Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 1st Samuel 28-31 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 18 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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My Journal for Today: No specific highlight verses in today’s chronological reading through 1st Samuel 28-31 and Psalm 18; but the reading today – at least for me – was a confirmation of what I’ve been relearning about those who obey God and those who don’t.
The character of Saul, of course, shows us what happens to a life who is called out by God for service but cannot or will not obediently and/or humbly seek God’s way and His will for moving through life. David, of course, is our characterization of the man (or woman, if you will) “after God’s own heart,” … the one who does his (or her) best to follow God’s will by continually seeking what the Lord would ultimately command God’s disciples … i.e., … to deny self and follow the Lord (see again, Luke 9: 23).
And we see in today’s reading where Saul’s disobedience, impatience, and selfishness led him, … to utter and personal destruction, having to fall on his own sword to end a life of self-driven disobedience. Saul started out right, with God’s anointing and favor, having the grace of God at his disposal. But his own willfulness and disobedience did him in; and he was never able to humbly reach out to receive God’s grace to become the man God had purposed him to be.
But when you read Psalm 18 from this morning’s reading assignment, you get the exact opposite picture when we see how David approached His God; and the victories David sings about in this psalm cry out why God favored David and blessed the one after God’s own heart with victory and providential protection.
So, getting these two pictures of God’s free gift of grace in the lives of two of God’s chosen, … one who was UNwilling to gather God’s favor and the other who did nothing but humbly seek and receive God’s grace, … it becomes our choice to apply the lessons from these two lives to our relationship with God. Do we want to receive God’s blessing of His enabling grace and favor for our lives? Well, if so (which I would assume we would), we must live as David did (at least early in his life); and we must do all we can to avoid the pitfalls of Saul, … living out our lives in pursuit of obedience and surrender to the calling God has for each of us. That is my prayer for you and me today.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, help those who read here today, including this humble servant, to follow You daily, living selflessly as You did when You walked among us. Amen
Showing posts with label righteousness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label righteousness. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Friday, April 06, 2012
April 6, 2012 … Someone To Follow – Someone to Lead
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Ruth, Chapters 1-4 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Reference Passage : Ruth 1: 16… 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
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Highlight Reference Passage #2 : Ruth 2: 14-16… 14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
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Highlight Reference Passage #3 : Ruth 4: 16-17… 16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
My Journal for Today: It’s been a while since I’ve read the little book of Ruth in the Bible; but in my chronological read through God’s word this year, that’s where I was taken today. And what a lovely, heart-warming account of Godly relationships is found in this book. But once one goes beyond the surface love story, involving family loyalty and righteous living, we see an account of God’s people being Godly in the face of unrighteous living and treachery, which surrounded the main characters of this love story – Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz.
Remember, this story involved people who were living in the time of the Judges, which we just finished reading about yesterday; and these were treacherous times in the history of the Israelites. People all around these key characters in the book of Ruth were living selfishly and had been drawn into a culture of idolatry and unGodly living. Yet, in the midst of this, God lays out this lovely story of a remnant of His people who lived lives following God’s way and doing so to establish the line of the one who would become King David (Ruth’s grandchild).
And isn’t it a wonderful bit of Godly irony that Jesus’ lineage would be drawn from a converted gentile, a Moabite woman, whose life becomes an example to all of us as to how we should live and love and have our being in a relationship which first stems vertically from a deep and abiding relationship with the LORD and then becomes set in this world horizontally with abiding relationships in family and friends (real friends).
My dear ones, we live in times which mirror the times of the Israelites in the era of Ruth. Right now, like Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, we are engulfed in a culture, a world, and a nation of ungodliness; and we are called, by our God, to follow our LORD and live uprightly in His image. The characters in the book of Ruth not only were honored by God to establish the blood lines of King David and our Lord, Jesus, through Mary; but as their lives are written about in God’s word, they become living examples of how to live Godly lives in an ungodly world.
