Romans 16 -- Remaining "Innocent"

Paul shows us that he was definitely a friend maker.  “He didn’t try to live an isolated life … The servants whom God has used the most were people who could make friends.  They multiplied themselves in the lives of their friends and associates in the ministry,” my commentary said.  I look back at friendships that God brought into my own life as a direct result of ministries that I’ve been a part of and I marvel at how He has worked in the lives of those people to increase His kingdom all the more.

 

Paul expressed a desire for all of his friends and also for those he was writing to:  “I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.”  That is even more important today.  The “innocent” part is especially important.  The less we expose ourselves to evil, the less we think about those parts of it that might eventually serve as “bait” to ensnare us.  By avoiding, say, television shows and movies and songs that tantalize us with evil or very suggestive themes, we can do much to maintain our innocence regarding evil and even reverse the effects of years of saturating our minds with those very things.  I’ve seen it happen in my own life, and I know it words.

 

Father, Satan tries his best to ensnare us by any means possible.  We now have so many more ways to let him gain a foothold than Paul’s generation ever did.  Please help my boys and me to realize when we’re allowing such attacks on our lives and give us the willpower we need to say no to it.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 15 -- Christ Accepted ME, So ....

Paul again tells the spiritually strong Christians to do the right thing by helping the spiritually weak Christians with their weaknesses.  In light of what he’s been talking about, this would likely mean abstaining from anything the weaker Christians still felt was sinful, even though the stronger Christian didn’t believe that way.  But it also just might have been the start of accountability.  It also involves some sacrifice on the part of the stronger Christians, for Paul tells them not to be trying to please only themselves.  But just to keep things in perspective, my commentary asks:  “Does a strong Christian think he is making a great sacrifice by giving up some food or drink?  Then let him measure his sacrifice by the sacrifice of Christ.  No sacrifice we could ever make could match Calvary.”

 

God included a booster shot for me today as well.  “The Scriptures give us patience and encouragement so that we can have hope.  Patience and encouragement come from God.”

 

Finally, I remembered verse 7, which should knock our props out from under us if and when we begin to think we can judge other Christian brothers:  “Christ accepted YOU, so you should accept each other.”

 

Father, I’ve been in need of encouragement and hope this week.  Thank You for providing it.  Thank You also for reminding me that any sacrifice I must make to help one of my weaker Christian brothers is nothing compared to what Christ did for me.  And if He could accept me, then I certainly need to accept all others.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 14 -- Disagreements Between Christians Regarding BELIEFS

Disagreements between Christians over nonessential matters (these are not regarding major doctrinal issues spelled out in Scripture) were a potential source for problems in the Roman church back then and remain a source of problems for churches today.  Paul offered guidance for both the spiritually strong Christians and the new, spiritually weaker Christians.  Surprisingly to some, the bulk of the “giving” needed to occur with the stronger Christians.  Here’s why:  A Stronger Christian is one who has come to accept the freedom Christ gives from the law, while a weaker Christian, having yet to fully understand that, still sets up boundaries around his life to keep him from potential temptations and also feels obliged to adhere to ritual.  There’s nothing wrong with those boundaries.  Unfortunately, though, these spiritually weaker Christians are viewing all other Christians through their own filters.  To them, all are most likely struggling as they are and are in need of similar boundaries.  They would also still be believing that true spirituality requires ritual.

 

Paul’s advise was for spiritually stronger Christians to “roll with the punches”, going along with much of what the weaker Christians saw a guardrails against potential temptations, such as abstaining from eating meat, because it wouldn’t hurt them to do it, and it might help the weaker Christian not to sin.  My commentary likened this to new parents who have to adjust home life to a toddler, putting away scissors and other dangerous items with they’d have no problems with themselves, but which could endanger the young child.  Yet at some point, the “child” needs to grow up and learn responsibility, and it’s the same with weaker Christians.  In their weaker faith, they often tend to judge other Christians based on their own filters, not on the Word of God.

 

Paul used a very good illustration to help both sides.  He said no one may tell a master how to handle his servant.  In other words, it is wrong for a weak Christian to take the place of God in the life of a strong Christian.  God is the Master; the Christian is the servant.

