6/24 - God's Mercy

The only thing that's been on my mind this morning is God's mercy. Sitting here just thinking about it, the presence of it in my life, in the lives of my friends, the fullness of His mercy is absolutely absurd. I talked to a friend yesterday who I hadn't seen in a while and as we started to catch up, we somehow got into this loop of complaining about life when he quickly put an end to my part of it by saying simple things like "at least you have a mortgage" or "that's a pretty nice car you have." Some nerve I have huh? I've been blessed far beyond what I deserve. I'm not sure what I even deserve (or maybe I'm just scared to admit it) but I know this ain't it. In spite of all I do, I wake up each morning in a house that has food in it and even a few extra rooms to hang out in. I then get to drive in a car to my job, only to leave there and return to a beautiful wife who's carrying my child. I could go on for days about the blessings in just those last two sentences. Instead I sit here on the verge of tears because not only do I not deserve it, I don't even show God the appreciation He's due for it. The verse in Lamentations 3:22-23 is so true.

I mentioned the absurdity of God's mercy earlier because honestly that's just what it feels like to me. A holy God looks at me, in spite of my sin, and deems it fitting to bless me anyway. I totally understand where Job was coming from:

"I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light. God does all these things to a man— twice, even three times to turn back his soul from the pit, that the light of life may shine on him" (Job 33:27-30).

That brings into sharper focus for me the audacity of my sin. The spirit that says "I'm going to do what I want to do anyway" in the face of a God whose holiness and very being far surpasses the significance of our existence. Crazy to think about, even crazier to do I suppose. Let us be of a mindset of humble gratitude toward God and let it so permeate our minds that actions of gratitude and obedience flow out.

Here's a link for another blog on mercy: http://www.acts17-11.com/mercy.html

God please don't let me take your mercy for granted any longer. Let me always be aware of it and show my gratitude through righteous living. Purge me, cleanse me of anything that's not like You. Thank you for your new mercies this morning and another chance to worship you today with my life.

6/20 - Galatians 3

Well, turns out that my internet wasn't down the other day...the modem just wasn't hooked up. My technical prowess continues to impress. Then yesterday my hard drive on our desktop PC crashed so yesterday morning was spent dealing with that fiasco but thanks be to God we didn't lose any data. There's one thing I've learned from the Bible and applied to my computer skills: Jesus saves and so should I.

Galatians 3 is a great chapter to read concerning the covenant of grace vs. the Law. It can be summed up in verses 13 & 14:

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us...He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."

Basically our righteousness, the thing that will determine our post-earth destination, is no longer based on our adherence to the Law but through our faith in Jesus Christ. I used to have trouble with this on many levels: how can God change His mind like this? How can something He proclaimed and seemed pretty serious about now be null and void? Why would God give us a Law He knew we couldn't keep?

A brief aside: I don't think there's any problem questioning the Bible. I think the more questions we ask the more we'll come to know about God because, since the Bible is true, our questions should lead us to truth. I think we ought to test God at His word. Now I know the Bible says "Do not test the Lord your God" in multiple places (Deuteronomy 6:16, Luke 4:12) but I'm not talking about that kind of testing. In the Deuteronomy verse, it references the Israelites who 'tested' God by not trusting Him to provide for them. In Luke, Jesus was explaining to Satan that He couldn't test God by throwing himself off a mountain and 'testing' God by expecting Him to perform a miracle just for the sake of doing it. The testing I'm talking about is more along the lines of Romans 12:2, where you test the Word by putting your trust in it, forsaking the world to follow God, transforming your mind, taking action on the Word in order to experience the fruit of God's word dwelling in you.

...where was I?....oh, the questions. God did give us a law that we couldn't keep. Being a holy God, He had to demand holiness. If God is to be able to judge us in the end, He must be a perfect and righteous judge or else His judgements would be tainted. Imagine that your on trial for embezzling money and your judge turns out to be Bernie Madoff, who quickly throws you in jail. Doesn't seem very just right? A truly righteous judgement requires a truly righteous judge. If God weren't perfect it would open the room for a lot of questions & debate - is a god who we can debate with worthy of worship? Probably not. The point here is that God, being holy, made a law that required holiness. Paul points out that this Law, tough as it was, pointed out to us our need for a Saviour. It showed us what sin was and just how serious God was about us not doing it.

"Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" (v. 24-25).

So God didn't change His mind because although the Law can't save us, it still serves a purpose. This chapter along with Romans 7 & 8 are great for understanding this principle. I could go on and on but probably still couldn't do it justice.

6/5 - 2 Corinthians 6

Good morning. I'd like to thank you all for your prayers for my pastor yesterday and am glad to report that those prayers were answered QUICKLY!! The doctors have indicated that all tests were negative and he's at home now and resting. Glory to God. My good friend Elaine sent me this scripture yesterday: "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34: 17-18). It's one thing to read and believe scripture, it's another to experience it. I praise you Lord, this morning, for allowing us to experience Your Word. Continue to guide us in righteousness so we can experience you like this everyday!

Ok, on to the chapter. Paul pleads with the church not to take God's grace in vain and then admonishes them: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you [says the Lord]. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (v. 2). There is a time when God will be attentive, listening to sinners and responding to their repentance. The flip side is that there will be a day when, like Flava Flav said, "Yo time is up" (ok, sorry for that...its early). So in light of our time, that is dwindling away, let us not take for granted the grace God has laid before us. Everyday we wake up is a new dose of God's grace, allowing you time to get back in touch with Him. And even for us saved folks - its a chance for us to take hold of this 'abundant life' we've been promised. Tomorrow's not promised, so it can't be the day of salvation. It's right now.

For this next passage, I really don't have words for it. Verses 3 - 10 are absolutely incredible to me. They describe Paul's life and, to me, layout the profile of strong and Holy Spirit filled believer. This is one of those 'selah' moments (selah = Hebrew word meaning something like "pause and think"). Please take a minute to read this passage.

Finally, Paul calls the Corinthians to live holy lives. His main point is that they should no longer be "unequally yoked" with unbelievers. Without being on the same spiritual ground, this sort of association would be a hinderance to their relationship with God and even a stumbling block for them. Take a look at your own life - when you hang out with people who, let's just say their first prioirity isn't God, does that further your work for the kingdom? Now this passage is not calling for isolation from unbelievers. Considering Paul's evangelistic efforts in pagan places and even Jesus' constant contact with sinners, this couldn't be true. It's a call not to hang out with them in the same way you did before (to party, talk about nonsense, etc). I remember back in my days at FAMU, there were a few different crowds I hung with and I'd act differently according to the situation -with the youth group one way, with the fellas....a different way. My old pastor, Reggie, would always say that sinners would "infect you before you affect them." That put to rest the notion that I could go out to the club and be an example to my friends by how I didn't smoke and didn't drink. Silliness. If anything, it made them madder that I didn't join in the fun.

So the call is for us to "come out from among them and be separate" (v. 17). Still associate with people, but now differently - with a new heart. The call is to, by direction of the Holy Spirit, to live righteously and be distinct. Consider who we hang out with. Are we unequally yoked?