I pray that we all see the light of Christ shining through the lives of these people as lived out in their horizontal relationships, becoming beacons for their vertical relationship with God. We all need to live, love, and have our essence flowing from our relationship with the Lord, our God; and when we can live like the lovely and loving characters in the book of Ruth, we will honor our God and shine His light in a very dark world.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to live and love as You live in me and prayerfully love through me. Amen
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Highlight Reference Passage : Ruth 1: 16… 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
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Highlight Reference Passage #2 : Ruth 2: 14-16… 14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
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Highlight Reference Passage #3 : Ruth 4: 16-17… 16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
My Journal for Today: It’s been a while since I’ve read the little book of Ruth in the Bible; but in my chronological read through God’s word this year, that’s where I was taken today. And what a lovely, heart-warming account of Godly relationships is found in this book. But once one goes beyond the surface love story, involving family loyalty and righteous living, we see an account of God’s people being Godly in the face of unrighteous living and treachery, which surrounded the main characters of this love story – Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz.
Remember, this story involved people who were living in the time of the Judges, which we just finished reading about yesterday; and these were treacherous times in the history of the Israelites. People all around these key characters in the book of Ruth were living selfishly and had been drawn into a culture of idolatry and unGodly living. Yet, in the midst of this, God lays out this lovely story of a remnant of His people who lived lives following God’s way and doing so to establish the line of the one who would become King David (Ruth’s grandchild).
And isn’t it a wonderful bit of Godly irony that Jesus’ lineage would be drawn from a converted gentile, a Moabite woman, whose life becomes an example to all of us as to how we should live and love and have our being in a relationship which first stems vertically from a deep and abiding relationship with the LORD and then becomes set in this world horizontally with abiding relationships in family and friends (real friends).
My dear ones, we live in times which mirror the times of the Israelites in the era of Ruth. Right now, like Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, we are engulfed in a culture, a world, and a nation of ungodliness; and we are called, by our God, to follow our LORD and live uprightly in His image. The characters in the book of Ruth not only were honored by God to establish the blood lines of King David and our Lord, Jesus, through Mary; but as their lives are written about in God’s word, they become living examples of how to live Godly lives in an ungodly world.
I pray that we all see the light of Christ shining through the lives of these people as lived out in their horizontal relationships, becoming beacons for their vertical relationship with God. We all need to live, love, and have our essence flowing from our relationship with the Lord, our God; and when we can live like the lovely and loving characters in the book of Ruth, we will honor our God and shine His light in a very dark world.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to live and love as You live in me and prayerfully love through me. Amen
Thursday, June 23, 2011
June 23, 2011 … Integrity Promotes a Righteous Reputation
Passage of the Day: Daniel 6: 4 - 5 … 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”
My Journal for Today: Character, it is said, is what we do when no one else is looking – save God, of course. Daniel, as we read in today’s passage from Dan. 6, was a man so consistent and reliable of faith that his jealous opponents, who were rigorously trying to bring Daniel down, had little outright behavioral evidence to indict his character before King Darius; so they decided to go after his openly recognized faith in the Hebrew God. And then we essentially see a replay of what happened under Nebuchadnezzar several decades earlier. And it’s also a foreplay of what is going on in our culture as power driven humans try to eliminate an vestiges of “God” or “Christ” from our culture.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter instructed the early church (and modern believers, by extension) that they (we) should live in such a way that their (our) character and integrity should continually glorify God by how they (we) live. [See 1st Peter 2: 12 below …]
SCRIPTURE: 1st Peter 2: 12 … Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
It is certainly the case that we, today as Christians, will have our nay-sayers, as did Daniel, … those who will challenge our faith and even try to strip us of the right to worship or promote our God. Even those in power today, such as a number of activist judges or organizations like the ACLU, are trying to create a Godless society. But as John MacArthur in his Strength for Today commentary for this date writes, “… (we Christians) must live the kind of life that silences and refutes (the world’s) accusations.” And when we do, MacArthur goes on to say, “… some of them might even come to Christ.”
I’ve heard it said, as perhaps have you, that our lives, lived with Christian integrity and purpose, may be the only “Bible” others in our world ever “read.” If that is the case, does my life and yours, as was the case of Daniel, reflect the very Christ we claim as Savior and Lord?
