Lythan provided the
SALT team with today's challenge - "Penitence" and she made the following comments on the
SALT blog, "I would put simply as "being aware of what we have done wrong and seeking God's forgiveness" or having a sense of regret for sin and wanting to make a sincere change. The focal reading for me is this one
1 John 1:8-9 "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." What does it mean to be aware of our wrong doing and of the forgiveness we receive through Jesus Christ? How can we sincerely make a change in our lives?
Our challenge reminded of a song by Jewel in which she sings, "if we want to be forgiven, we must first believe in sin." It's true...Based upon conversations with many friends over the years, I don't think most people see themselves as all that bad. One of my favorite lines is, "well I've never killed anyone." It's like that's God's only criteria for determining whether someone is "good" or not. Or we compare ourselves to those around us and figure that most of the time we behave better. I mean I give to the poor, use fabric grocery bags instead of plastic, am faithful to my spouse, that's enough, right? This turns the gospel of Christ on it's ear...assuming that God has some giant chart up in heaven where He keeps track of all the good and bad things that you do and as long as the good things outweigh the bad, then you're in! The truth is we're all far worse then we even realize. And even one little sin, one small transgression is enough for God to cast us into hell. It's His great love and mercy that offers us hope....that hope is Christ.
Spurgeon, in one of his Morning and Evening devotions, says the following, "It is true that our Lord Jesus does redeem all His people from the wrath to come; He saves them from the fearful condemnation which their sins had brought upon them; but His triumph is far more complete than this. He saves His people 'from their sins.' Where Christ works a saving work, He casts
satan from his throne, and will not let him be master any longer. Sin will (continue to) be
in us - it will never be utterly expelled till the spirit enters glory - but it will never have dominion. Sin will never get the upper hand so as to be absolute monarch of our nature.
Is sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy your heart is unchanged, and if your heart is unchanged you are an unsaved person. If the Saviour has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, He has done nothing in you of a saving character.
The good news is that "if we confess our sins, Christ is faithful to forgive us our sins." This is a most powerful verse for me for it is the one that God used to bring about real change in my own heart. Salvation isn't based upon a set number of good acts, it's based solely upon the work of Christ, Who came to save His people not
in their sins, but
from them. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." If not saved from sins, how shall we hope to be counted among His people?
If you feel lead to create something based on this week's topic, please leave us a comment on the
SALT blog with a link back to your blog or gallery. We'd love to share in your creation. See the
SALT blog to see how the design team explored the challenge.
This week it was Pauline's turn to pick the topic for the SALT team and she chose Gethsemane...a fantastic topic!!
Before I touch on our topic and today's card I want to mention that on Monday the Sweet 'n Sassy team will be hosting a blog hop (button on the right) so be sure to check back on Monday for details on prizes!!
For today's card I decided to create a simple ATC that focused on Christ's words as He prayed alone in the garden before His arrest and crucifixion. The tree image and moon made me think of what it might have been like that night as Jesus was in agony over what He knew was going to happen to Him in the coming hours.
One of the things that strikes me the most about this passage is the obvious distress that Jesus was in, for our sakes...He was, after all, God in the flesh, able to overthrow all of His enemies with just a word (John 18 gives us a peek into His great power, "Now when He said to them "I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground."), and yet He was fully human, experiencing all of the emotions that we would (and do) face. His greater agony though was that He was about to have all of the guilt and sin of His people laid upon His head and God, His Father whom He had had perfect communion, would turn His back on Him during His greatest trial.
In His humanness, Jesus prayed "please, please let this cup pass from Me", Spurgeon wrote, "The mental pressure arising from our Lord's struggle with temptation, so forced His frame to an unnatural excitement, that His pores sent forth great drops of blood, which fell down to the ground." However, His desire to do God's will and redeem a people for Himself demonstrates the mighty power of His love. Spurgeon goes on to write, "We see our Saviours in His agony; He is so utterly oblivious of self, that instead of His agony driving his blood to the heart to nourish Himself, it drive it outward to bedew the earth. The agony of Christ, inasmuch as it pours Him out upon the group, pictures the fullness of the offering which He made for men."
Today's theme begs the question, "Do we perceive how intense must have been the wrestling through which He passed, and will we not hear its voice to us?" Seek Christ while He may be found...
Please visit the SALT blog to see the lovely creations posted by our design team and if you're feeling inspired to create something based on this week's theme, leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or gallery.
The second sketch challange we're hosting is with 
Well...it was digi day...yesterday! :-) On the weeks that I have a SALT challenge, I'm a day behind for the 
This is on the other side of the river where you can see that the river has overflowed it's banks. That house off in the distance is usually 15 or so feet from the river's edge.
This house is on the corner of the street that leads into our neighborhood. They usually have a tiny stream, which doesn't even exist in the summer, in their backyard. The river is running right through their basement and is about a foot from flowing right over the bridge. Just last week the river level was so low you could see the ground in some areas. The river by us is typically pretty narrow.
I departed just a bit from the sketch by first creating a box, using my ScorPal to make embossed lines, for the four strips of paper to live in. My diamond shape was just two pieces of layered cardstock, the yellow being embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and my sweet flower bouquet was placed on top with dimensional tape.
Be sure to head on over to the 