 

One of most-often-referred-to Bible verses ends this chapter:  “Anything that is done without believing it is right is a sin.”  It’s an awesome test for young people, particularly, and helps them make correct judgment calls about things they are considering.  If you think that it’s wrong, then it is.  In the gray areas not specifically covered by Scripture, this is our personal litmus test for any action or thought or word spoken.  We cannot extend it to others, however.  Only ourselves.

 

Father, help me to desire unity with my Christian brothers more than proving myself right, for that amounts to the sin of pride.  However, help me when Your Word is clear on a matter to lovingly confront my Christian brothers and sisters.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 13 -- A Struggle For Me Today, Father

I can’t be anything but honest with this, Father.  Yes, I agree that Christians should obey the law.  I’m not a lawbreaker.  But I struggle mightily to get my heart to accept some of the rest, and I’ve found myself this morning wondering about interpretation of it.

 

“All of you must yield to the government rulers.”  Would this in any way mean the vast government bureaucracy that’s developed to carry out the laws of the land?  That is do-able, for they are people like me just doing their jobs.  I also notice that You said “yield” and not “surrender”. 

 

“No one rules unless God has given him the power to rule.”  Did You really desire THIS for us, Father?  Or did You allow this because of great apostasy in our land?

 

“Rulers are working for God.”  I remember that Paul was writing to Italians under Roman rule, and they were some of the founders of the principles we follow today.  But does this still apply even today? 

 

My commentary said, “Because the heart of man is sinful, God established government.  But laws cannot change the heart; man’s heart is still selfish and can be changed only by the grace of God.”  It sure seems that once our noblest citizens were elected as our chosen leaders.  Now I don’t know what to think, Father.  Perhaps that selfishness in the human heart has risen to such new heights that they only elect those who they believe will fulfill their selfish desires.

 

“Show respect and honor to them all.”  I know that all means all, Father.    Even the ones that show no honor or respect to those they govern.  Your Word is timeless and it is meant to help every citizen throughout the ages.  Help me to understand.  I hate myself for feeling so opposed to any part of Your Word.  Show me how You reconcile this, Father.  I know that Your thoughts are much higher than mine, and Your ways are far past my own understanding.  I’d just appreciate a little light on this subject this morning, Father.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 12 -- Our Relationships With God And Others, Friends And Foes

In our relationship to God, Paul says that as a Christian, I must give God my body, give Him my mind, and give Him my will, according to my commentary.  My mind controls my body, and my will controls my mind.  It’s suggested that we accomplish this surrender through disciplined prayer, starting each day first by surrendering our bodies to Christ, then spending time in God’s Word, letting Him transform our minds, preparing our thinking for that new day.  Then we pay, yielding the plans of the day to Him, letting him work as He sees best, praying especially for what’s on the schedule that is worrisome or upsetting.  That sounds like a perfect way to start each day.

 

In our relationship to other believers, I read that each Christian must honestly evaluate his own spiritual gifts, not holding back in using what God has given him, and hot overrating himself, trying to exercise gifts that have not been given.  Then we must faithfully cooperate with other believers, allowing them also to exercise their God-given gifts – not minimizing their gifts over our own.  “It is possible to use a spiritual gift in an unspiritual way,” my commentary said.  Our participation must be done in a loving way, with honest love and not hypocritical love – humble and not proud.

 

Finally, Paul talked about our relationships with our enemies.  While we can attract enemies by being faithful in our witness, it’s quite another thing to attract enemies because we lack love and patience.  We can’t play God and try to avenge ourselves, either.  We are told to return good for evil, and that requires love and faith, believing that God can work and accomplish His will in every life.

 

Father, Your timing, as always, is excellent.  I will need this today.  Guide me.  Go before me.  Help me not to defend myself, but to leave it in Your hands.  Help me to submit my body, my mind, and my will to You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 11 -- One Thing Remains

My commentary made a point of saying over and over that in this chapter Paul is discussing God’s future dealings with Israel and not the church.  So what was God’s message to Christians here?  God blessed us in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy (over our relationship with Him), which will eventually lead them back to Him.  He’s got them as a nation spiritually blinded right now, but in His perfect timing He will remove that blindness.  Large groups of Jews will come to accept Christ as Savior.

