Category: Grace

  • Waterfalls like streams of living water

    Poured out to enjoy and share

    Cascade Falls, Mission BC

    I really enjoy waterfalls. They can be tiny, like one I know on  Stoney Creek (perhaps 18 inches), or tall like Helmcken Falls (467 feet) near Clearwater. They might be narrow enough to step over or very broad, like Dawson Falls (over 150 feet).

    Most of them carve out basins underneath the drop. The constant falling water erodes everything underneath, down into the bedrock in many cases. It’s almost as if the waterfall wants to keep the water for itself. 

    Waterfalls fail in that task. Eventually, the power of the river pushed out through and beyond the basin. The water won’t be thwarted in its goal to move downstream.

    I’m reminded of God’s marvelous grace when I think of waterfalls. He pours rivers of mercy, healing, blessing, joy, peace, and spiritual gifts into the lives of those who believe on Him.

    Like the basin, we try and keep it all to ourselves. We want the blessings to stay in our lives, yet we hesitate to share them with others, so we build floodgates of “me” and “mine” to hold the blessings in. 

    It is as if we’re afraid that if we share the blessings and grace, somehow God’s supply of those marvelous gifts might run dry. We get prideful about the gifts we have been given and think more highly of ourselves than we ought.

    Ironically, when we open the floodgates and let the grace and mercy flow into the lives of those around us, we’re doubly blessed. God not only continues to pour into our lives, but we also see the blessings of others respond to His life-giving and sustaining gift.

    For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. Isaiah 44:3-4 ESV

    Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. John 7:38 ESV

    Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Revelation 22:1 ESV

    Until next time, may you open wide and let the streams of God’s grace and mercy flow through you to bring life to others who are thirsting.

    Kevin

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  • Human Nature – Our Fallen State

    During our community group meeting last night, someone  commented that “sinning is part of our human nature.” I’ve said it myself, but in truth, it’s inaccurate.

    Indeed, it’s true that we all sin. Every person other than Jesus has sinned. We have a sinful nature inherited from our parents, going all the way back to Adam and Eve. The church has held to the doctrine of original sin going back to its earliest days.

    Yet, it isn’t our humanity that makes us sin. It’s our human nature. Allow me to elaborate.

    When God created Adam and Eve, they were made in the image of God and without sin. 

    So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.  Genesis 1:27-28

    He was pleased with His creation.

    And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

    He would not have been pleased with a flawed humanity that sinned by its very nature. Sin is not the image of God.

    Sin entered later in the Garden. You know the story well. The result was humanity being expelled from the Garden and sin gaining a foothold in us. We see the effects of the sin nature as early as Cain’s murder of his brother Abel.

    Flash forward several thousand years. Jesus sets aside His prerogatives and humbles Himself to come in the womb of a Middle Eastern peasant girl. Yet, He did not give in to temptation and sin.

    He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 1 Peter 2:22

    For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

    For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

    If to be human is to sin, and Jesus did not sin, it means he was not human. The path to our salvation has not happened yet. Only someone fully human could atone for our sin. Our haman nature is fallen and in need of a redeemer.

    His virgin birth enabled him to bypass the sin nature passed down by Adam’s curse. The second Adam (Jesus) did what the first Adam was created to do and failed.

    To be Human is to be created in God’s image. We all bear that image to some flawed degree, but our human nature doesn’t make us sinners. The sinful nature that dwells within us causes us to sin.

    We could call it the human condition because it’s undeniable, but it isn’t the nature we were created with. Humanity was designed to be sin-free—that’s our unmarred nature.

    It may be a trivial, picayune point, but it is one with enormous consequences.

    When we are in glory and without sin, we will be fully human as God created us to be. The sin nature will have been purged.

    When we stumble and fall, turning to Jesus for forgiveness, let’s celebrate that He did not sin in His humanity.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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    All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word. 

    Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.

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