My Prayer Today: O, Lord, may all I think, say, and do openly reflect You for all to see. Amen
My Journal for Today: Character, it is said, is what we do when no one else is looking – save God, of course. Daniel, as we read in today’s passage from Dan. 6, was a man so consistent and reliable of faith that his jealous opponents, who were rigorously trying to bring Daniel down, had little outright behavioral evidence to indict his character before King Darius; so they decided to go after his openly recognized faith in the Hebrew God. And then we essentially see a replay of what happened under Nebuchadnezzar several decades earlier. And it’s also a foreplay of what is going on in our culture as power driven humans try to eliminate an vestiges of “God” or “Christ” from our culture.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter instructed the early church (and modern believers, by extension) that they (we) should live in such a way that their (our) character and integrity should continually glorify God by how they (we) live. [See 1st Peter 2: 12 below …]
SCRIPTURE: 1st Peter 2: 12 … Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
It is certainly the case that we, today as Christians, will have our nay-sayers, as did Daniel, … those who will challenge our faith and even try to strip us of the right to worship or promote our God. Even those in power today, such as a number of activist judges or organizations like the ACLU, are trying to create a Godless society. But as John MacArthur in his Strength for Today commentary for this date writes, “… (we Christians) must live the kind of life that silences and refutes (the world’s) accusations.” And when we do, MacArthur goes on to say, “… some of them might even come to Christ.”
I’ve heard it said, as perhaps have you, that our lives, lived with Christian integrity and purpose, may be the only “Bible” others in our world ever “read.” If that is the case, does my life and yours, as was the case of Daniel, reflect the very Christ we claim as Savior and Lord?
My Prayer Today: O, Lord, may all I think, say, and do openly reflect You for all to see. Amen
Monday, December 06, 2010
2010 – December 6 – A More Mature Path to Righteousness
Study from God’s Word… Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians, written from Corinth – Chapters 1 – 3: 20 … Passage for Reflection: Romans 1: 17 (with verse 16, a powerful truth/verse you may know by heart) … NIV 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[Habakkuk 2: 4 ]
My Journal for Today: Wow! I’m led in these next last days of December, in Dr. LaGard Smith’s devotional book and through his shepherding me through the Bible chronologically, to read/study Paul’s letter to the “people of The Way (i.e., Christians)” in Rome. And what a reading and study this is.
Sometimes Paul’s letter to the Romans is called “The Christian Manifesto” as the Apostle, in anticipating a trip to Rome in his future, wanted to lay out a clear, and Spirit-led, treatise on the Gospel message and how believers should not be misled by Jewish religiosity or traditions to mistake righteousness under the law with faith that comes from God’s grace in Christ. And our book (i.e., epistle) from Paul to the Romans does exactly that … theologically and practically. And study into this epistle is a study for all sinners, and especially for those of us who’ve received the saving grace of God through faith, as well as those of us who aspire, through that faith, unto righteousness.
And today’s verse, Romans 1: 17, is a hearty declaration of Paul’s theme to the Romans in the context of his clear message of the Gospel’s truth that salvation can – and will – come to any or all who surrender to its saving grace which will lead the saved believer unto sanctification and righteousness by the same faith which led him/her unto salvation. And we all, as does yours truly, struggle with how to be righteous under the conviction that we’re all sinners (see Rom. 3: 10-12, which is a restatement of the Old Covenant truth in Ps. 14: 1-3, Is. 53: 6, and Eccl. 7: 20. And, knowing and believing the truth of God’s power through His word (see 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17 and Is. 55: 11), anytime God’s word declares His truth openly and clearly in repeated ways, as Paul was doing for the Roman believers (and for us), we need to pay CLOSE attention to these exhortations or directions.
And this is, most definitely, one of those times to perk up our attention, learn, and apply God’s truth. My friend (i.e., anyone who might be reading here with me), we’re all sinners with a dogged sin nature (reading in Romans 3); and knowing that truth, many of us strive toward righteousness. But being one who struggles with the conundrum Paul was exposing for the Romans, I’m responsive today to Dr. Smith’s challenge question at the end of his devotional entry, which is … ”If I struggle with being righteous, could it be because I am still relying on my own effort rather than being truly transformed.”
It’s so easy to fall into the PERFORMANCE mentality rather than the SURRENDER mentality. My nature drives me to want to DO SOMETHING to be a good Christian, rather than letting God mature what is already in me to BE SOMETHING reflective of the Christ (i.e., through His Spirit) Who lives in me. Again I quote Dr. Smith, ”While deep faith invariable motivates actions (i.e., righteousness), actions alone never prompt deep faith. I have to continually and intentionally remember that it is my attitude of surrender to God’s enabling grace which drives me onward to righteous; and no self-directed drive or feeling will ever be what God needs from me … to enable me … to BE what He has already given me to become righteous.
