Proverbs 3:23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. The word whoever takes in a whole lot of people and nationalities. The Lord generously invites whoever is inclined to approach God or is even thinking about getting to know God. We are invited to accept His invitation to embrace the love God has for everyone by accepting His Son Jesus, as their Lord. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Do you qualify as – whoever? Then you are welcome to believe and accept God’s gift of salvation.
Some people think they do not deserve the love God has for them or have the right to ask the Lord for help because they see themselves as – only a …. or just a…. They say things like, “I’m only a waitress. I’m just a labourer. I only collect bottles,” and so on. The self-judgment of “I’m just a…” is reinforced by their feelings of unworthiness. The Lord made sure that all people, like the priest, the temple workers, and the whosoevers of the world were included in His covenant. Yes, even the woodcutters who supplied wood for the sacrifices in God’s temple were acknowledged by God’s law. Neh. 10:34 We have cast lots among the priests, Levites, and people for the donation of wood by our ancestral families at the appointed times each year. They are to bring the wood to our God’s house to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law. Lots were cast among the people, as well as the Levites and priests. That’s right, the everyday people were included in God’s righteous plan for service.
Lev. 6:12 The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. How could these law-abiding ministers perform their duties without the woodcutters? Everyone is welcome in the work and ministry within God’s kingdom, and we are to do what we do as unto the Lord. Col. 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Everyone has a God-given purpose to fulfill, even the crop-pickers, street-sweepers, and sanitary rubbish collectors are all on God’s list of whosoevers, and they are eligible through the blood of Jesus Christ to walk in friendship with God.
If salvation had been left up to the human race to become successful, the caste system of life’s rankings would most likely be enforced. The majority of the population would not be able to even think of approaching God. We would all have to jump through burdensome hoops created by class structures and invented by fallible men and women who would cause us all to fall flat on our faces. We would end up forever struggling in the trenches of despair. Look at all the cults that are available in this world. They show us the mess that arises when mankind takes over the rules and regulations as to who can have access to salvation. We find out very fast that our flesh dispenses punishment much faster and uglier than God does. As Anaïs Nin says, “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.” We are flawed, through and through. Therefore, God steps in and offers true salvation through Christ who eternally works for the well-being of all mankind and all the – whosoever wills. Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
It is after a person receives Christ, that their moving forward in life begins to open up to the realm of eternal possibilities. Prov. 3:23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble. The whosoever becomes a known person in God’s kingdom. The whoever now has a name intimately known between God and that soul. Rev. 2:17b To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. Suddenly, just a waitress, or only a store clerk, becomes a king and a priest in the Lord’s kingdom fulfilling their purpose in Christ rather than existing in the social standings of the world. Wow, what a transformation from being – just a …. and only a woodcutter, to a soul in relationship with Almighty God. What a miracle salvation is when looked at through the Lord’s paradigm.
Whenever man tries to improve the state of the human condition, the task becomes difficult because the foundation that man is building his improvements upon is unstable. When God enters the picture and brings His righteous redemption into our hearts, the amelioration of the human condition excels exponentially because God gives us true life. With the Lord at work within our hearts, we become more than a whosoever. We become sons and daughters of the most high God. We step into our roles of kings and priests ministering unto the Lord. We rise out of the mundane stupor of just being a self-declared nobody to the reality of someone God wants to spend time with.
The Psalmist rightly said in his wonderment of God’s interest in each one of us. “What is man that God is mindful of him?” Psalm 8:4 What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? For God to take such an intense interest in our existence, and to sacrifice His only Son for our eternal lives, there has to be something of extreme value that He sees in the creation of each one of us. The amazing thing is that God’s love for us is not based on what we bring to the table because the Lord has already set the table before us. We are to show up at the Lord’s table and enter into all that He has for us. The Love of God, and His amazing grace, which is available to whoever wants what God has for them, can receive it by saying, “Yes, God, I want your gift of eternal life through Christ, our Lord.” Amen!
Finish Strong
Jeremiah 12:5 If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan? Finish strong, or...
this is the whole gospel in one swoop….well done…..