All Have Sinned

 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”  Romans 3:23

I had heard this passage given over and over for years during my life as a Christian. All of us sin and come short of God's glory. It should have been good news to me during that confusing period of my life.  I wasn't alone. So why wasn't it?

I still needed more proof that no matter what the leaders in the church made me believe, apart from them, I was not going to hell. 

And so I kept going.

In verse 29, Paul makes it clear that God is not for the Jews only, but He is for the Gentiles as well. 

Was he still for me?

 In chapter 4:3, Abraham "believed God." 

God had promised him that he would be the 'father of many nations...' and he believed God for what would have been impossible.

I could believe what seemed impossible at the time. That God would give me a clear answer to my question about hell. And that did come by faith. Because I felt that I had no other choice than to find out if I wanted to stay out of hell.

If that indeed, was where I was headed.

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Thanks for coming today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

 

NO NOT ONE!

 What then? are we better than them? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:9-10

In yesterday's post, I got ahead of myself. In the passage above Paul had asked the question about whether or not God considered the Jews better than the Gentiles. As we see, his answer was "no way, they are all under sin because there is none righteous."

Every one of  us lie. Every one of us sin.

That is where God's grace comes in. His antidote for the sinfulness of the world. 

Did that mean, that the leaders of the church are any different than those of us that attend their services?

Paul would say, "No, in no way wise..."

Just becausie we may consider the leaders of a church above us, and have respect for their postions in the chuch, they are in no way, better or sinless.

Therefore, they are subject to making mistakes, and sin. What about getting the scripture wrong?  Had the leaders in this church  gotten the scripture wrong in some of the things they were teacing their flocks? Were they misleading us? Maybe not exactly on pourpose, but because they really believed those teacings themselves. Of course, there are many so-called leaders that mislead and lie. But how about the ones in this church?

There was a televison commerical years ago that said this, "Enquiring minds want to know."

I have an enquiring mind, and want to know. And I want the truth. Was it clear after just a short time in the book of Romans that I wasn't going to hell when I died?

I still wasn't sure. But with God, I knew that at some point,  God would tell me. At least, I hoped although knew at that time that the Holy Spirit had led me to Romans to decide what I really did believe. That my inquiring mind, did know.

Thanks for coming, friends. Have a blessed day!

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Grace?

But he gives more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. James 4:6

A short passage in James 4, that has a large word in it. Grace. God knows that we are going to mess up at times. But he has an antidote for that called Grace.

I did not feel any grace coming from the leaders of the church during the time that I was there.

But thank God, at least I had it from the One whose opinion of me was much different than what I was given.

My goodness, if they felt I was out of line and needed to change, they hadn't even handled it right. Mathew 18:15-20 gives the details on how situations in the church should be handled if a member sins. Instead, they went straight to putting this situation before the whole church. 

No grace there, believe me. 

You may think I sound bitter. I probably was back in the day. I am no longer bitter. But I did come to it, that they, like I, were human and they made mistakes as everybody does. 

I did not know their hearts. I can only know mine as much as I can. 

Actually, in looking back, that experience taught me a lot. And I am a better person for it.

God gives grace to all that love him. Are we so great that we need not give it out to those around us, as well?

I think not.

I want to stand before him one day, and receive his gift of grace in full. But, I must practice it, here.

Thanks for coming by, Friends. God bless your

day!

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Judgment or Mercy?

 

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs overS judgment.  Romans 2:12-13

If anything during those months that I spent attending this church, I felt no mercy or freedom. Understand, that at the time I was studying the book of Romans, I was trying to apply it to my own life. It was the leaders in the church that had not bothered to get with me to try to understand what I was living through at the time. I was not "growing" at a fast enough pace for them, and it was during the sermon that had put me down, that told me that. And it had really hurt at the time. Because I had been trying hard to grasp their beliefs as much as I could.

We are sometimes so quick to run to judgment with people when we ourselves have no idea what we might do in the same situation. There is a passage in Mathew that helps remind us, that we need to remember what else God says about it.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in your own eye? Mathew 7:1-3

In other words, you might say, " We get what we give." And, "Who gives us the right to judge others when we don't know or understand especially, what they might be going through?"

Judgment and mercy. Which do we want for ourselves when we stand before a Holy God? I would hope we would truly want mercy. But if we don't practice it during our lives here on earth, we will probably not see much of it when that time comes. 

I don't know where the leaders of this church are now. Have they learned the difference and do they practice it with the people they know and deal with? Are they even still leaders in a church? As for as myself, I learned something about it during these days that I spent with God and I do try to practice it in my life. I can only judge my own attitudes. I don't always do a great job. But I try. Even if I have to ask God's forgiveness many times for the judgment I render towards someone. 

Thanks for stopping by today, Friends. I suggest to you that when you feel like you are judging the actions of someone, you stop and ask God what you can do to give them the mercy they really deserve. He loves them as he does you. 

