Illustration from Mr. Greenleaf's Unforgettable Summer
by my friend and talented artist, Dawn Copeland
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News of good things...Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." (Romans 10:15,18)
My friend, Dawn, is truly gifted by God. Isn't her pencil drawing of Mr. Greenleaf perched on the tiptop of his watering pot spout amazing! His story...
Do you know that electrified, overjoyed, excited feeling you have when you wake up on your birthday or Christmas Day or the first day of summer vacation? Well, that's precisely how Mr. Greenleaf felt when he woke up later that same summer day and heard he, she, wee, and teeny-Willowkins' voices on the screen porch.
"Mamaw, it's time for another Bible story," said Elizabeth.
Mr. Greenleaf's teensy ears perked up as tall as a little, green tree frog's ears can perk. He wiggled down the hollow handle and perched on the watering pot spout so as not to miss a single word.
Splendid, thought the froggy, another Bible story!1
Do you know the greatest story ever told in the history of mankind? Well, it's His story, and it begins in the book of Genesis...
"Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness," God said. (God said "Us" and "Our" because our God is three in One: Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit.) So the man, Adam, was created in God's image and likeness; therefore, at first, he had the glory of God - His presence and perfect, sinless character.
Soon after Adam's creation, he and his wife, Eve, disobeyed God. They sinned or missed the mark by doing what God told them not to do. Since that tragic day in the Garden of Eden, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Mankind lost God's glorious, sinless character and access to His presence. The Bible says, "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear you" (Isaiah 59:2), and "the wages (paycheck) for sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Oh my! "Who will set me free from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24). Since in God's law (He made the world, so He makes the rules), death is the penalty for sin, then each one of us must pay the penalty of death ourselves OR SomeOne must pay the penalty for us. Indeed the wages of sin is death, but there's Good News, Romans 6:23 in its entirety says, "but, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!"
Even before Adam sinned, God had a perfect plan to save man from his sin. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus) that whoever believes in Him shall not die, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
God's free gift of eternal life is not deserved, and it cannot be earned. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The story of Jesus on earth is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. God's Son came to earth as a baby, born of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. From age 30 to about 33, Jesus ministered to multitudes of people by teaching, loving, freeing, and healing them. Then, He allowed Roman soldiers to arrest Him, beat Him, and nail Him to a cross, where He hung in agony and pain for six hours. Moments before His death, Jesus said, "It is finished!" - Jesus who never sinned, died in the place of sinners who will choose faith in Him. God accepts His shed blood as payment for our sins when we believe and trust God.
Jesus was buried in a tomb; but three days later, He rose back to life, remained on earth forty more days, and appeared to over 500 witnesses. Jesus then ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of Father God, where today He intercedes and prays for believers.
One day - perhaps soon - Jesus will come back to earth; and according to the book of Revelation, He'll reign as King of kings and Lord of lords for 1,000 years. At the end of His millennium, God will create a new heaven and a new earth where believers will live with Him forever and ever and ever and ever. For believers in Jesus Christ, sin, sickness, sorrow, and death will be destroyed and gone forevermore. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen!
Beloved, have you received God's free gift of forgiveness and eternal life? "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved...for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:9,13)
And that, my friends, is His story!
Is Jesus in your story?
1MR. GREENLEAF'S UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER. Copyright 2015, Jill Glassco
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