Posts Tagged ‘saved by grace’

Day 230: Romans 3:19-4:8 — By Grace

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

I’m a good person; I work hard, pay my taxes, don’t cheat on my wife, provide for my kids…You have heard it many times and may have even caught yourself voicing something along the same lines. It is a trap that Satan has set since the beginning and will use with way too much success until the end of time.

This balance between law and grace — odd that we refer to it as a balance, because there is no balance. They are exact opposites. In Romans 3:20 this is stated with the utmost clarity, yet we cling to Law. Law lets me be in control; grace puts me at His mercy.

In reality, Law should never be a source of pride, only shame. We like to talk about what we have gotten right, but Law points out the thousands of things we do wrong. That is the entire purpose of Law. It was never meant as a source of salvation but a resource to show us how much we need God’s grace. Only when I realize that I cannot do it myself, am I ready for God to really come into my life.

Even after obeying the gospel I continue to need grace. Because I am no better at keeping Law after than before. I continue to need God’s grace every bit as much as I ever did. The world wants a salvation they can pay for, own and go about their merry daily life having their paid receipt in their pocket. Grace was paid for but not by us; we could never cover the cost regardless of our wealth.

I realize at this moment how badly I need God’s grace. It is what I hope in because God can, will, and does keep his promises and try as I might, I sometimes fail. So here I sit having faith that as long as I’m doing my best, flawed as it is, God will through His grace make up the difference. Heaven depends on that promise (Romans 4:4-5) and I cherish it.

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Day 226: Psalm 14 — On being a fool

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
Psalm 14:1

David’s intent isn’t to provide a definition of who is a fool, but a thousand years later, give or take, the apostle Paul does tend to agree (Romans 1:18-23). Wait, I know I saw a few stones around her somewhere — oh, there they are!

All have turned aside,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
Psalm 14:3

Now that doesn’t sound good. There’s just something about that word all that really doesn’t leave room for exclusion. Even so, the goal here is not to show that all on earth are fools, nor to imply that there isn’t an ounce of good in anyone. Taken as a whole, the Psalm is simply a characterization of the wicked. Instead of looking at verse 3 as blanket condemnation on everyone as corrupt and vile and foolish, a better conclusion is that of Paul. Paul quoted this Psalm in Romans chapter 3, and concluded simply that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Often we stop there in Romans chapter 3, but the next verse explains that we are justified freely by the grace of God (Romans 3:24).

So just as Psalm 14 is a characterization of the wicked, Psalm 15 is a characterization of the righteous. Just as someone who has found no need in his heart for God is a fool, those who have made room in their heart for God are the righteous. Not through our own righteous deeds, but through the sacrificial atonement of Christ (Isaiah 64:4-9, Titus 3:3-7). In many ways, these 2 Psalms fit very nicely with Romans chapter 3.

Thank you Jesus, for not leaving me to be the fool, but by redeeming me with Your blood, you have cleansed me and made me righteous — not through my own goodness, but through your own perfect sacrifice. May I live each day to glorify Your name and the name of the One Who sent You.

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Day 191: Acts 7:42-8:3 — Choices & forgiveness

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

And Saul was there, giving approval to his death…But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. Acts 8:1, 3

Those are, I think, some pretty sad verses. Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story, because we know very well of Paul’s life & ministry, and we’ve read his letters. We also know that when Paul was doing these horrible things, he believed them to be the work of God, so he slept very well, having a clean conscience (Acts 22:3-5; Acts 23:1).

Do you believe Saul/Paul was forgiven for persecuting the Church? Of course you do. I do too, and so did he (Romans 8:1). Can you imagine Paul writing to the church at Corinth, telling them “I beat my body daily because the sins of my past are too great for me to bear”? I can’t imagine that at all. No, Paul was very convinced of God’s forgiveness, offered to Paul through His grace, bought with the blood of Jesus.

We have been offered that same grace, yet we hear people today say things like, “I know God has forgiven me, but I just have a hard time forgiving myself”, as they hang their head in shame. Consider this — if someone sinned against you and he repented, wouldn’t God forgive him? Wouldn’t you forgive him? Then what right do you have to not extend the same forgiveness to yourself that God has already given? To refuse to forgive oneself is to reject the forgiveness God has given us through Jesus, and we do not have that right.

Paul made some pretty terrible choices, as have all of us, but what part of “no condemnation” doesn’t cover that? Friends, we should thank God each day that we don’t have to live lives of despair and regret. We cannot change anything done in the past; we can only accept God’s mercy and move on to the future. That’s exactly what murderer, persecutor, and sinner Saul of Tarsus did.

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Posted in Acts, Free Will, Grace, Mercy | 4 Comments »