 

The amazing thing I read today was in verse 32:  “God has given all people over to their stubborn ways so that He can show mercy to all.”

 

In our sin, He takes the initiative to show mercy to us!  And when we sin, how much richer and more appreciated that mercy is – that He would love us and want us, ugly sinners that we are!

 

Father, thank You that Your love never fails and that it never gives up or runs out on me, but does go on and on and on.  It overwhelms and satisfies my soul so that I’ll never ever have to be afraid!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 10 -- MORE Simple Stuff

Though my commentary said that in this chapter Paul was talking about Israel’s present rejection of Christ, I loved what it said about God’s love for me:

 

“They tried to make themselves right in their own way.  So they did not accept God’s way of making people right …

The Word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart …

We believe with our hearts and so we are made right with God.  And we use our mouths to say that we believe, and so we are saved…

Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disappointed …

Anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved …

I (God) was found by those who were not asking Me for help.  I made Myself known to people who were not looking for Me …

All day long I stood ready to accept people who disobey and are stubborn.”

 

I had been trying to make myself right in my own way.  And I didn’t even realize that the Word was near me – in my own hands in my Bible!  God sought after me when I’d walked away and could have cared less!  I wasn’t asking Him for anything, but He came to find me again anyway!  And God’s amazing love is this:  That He stands ready to accept all of us who are disobeying and are stubborn.  We don’t have to start obeying first.  He’ll accept us, stubbornness and all.  And then He will change our hearts and lives.

 

Father, thanks for doing exactly this for me!  Thanks for allowing me to be one of the people who does get to go and tell about You and Your Son!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 9 -- Just For ME!

God really allowed Paul to gain incredible insight into His will and His ways as Paul was writing this, for it differs greatly from what Paul had probably always been taught as a Pharisee.  It also tells me so much about God’s love for me.

 

First, he sheds light on the fact that not all of Abraham’s descendants were “God’s true children”, for God chose to bless through Isaac, not Ishmael.  So lineal descent wasn’t important.

 

Then he wrote about God’s choosing of Jacob rather than Esau, the first-born, even while the boys were both still in the womb.  They’d had no opportunities to do or say or think anything that might have swayed God’s decision.  It was simply sovereign choice.

 

God told Moses, “I will show kindness to anyone I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone I want to show mercy.”  I’m so thankful that He wanted to show mercy and kindness to my boys and me!

 

Paul was shown the passages in Hosea 2:1,23 and Hosea 1:10 to back up God’s sovereign election of those who weren’t Jews, and it’s like hearing a love message from God to me:  “I will say, ‘You are My people’ to those I had called ‘not My people’ … And I will show My love to those I did not love … but later they will be called ‘children of the living God’.”

 

Wow, God!  I was so unlovely as a sinner, and You had absolutely no reason to come after me, but You did anyway, and You showered me with Your grace, Your mercy, and Your love!  What an awesome God You are!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 8 -- Where We Stand, Discouragement Can't Win

My commentary outlined this chapter in this way:

1)      Freedom from judgment – no condemnation

2)      Freedom from defeat – no obligation

3)      Freedom from discouragement – no frustration

4)      Freedom from fear – no separation

 

Sometimes we feel ruled by our sinful selves, but God says in verse 9:  “But you are not ruled by your sinful selves.  You are ruled by the Spirit.”  The Spirit needs to have control of us, though, and in verse 13, He says, “If you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body (the dead part of us), you will have true life.”

 

God finishes this chapter by reminding me that because of what He did, no one can defeat me, no one can accuse me, no one can say I’m guilty before God, and no one can ever separate me from the love of Christ.  That takes care of the discouragement!

 

Father, I thank You for answered prayer, especially through Your Word.  Perfect timing today, as always!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 7 -- Exactly How I Feel

“I don’t do what I WANT to do, and I DO what I DON’T want to do!  I’m miserable!”

 

Paul feels like the rest of us here.  He keeps finding himself doing things he doesn’t want to do, and not doing what he knows he should be doing, and he discovers that it’s our old nature that’s the problem.  “Since we have a sinful nature, the law is bound to arouse that nature the way a magnet draws steel.  Something in human nature wants to rebel whenever a law is given … Legalism makes us more sinful.  Why?  Because the law arouses sin in our nature,” my commentary said.  It’s crazy, but simply telling us not to touch something causes us to crave doing it!  Had the law not mentioned it, we might never have thought to do it, but since it did, now like a magnet we are drawn to it!