And when you figure all that out, send me an email and give me some clear insight on how to make this happen for you [and me]. ;>)
My Prayer for Today: My Lord, I surrender in faith! Amen
My Journal for Today: Wow! I’m led in these next last days of December, in Dr. LaGard Smith’s devotional book and through his shepherding me through the Bible chronologically, to read/study Paul’s letter to the “people of The Way (i.e., Christians)” in Rome. And what a reading and study this is.
Sometimes Paul’s letter to the Romans is called “The Christian Manifesto” as the Apostle, in anticipating a trip to Rome in his future, wanted to lay out a clear, and Spirit-led, treatise on the Gospel message and how believers should not be misled by Jewish religiosity or traditions to mistake righteousness under the law with faith that comes from God’s grace in Christ. And our book (i.e., epistle) from Paul to the Romans does exactly that … theologically and practically. And study into this epistle is a study for all sinners, and especially for those of us who’ve received the saving grace of God through faith, as well as those of us who aspire, through that faith, unto righteousness.
And today’s verse, Romans 1: 17, is a hearty declaration of Paul’s theme to the Romans in the context of his clear message of the Gospel’s truth that salvation can – and will – come to any or all who surrender to its saving grace which will lead the saved believer unto sanctification and righteousness by the same faith which led him/her unto salvation. And we all, as does yours truly, struggle with how to be righteous under the conviction that we’re all sinners (see Rom. 3: 10-12, which is a restatement of the Old Covenant truth in Ps. 14: 1-3, Is. 53: 6, and Eccl. 7: 20. And, knowing and believing the truth of God’s power through His word (see 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17 and Is. 55: 11), anytime God’s word declares His truth openly and clearly in repeated ways, as Paul was doing for the Roman believers (and for us), we need to pay CLOSE attention to these exhortations or directions.
And this is, most definitely, one of those times to perk up our attention, learn, and apply God’s truth. My friend (i.e., anyone who might be reading here with me), we’re all sinners with a dogged sin nature (reading in Romans 3); and knowing that truth, many of us strive toward righteousness. But being one who struggles with the conundrum Paul was exposing for the Romans, I’m responsive today to Dr. Smith’s challenge question at the end of his devotional entry, which is … ”If I struggle with being righteous, could it be because I am still relying on my own effort rather than being truly transformed.”
It’s so easy to fall into the PERFORMANCE mentality rather than the SURRENDER mentality. My nature drives me to want to DO SOMETHING to be a good Christian, rather than letting God mature what is already in me to BE SOMETHING reflective of the Christ (i.e., through His Spirit) Who lives in me. Again I quote Dr. Smith, ”While deep faith invariable motivates actions (i.e., righteousness), actions alone never prompt deep faith. I have to continually and intentionally remember that it is my attitude of surrender to God’s enabling grace which drives me onward to righteous; and no self-directed drive or feeling will ever be what God needs from me … to enable me … to BE what He has already given me to become righteous.
And when you figure all that out, send me an email and give me some clear insight on how to make this happen for you [and me]. ;>)
My Prayer for Today: My Lord, I surrender in faith! Amen
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
2010 – September 15 – Can A Man Be Righteous?
Study from God’s Word… Job, Chapters 25 – 31 … Passage for Reflection: Job 25: 4 – 6 … NIV 4 How then can a man be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure? 5 If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, 6 how much less man, who is but a maggot — a son of man, who is only a worm!"
My Journal for Today: Bildad again [in today’s highlight text], one of these railing friends of Job’s, spouting off obvious truths mixed in with their assumptions of Job’s unrighteousness. And here we have a statement of some obvious truth.
Certainly man – when compared to God – cannot stand righteous before God. But then again, why, throughout all of Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, do we read of God’s value on man being righteous and following God’s ways. If man cannot be righteous, then why does God value man’s attempts to be righteous. And if man could NEVER be righteous, no matter what he did, what’s the point of even trying to be righteous? Let’s just go be sinners and enjoy it; right?
Have you ever felt like copping out to the “give up” mentality, as Flip Wilson, used to cry out, “… the devil made me do it?” It’s easy, when we’re having trouble with temptation or trials in life, to just give up and declare, “… I’m just a sinner; and I’ll never be able to be as good as God wants me to be.” And of course, in one respect, that is right-on truth. But what do we do with the commands from God Himself in the OT and NT (see Lev. 11: 44-45 and 1Pet. 1: 14-16) to “be holy as God is Holy?”
