Self-Justification

“You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15)

The trouble with blogs like this is the subtlety of attempting to justify my own position in life thinking I’m alright…  I’m not alright.

I was talking with someone who was saying, “people think I’m weak, but I’m not weak.  I’m strong!”  and I said flat out, “you ARE weak!  Just accept it.”  The only one being fooled was this person denying their own weakness…

But then I thought about myself…  Who am I trying to fool?  I’m only fooling myself.  I’M THE FOOL.  Sin is pervasive.  It spreads like wild fire.

“Our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12:29)

their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor 3:14-15)

The more I reflect on my own life and see how I continue to play with fire the more I feel like I will be the PERRRRFECT example of entering heaven “though only as one escaping through the flames“…

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

Sin(ners) is(are) Repulsive

How does God view our fickleness?  Is He All forgiving?  Forever loving?  Even when we fail Him over and over again?  Were God to have the emotional instability of us pathetic humans, how frightening would that be? We see glimpses of what that would be like in the Old Testament. At times in the bible He certainly does not express Himself to be always forgiving and forever loving.  And it should strike fear in our hearts:

Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
    you refuse to blush with shame. 
Have you not just called to me:
    ‘My Father, my friend from my youth, 
will you always be angry? 
    Will your wrath continue forever?’
This is how you talk,
    but you do all the evil you can. (Jeremiah 3:3b-5)

The Nature of Idolatry.  Calling on the name of the Lord to save only when hard times hit and expecting God to be merciful in times of distress…  How frustrating would that be?  Someone only coming to you because they need something.  You know who those people are and don’t have much sympathy for them.  God clearly sees it as returning to him, “only in pretense“. (Jeremiah 3:10)

My inheritance has become to me
    like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
    therefore I hate her.  (Jeremiah 12:8)

I thought God was loving.  How can he hate his people?  But He must be different now because that was the Old Testament.  God is a God of love in the New Testament:

‘Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.’ The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. (Revelation 14:18b-20)

Humans being crushed by God’s wrath until their blood gushes out and flows for miles upon miles, a river of blood.  1,600 stadia = 183.93 miles… disturbing… grotesque.

WHY AM I SO BLIND TO MY OWN SIN!?!?…

sigh…

Praise the Lord… PRAISE THE LORD for passages like this where indescribable hope can be found:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him andseated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins,
    O Lord, who could stand? 
But with you there is forgiveness; 
    therefore you are feared. (Psalm 130:3-4)

History and Theology

Profound how God chose to reveal Himself to us…

How does a transcendent God manifest himself in space-time history? Can the study of history allow, in it’s reconstructions of the past, for authority and influence outside the space-time continuum?  To what extent is the supernatural an essential part of Christianity, and what does it mean to approach such matters “historically”?  What are the epistemological bases for a system professing to be revealed religion?

Reference: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Matthew Copyright 2010 by D.A. Carson

your prayers…

somebody was praying for me today… I believe it.  Unusual how I was prevented from being dragged away by my own evil desires the whole day today… there was every opportunity to give birth to sin.  The whole day… unusual presence…

thank you whoever you are.

God bless you.

(cf. James 1:13-15)

“HE IS NOT A TAME LION”

“No” replies Lucy, “but he’s good.”

No one is good—except God alone. (Mark 10:18b)

What…Cowardice?

What!? A cowardly person will be sent to the lake of fire???

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelations 21:8)

Stern words from the Lord:

Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)

More courage than cowardice!

God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power (2 Timothy 1:7)

“better to you than seven sons” (Ruth 4:15)

Excited to move to a foreign land to experience something new…

Husband passes away…

10 years later, her two sons die off…

No grandchildren to play with…

Left with 2 “worthless” daughter-in-laws…

1 goes back to her hometown…

1 less “worthless” daughter-in-law to deal with…

Going back home with a weirdo daughter-in-law…

Bitterness settles in…

Name change:

Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.  I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me. (Ruth 1:20-21)

What a bitter old hag…

The “worthless” daughter-in-law, Ruth, at the end of the story is revealed to be a precious gift of God.  Ruth was there the whole time.

your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth…

I’m such a bitter old hag… hakhakhak! (the laugh of a bitter old hag).  What am I complaining and grumbling about against God?  Longing for something I don’t have.  And here God has already given me so much!  I’ve been so blind to it…  My precious family, Calvary family, BSGE, friends, co-workers.  God has given me to love.  And all in my life to sharpen me to become more like Christ.

And through the lineage of Ruth comes the ultimate Gift of God: Jesus Christ himself.

Ruth is better than seven sons.

Jesus Christ is better than the world