March 20, Jesus died for this moment.

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2.20

When the alarm went off at 4.59 this morning, I had a split second thought of the utter realness of dying

and standing before an utterly holy God

with nothing to commend me but my own life.

The horror of it was only surpassed by the flash of reality.

Jesus Christ died for this very moment.

Then it was gone.

My immediate sense was, this is the essence of what happens whenever someone is converted.

This is how Jesus Christ is discovered to be real.

This is how a person comes to cherish the love of Christ.

Suddenly, for the first time, they see and feel with the eyes of their heart the

undeniable reality of having to meet God with a guilty conscience.

The impact of that vision is devastating. to meet God with a guilty conscience.

The impact of that vision is devastating.

It causes us to know that our only hope is a mediator.

Standing alone with nothing to commend us but our own sinful life, we are utterly lost.

If there is any hope for eternity in the presence of this God,

we will need a Redeemer, a substitute, a Savior.

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