:10, 1 Peter 3:18, Psalm 16:11).
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Corduroy Kid
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Corduroy Kid is journal style prose inspired by everyday life. It finds its grounds in nature, history, theology, and an armful of other things along the way––wherever I might be going. Posts are published monthly.
2021: January
Corduroy Kid 