Well, I’m not going to get into a long discussion here about “positional holiness” versus “practical holiness,” which is pertinent, but not necessarily “in-the-trenches” helpful. Save it say that Jesus was the answer to Bildad’s question: “How can one born of woman be pure?” He was born of a woman; and most certainly, He was pure! And it was God’s plan to allow His Son to be the one – and only one – born of a woman who could provide a way for me (and you), who are but maggots, to be seen as pure and holy in God’s sight.
And when our hearts seek after righteousness; and when we – in any given moment – ARE righteous, it is because God has given us the grace to be such; and we hide behind the robes of righteousness offered by God’s very Son, Jesus, so that we can be holy as God is Holy.
And how wonderful is that?
My Prayer for Today: Oh, glory, my Lord … that You would allow me to wear Your robes of righteous to hide my rags of sin. Amen
My Journal for Today: Bildad again [in today’s highlight text], one of these railing friends of Job’s, spouting off obvious truths mixed in with their assumptions of Job’s unrighteousness. And here we have a statement of some obvious truth.
Certainly man – when compared to God – cannot stand righteous before God. But then again, why, throughout all of Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, do we read of God’s value on man being righteous and following God’s ways. If man cannot be righteous, then why does God value man’s attempts to be righteous. And if man could NEVER be righteous, no matter what he did, what’s the point of even trying to be righteous? Let’s just go be sinners and enjoy it; right?
Have you ever felt like copping out to the “give up” mentality, as Flip Wilson, used to cry out, “… the devil made me do it?” It’s easy, when we’re having trouble with temptation or trials in life, to just give up and declare, “… I’m just a sinner; and I’ll never be able to be as good as God wants me to be.” And of course, in one respect, that is right-on truth. But what do we do with the commands from God Himself in the OT and NT (see Lev. 11: 44-45 and 1Pet. 1: 14-16) to “be holy as God is Holy?”
Well, I’m not going to get into a long discussion here about “positional holiness” versus “practical holiness,” which is pertinent, but not necessarily “in-the-trenches” helpful. Save it say that Jesus was the answer to Bildad’s question: “How can one born of woman be pure?” He was born of a woman; and most certainly, He was pure! And it was God’s plan to allow His Son to be the one – and only one – born of a woman who could provide a way for me (and you), who are but maggots, to be seen as pure and holy in God’s sight.
And when our hearts seek after righteousness; and when we – in any given moment – ARE righteous, it is because God has given us the grace to be such; and we hide behind the robes of righteousness offered by God’s very Son, Jesus, so that we can be holy as God is Holy.
And how wonderful is that?
My Prayer for Today: Oh, glory, my Lord … that You would allow me to wear Your robes of righteous to hide my rags of sin. Amen
Friday, September 03, 2010
2010 – September 3 – False Security in Righteousness
Study from God’s Word… Ezekiel, Chapters 32 – 33 … Passage for Reflection: Ezekiel 33: 13 … NIV 13 If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done.
My Journal for Today: For a New Covenant (i.e., New Testament) oriented Christian this text (today’s highlight passage) may be troubling. It seems to be one of those passages which could be interpreted as support for the Armenian position of salvation: i.e., that one can lose his/her salvation because of their behavioral choices – even after believing in the God of salvation. But one has to take this passage in the context of the Old Covenant which God had made with Israel as well as God’s promise of a Messiah, One Who would come to God’s people and be their agent of salvation, … their Redeemer.
So, for you Calvinist types out there; don’t despair. Today’s passage is absolutely right on target, given the Covenant which God had with His people in the days of Ezekiel. And this is why we see that God’s people kept failing in that covenant, which was dependent upon the faith of those who looked forward to a Messiah and, in faith, put their trust in the God of the Old Covenant, recognizing that they could not live up to God’s Law – in and of themselves. It was the faith of the Old Testament believers, i.e., those who recognized their own unrighteousness and humbly pursued righteousness in the face of their individual and collective sinfulness, which produced salvation for these Old Testament Jews.
