The Just Shall Live By Faith, #3

The Righteous Person Shall Live By Faith.

“Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.”  (Galatians 3:11) How does one lay hold of this righteousness of God, the only kind of goodness that will enable us to stand before God's holy standard? It is not a task to accomplish or a prize to earn, rather it is a gift to receive. The Apostle Paul confronted the works gospel that was being promoted by the heretics who were seeking to lead the Christians of Galatia astray, this way.   “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:6–8, NASB95) The New Testament makes clear that the Gospel is a message of Good News. Yet there is a natural tendency for we people to make it a challenge to work hard. Make no mistake, there is much work to be done, but the labor is  labor of love. It is the Christians response to God's gift of grace, not the means by which salvation is earned.   It's STTA (Something To Think About), and to rejoice in..

THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH, #2

The Righteous Person Shall Live By Faith.

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17, ESV) Martin Luther worked at being righteous. He confessed his sins until he wore out the patience of his confessors. He performed acts of penance. He had given himself to a life of monasticism. He studied and taught the Bible on the highest level. Yet he knew that he was not righteous. It was as he studied and thought about the message of Romans 1:17 that he saw the truth that liberated him, and millions in who followed behind him. The righteousness that Luther sought and that we all need is not something that we produce or earn, rather it is a gift from God that we must receive (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is received by faith. It has been said that there are two kinds of religion in the world, the kind where we bring something in our hands to trade for favor with God and the kind where we come empty handed as beggars. It is wonderful that God gives us what we need, because we can never earn it. Five-hundred years ago a troubled German Monk found piece based on that truth. Have you found it?   “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16–18, ESV)   It's STTA (Something To Think About), and to rejoice in..

Making the Crooked Straight--or Trying To:

Something To Think About Straigtening, 5/23

Solomon observed that what is crooked cannot be straightened. Well, maybe, but it's hard, and it's still crooked a little bit, so  Solomon was right. There is a little privacy fence at the rear of my house.  We put it up years ago, when my mom lived in a little apartment that is part of my home.  It blocked some unsightly "stuff," and, especially after some vines covered part of it, adds a nice pleasant feel to the space.  The trouble is it had started leaning to the left.  Since I'm mostly conservative a left-leaning fence just wouldn't do.  It needed to be fixed. I had been thinking about it, and figured that if I attached a come-along to the top of the post on the left and then tied the other end off to the bottom of the post on the far right, that I'd be able to pull the skewed structure back into plumb.  My plan made sense from a geometric viewpoint, but I had failed to reckon on the fact that the fence had settled into its slouch.  Its old bones were stiff and didn't want to be stand erect.  So "crack, crash!" the barrier bowed in the middle, came loose from the post, and part of the fence no longer leaned; it was mostly lying down.  And the post I was trying to pull into uprightness just broke off at the ground. The job that I thought would take less than an hour ended up taking all day.  Lessons abound: The power of habit, The difficulty of reformation--especially when it is attempted toward the unwilling. The need to not only work on what is seen, but, especially, the underground foundations. But I'll let you mull on those, after all this isn't something thought about, it's  Something To ThinkAbout. It's STTA.