A fond farewell in the grace Christ offers each of us

The cards were being dealt and sometimes in the heat of the game it takes some time to sort out the diamonds from the hearts and the spades from the clubs as the colors of red and black become a blur. Such is the case with our lives at times. At this moment in time, it appears this will be my last article for “The Record”, as my health situation is under a total medical disability and I am not working.

So for “the record” I remind you one and all that we are under the curse of sin. Such has been the case since Adam and Eve.

The Bible is clear in this point telling us that “the wages of sin is death”. (Romans 6:23) The curse is seen in the constant battle against weeds you fight in your garden or fields. The curse is seen in disease in our imperfect bodies and constant strain in relationships be they marriage, friendship, or family.

The curse of sin is what God promised to rescue us from in the sending of His Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior.

God says we need to be made holy - “even as He is holy” - because in our sinful state of being we cannot enter into His holy presence.

To be made holy is to have the curse and sin removed, forever and permanently. The perfect life of Christ in His suffering, death and glorious resurrection earns this holiness; which is then delivered to us by the Holy Spirit in God’s sacred work of Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the hearing of His Word.

Thanks and praise be to the Holy Triune God - “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. That eternal life leaves all curse and sin behind.

That eternal life is a living of holiness and perfection in heaven with all those who have departed in the faith, anchored in Christ alone, the saving Son of God.

And so as I now bid you a fond farewell - I leave you with God's promise from Ephesians 2 - “God, Who is rich in mercy, loved us with a great love. He made us who were dead in sins alive with Christ. You have been saved by grace. And since we are in Christ Jesus, He raised us with Him and had us sit with Him in heaven to show in the coming ages the im-measureable riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus. Yes, by His grace you are saved through faith.

It was not your own doing; it is God’s gift. It is not the result of anything you have done; and so no one may boast. He has made us what we are, creating us in Christ Jesus to do good works, in which God long ago planned for us to live.”

The cards have been dealt. Thank you Odessa, Marlin, Grant and Lincoln County for the four and a half years we had with you.

So long for now - for it is never goodbye forever - in Christ !