I know. It’s complicated, isn’t it? But when Jesus came on the scene, bringing forth the New Covenant, He simplified it for all mankind. But nothing has changed. We NT Christians find salvation – i.e., ever lasting salvation – the same way an OT Jew did. We cast our inability to be righteous on a God Who is the only One who can give us the power to be righteous. In our case, in this New Covenant dispensation, our faith casting is upon Jesus, The Christ, Who came to earth, lived, died, raised from the dead, and was returned to Heaven to be with His Father so that we, i.e., those who would repent of our sinfulness and receive God’s saving grace – in faith, … we would find that promise of the classic passage which you probably have memorized, … John 3: 16.
So, though I’m not righteous, when God sees me, He sees me as righteous, because I know I’m unrighteous and believe in the only One Who can save me from my unrighteousness; and He’s the only one Who can – and will – make me righteous … because of my faith. So, I can have confidence in my eternal security, … not because of me; but because of The Christ. I pray that you have that confidence too; and if you don’t, you need to do what is simply spelled out in Romans 10: 9 – 13, acknowledging to God and someone else that you’re a sinner, … declaring in faith that you repent of your sinfulness, … thanking Christ for dying for your sins, and finally asking Him to become the Lord of your life. If you’ve done that, and meant it in your heart, declaring it openly to someone, you are declared righteous by God – FOREVER!
My Prayer for Today: Again, HALLELUJAH, Lord for what You’ve done to give me, a sinner, Your righteousness. Amen
My Journal for Today: For a New Covenant (i.e., New Testament) oriented Christian this text (today’s highlight passage) may be troubling. It seems to be one of those passages which could be interpreted as support for the Armenian position of salvation: i.e., that one can lose his/her salvation because of their behavioral choices – even after believing in the God of salvation. But one has to take this passage in the context of the Old Covenant which God had made with Israel as well as God’s promise of a Messiah, One Who would come to God’s people and be their agent of salvation, … their Redeemer.
So, for you Calvinist types out there; don’t despair. Today’s passage is absolutely right on target, given the Covenant which God had with His people in the days of Ezekiel. And this is why we see that God’s people kept failing in that covenant, which was dependent upon the faith of those who looked forward to a Messiah and, in faith, put their trust in the God of the Old Covenant, recognizing that they could not live up to God’s Law – in and of themselves. It was the faith of the Old Testament believers, i.e., those who recognized their own unrighteousness and humbly pursued righteousness in the face of their individual and collective sinfulness, which produced salvation for these Old Testament Jews.
I know. It’s complicated, isn’t it? But when Jesus came on the scene, bringing forth the New Covenant, He simplified it for all mankind. But nothing has changed. We NT Christians find salvation – i.e., ever lasting salvation – the same way an OT Jew did. We cast our inability to be righteous on a God Who is the only One who can give us the power to be righteous. In our case, in this New Covenant dispensation, our faith casting is upon Jesus, The Christ, Who came to earth, lived, died, raised from the dead, and was returned to Heaven to be with His Father so that we, i.e., those who would repent of our sinfulness and receive God’s saving grace – in faith, … we would find that promise of the classic passage which you probably have memorized, … John 3: 16.
So, though I’m not righteous, when God sees me, He sees me as righteous, because I know I’m unrighteous and believe in the only One Who can save me from my unrighteousness; and He’s the only one Who can – and will – make me righteous … because of my faith. So, I can have confidence in my eternal security, … not because of me; but because of The Christ. I pray that you have that confidence too; and if you don’t, you need to do what is simply spelled out in Romans 10: 9 – 13, acknowledging to God and someone else that you’re a sinner, … declaring in faith that you repent of your sinfulness, … thanking Christ for dying for your sins, and finally asking Him to become the Lord of your life. If you’ve done that, and meant it in your heart, declaring it openly to someone, you are declared righteous by God – FOREVER!
My Prayer for Today: Again, HALLELUJAH, Lord for what You’ve done to give me, a sinner, Your righteousness. Amen
Monday, July 19, 2010
2010 – July 19 – Double-checking Our Spiritual Genealogy
Study from God’s Word… Isaiah, Chapters 57 – 59 … Passage for Reflection: Isaiah 57: 3 … NIV But you – come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!
My Journal for Today: Today, Dr. Smith, as I did, saw a parallel between the prophetic proclamations of Isaiah as God called out the sons of evil who had become disobedient to God and how Jesus called out the Pharisees in John 8. And if you go to that latter passage, you also read one of Jesus’ clearest declarations of His deity (see John 8: 58). The threatened Pharisees where challenging Jesus’ right to speak for God, much as the sinners in Isaiah’s day must’ve challenged God’s Prophet as he called them out for their sinfulness.
