Joseph Louthan

I suck.

Romans 3:23 (ESV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

I was going to die.

Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death…

Fortunately, God doesn’t suck.

Luke 18:19 (ESV) … No one is good except God alone.

God knew I sucked, loved me anyway and because He loved me so much, He sent His Son to fix it all:

Romans 5:8 (ESV) but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God gave me the wisdom to know of Him and His love for me.

1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV) But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

So I call upon Him.

Romans 10:9 (ESV) because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

God saved me from death.

John 3:16 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God made me righteous.

Job 33:26 (ESV) then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.

God made me pure.

Zechariah 3:4 (ESV) And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”

God made me holy.

1 Peter 1:16 (ESV) since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

For this point on, I cannot be condemned for my past.

Romans 8:1 (ESV) There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

What did I do to save myself? Not a darn thing.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (ESV) For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

What can keep Jesus from stop loving me?  Uh, nothing:

Romans 8:35-39 (ESV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Simply put, who is like our God and who dares to compare themselves to Him?  Because the last time I checked, my God is holy.

I was born on May 17, 1975, to American soldier and a Korean waitress in Carswell AFB (near Fort Worth), Texas and the oldest of six children which includes two brothers and three sisters. Raised by my paternal grandmother.  I am more than blessed to have a son, Yusef.  I am a member of Gateway Church in Southlake, TX.

Want to read about my path from death to life?  Read more One Year Ago.

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