God bless,

Judging Others

  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. Romans 2:1

The following website explains what this passage means better than I can, so please go there if you want more info about it.    I am going to copy a portion of it here for you, that is meaningful to me. 

What does Romans 2:1 mean?

Paul now seems to read the minds of these self-appointed "judges." He says to them—to all of us, really—that they are not the one with the gavel. You, "oh man," are the one on trial. And we are all guilty. How can this be? Paul says it plainly, "You do the same things." In addition to participating in some of the sins Paul lists in Romans 1, these judges also practice the sin of hypocrisy in their judgment of other guilty people.

Judged? I felt judged in this church. From pretty much the beginning. Why? Because at the time, I had four children ages 1-10, an alcoholic husband, and I wore glasses.

Wore glasses? What?

This church did not believe in doctors of any kind. Even if you broke a leg. Honestly, one boy did from another city. I am not sure if the parents did deny him medical help, but I digress because I do not know. What I do know is that the church leaders taught against it. How do you deny medical treatment for children that are sick. They even had home births. So you may imagine that wearing glasses was quite taboo as well. I tried hard to believe the way they taught. But honestly, I needed glasses because I was born with an eye disease and it has continued to deteriorate over the years even up to now. 

I did not ask pity for it, just understanding. Which I never got. Because one thing that made me leave that church eventually was the fact that after I had not stopped wearing glasses after close two years into my attending there, I was called out in a sermon about it. Oh, not by name. But I knew who it was about, and it had been very embarrassing. 

Judging others? Paul had it right back in his day. I had felt very judged. But that wasn't just meant for his day, but ours as well. 

Those people, or at least some of them, had no idea what my home life was like at that time. And it was not very good. (To be fair, I think that a few did have empathy for my situation. Those that didn't feel they were not so perfect, that they got to know me a bit even though they were probably encouraged not to get too close.)

Judging others is something that I try very hard not to do. I admit I am not a perfect person, and believe me I do know it. But I do know what it is like to be made a spectacle of someone elses judgment, even if I was not called out by name. I didn't like it and so I work on that all these years later, so that I don't do the same to those that aren't doing what I think they should.

Thanks for coming today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

Called of Jesus Christ

 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: Romans 1:6

Today I am going back a bit in Romans chapter 1, to pick up the first few scriptures.

The apostle Paul had once been killing the Christians of the early church until the day came that he met Jesus and his life forever changed. He then took on the title, of being an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Because he had become a Christian, he received grace and that title for his obedience and faith in Jesus Christ. 

And in verse 6, he had been called of Jesus Christ. 

But what was he called to? He was called in to the service of God, to preach the gospel of Christ instead of killing them, now he was preaching to them.

Thinking on that part of the scripture, I wondered. Was I called of Jesus Christ?

I had accepted him when I was 8 years old. Did he have a calling for me even back then? Could that church I was going to take that away from me? 

I didn't know, because, at that time, I hadn't really understood that I had really been brainwashed to a degree and it would take weeks to understand that the answers to those questions were yes, and no. Yes, he had a calling for me, and no, the church could not take away my salvation. 

To add to that, even though it hadn't been a part of that study at the time, I would like to say that as Christians, we are preordained to our calling from the beginning of time. Not from the beginning of our lives, but way before even that.  Consider this scripture:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, Ephesians 1:5-6

He knew us BEFORE the world even began! How is that possible? I don't know. It is one of the mysteries of God that maybe someday we will get to know when we are in heaven. Until then, I am just satisfied that he knew me, and called me even before my life began eons later!

However, reading these verses was not convincing on that day years ago, because of what I had learned at that church. It would take much more of the Holy Spirit's teaching to break through my thick hard brain. 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. bless your day

 

Nothing And No One Will Separate Us From The Love Of God!

 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39

Sadly, in today's world, there are so many children and even adults who have not or are not knowing the love of a father in the home. Those that have and do are very blessed.

The father that we can always count on is our Heavenly Father,  So what does he do for those that love him?

Well let's see:

He is the one that created us: Isaiah 64:8

And He is also the giver of life through his Son Christ Jesus:  1 Peter 1:3-5

He is the Father of Lights, who comes down to give us every good gifts: James 1:7

He never changes: James 1:7

He strengthens us, and delivers us: Colossians 1:11-14

He is our teacher: Psalm 25:5

He provides for us: Mathew 6:26-30

He is our Peace: Thessalonians 1:2

God is everything we need in the life we have on earth, to make it to him on high. Things in the world are sometimes bad. They are sad, crazy, and even dark. But if we keep our minds on the Light, and stay focused on Him, we can have perfect peace. Isiah 26:3

The problem is, it is not an easy thing to do. But God knows we are human, and are imperfect. That is why he is also our helper. Psalm 54:4.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. In the next post, I will get bac to the book of Romans. Have a peacefully blessed day!