But as you read today’s passage in Isaiah 57 or Jesus haranguing the Pharisees in John 8, do you see yourself … as I do me. When I read these words from God through Isaiah, directed at the disobedient children of God, I “hear” God speaking to me. And when I read Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, I’m mega-convicted because I know how hard I try to be righteous and still fall short. Dr. Smith’s closing personal indictment hits at the core of my being as he writes, ”If Isaiah and Jesus pulled no punches, what kind of explicit language might they use to describe me?”
And when I answer that question honestly and openly, I know what I have been in my life and I know how I still fall so short of the Holiness expected of me as a born-again child of God. As Dr. Smith indicated, words like “bastard” or “whore monger” or “panderer” [please pardon the harsh, but descriptive, language], could have accurately been used to describe the Bill Berry before I was born-again. I would pray that “weak” and “wanderer” and “sullied disciple” would be more accurate today. But I am still the sinner of Romans 3: 23 who falls way short of God’s glory and His standard of Holiness, … the Person of God’s Son, Jesus, the Christ.
I know that there is nothing I can do, even though I carry a pharisaical title like, “Reverend” Bill Berry, to be seen by God as righteous – in and of myself. It is only the fact that I have pled the blood of Jesus over my life, the One Who died on the cross so that I could be seen as righteous in the eyes of God, the Father. Only in that act of atonement can I come - clean - before God’s throne of grace. And I pray that we all realize that our unrighteousness is only cleansed and made right in God’s eyes by what JESUS has done for us … never because of anything we do, or try to do, to be righteous.
And do I sense a loud “HALLELUJAH” from any who read with me about the truth of the cross for salvation and our walk into righteousness.
My Prayer for Today: Yes, “Hallelujah,” Lord. I shout it now because of what You did to give me Your robes of righteousness to cover my rags of sin. Amen
My Journal for Today: Today, Dr. Smith, as I did, saw a parallel between the prophetic proclamations of Isaiah as God called out the sons of evil who had become disobedient to God and how Jesus called out the Pharisees in John 8. And if you go to that latter passage, you also read one of Jesus’ clearest declarations of His deity (see John 8: 58). The threatened Pharisees where challenging Jesus’ right to speak for God, much as the sinners in Isaiah’s day must’ve challenged God’s Prophet as he called them out for their sinfulness.
But as you read today’s passage in Isaiah 57 or Jesus haranguing the Pharisees in John 8, do you see yourself … as I do me. When I read these words from God through Isaiah, directed at the disobedient children of God, I “hear” God speaking to me. And when I read Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, I’m mega-convicted because I know how hard I try to be righteous and still fall short. Dr. Smith’s closing personal indictment hits at the core of my being as he writes, ”If Isaiah and Jesus pulled no punches, what kind of explicit language might they use to describe me?”
And when I answer that question honestly and openly, I know what I have been in my life and I know how I still fall so short of the Holiness expected of me as a born-again child of God. As Dr. Smith indicated, words like “bastard” or “whore monger” or “panderer” [please pardon the harsh, but descriptive, language], could have accurately been used to describe the Bill Berry before I was born-again. I would pray that “weak” and “wanderer” and “sullied disciple” would be more accurate today. But I am still the sinner of Romans 3: 23 who falls way short of God’s glory and His standard of Holiness, … the Person of God’s Son, Jesus, the Christ.
I know that there is nothing I can do, even though I carry a pharisaical title like, “Reverend” Bill Berry, to be seen by God as righteous – in and of myself. It is only the fact that I have pled the blood of Jesus over my life, the One Who died on the cross so that I could be seen as righteous in the eyes of God, the Father. Only in that act of atonement can I come - clean - before God’s throne of grace. And I pray that we all realize that our unrighteousness is only cleansed and made right in God’s eyes by what JESUS has done for us … never because of anything we do, or try to do, to be righteous.
And do I sense a loud “HALLELUJAH” from any who read with me about the truth of the cross for salvation and our walk into righteousness.
My Prayer for Today: Yes, “Hallelujah,” Lord. I shout it now because of what You did to give me Your robes of righteousness to cover my rags of sin. Amen
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