 

“See how sinful sin is when it can use something good like the Law to produce such tragic results!” my commentary added.

 

We have to realize that because of this “attraction”, the law can’t change us, it can’t enable us to do good, and it can’t set us free.  “The flesh is at war with God.  But the Spirit can only obey the law of God!  Therefore, the secret of doing good is to yield to the Holy Spirit… It is our union with Christ that enables us to serve God acceptably.”

 

Father, it’s a miserable existence when we try to go it on our own, saying, “I’ll never do that again!”  We end up only failing and becoming more miserable.  Thank You for giving me Your Holy Spirit to enable me to say no to my old nature, trusting You to guide me and keep me attracted to You and not to sin.  How wretched I’d be without You!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 6 -- Knowing Then Doing

“Too many Christians are betweeners:  they live between Egypt and Canaan, saved but never satisfied; or they live between Good Friday and Easter, believing in the cross but not entering into the power and glory o the resurrection,” my commentary said.

 

We fail to understand that resurrection doesn’t just happen someday, but that we share His resurrection power today.  It’s that resurrection power of a regenerated, new life that enables us to say no to sin.

 

Every Christian will quickly ask, “But why do I still feel tempted to sin?”  From verses 6-10, my commentary gathered,”  Sin is a terrible master, and it finds a willing servant in the human body.  The body is not sinful; the body is neutral.  It can be controlled either by sin or by God.  But man’s fallen nature, which is not changed at conversion, gives sin a beachhead from which it can attack and then control … Sin wants to be our master.  It finds a foothold in the old nature, and through the old nature seeks to control the members of the body.”  What Paul says in verse 11 is that we have to come to know in our hearts that we are dead to sin.  “Paul didn’t tell his readers to feel as if they were dead to sin, or even to understand it fully, but to act on God’s Word and claim it for themselves … God does not command us to become dead to sin.  He tells us that we are dead to sin and alive unto God, and then commands us to act on it.”

 

Then we must yield.  “There must be in the believer’s life that final and complete surrender of the body to Jesus Christ … a once-and-for-all yielding to the Lord …. These three instructions need to be heeded each day that we live.  Know that you have been crucified with Christ and are dead to sin.  Reckon this fact to be true in your own life.  Yield your body to the Lord to be used for His glory.”

 

Father, thanks for reminding me of what I already know – that I am dead to sin.  Help me to continually recall that it is a fact in my own life, not a future hope.  Then give me the strength every day to yield my body, my heart, and my mind to You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 5 -- No Argument Stands

Sometimes we just need to be told that we’re wrong when we think we’re right, and that’s what Paul does here.  I remember once trying to argue just why I should be declared guilty because of adma’s sin.  (At the time, I didn’t realize just how stupid of an argument that really was – after all, I’d sinned multiple times myself.)  My commentary explains that, yes, it was fair of God to condemn all people for Adam’s sin, and it wasn’t just fair, “but it was also wise and generous … by condemning the human race through one man (Adam), God was then able to save the human race through one Man (Jesus Christ)? … In Adam, we lost our kingship, but in Jesus Christ we reign as kings.”  God was incredibly generous to offer all of humanity salvation through acceptance of His Son.

 

I also remember arguing with God about why one disobedient act separated Adam (and all of us) from God.  My commentary said, “Adam did not have to commit a series of sins.  In ne act, God tested Adam, and he failed.  It is termed ‘an offense’ and an act of ‘disobedience’.  The word offense means trespass – crossing over the line.   God told Adam how far he could go, and Adam decided to go beyond the appointed limit.”

 

Christians can never get to the point where we never sin.  It’s just a part of our fleshly nature.  “The Christian’s body is subject to death and his old nature tempts him to sin, but in Jesus Christ, he can ‘reign in life’ because he is a part of the gracious kingdom of Christ,” my commentary said.  “You cannot help being ‘in Adam’, for this came by your first birth over which  you had no control.  But you can help staying ‘in Adam’, for you can experience a second birth – a new birth from above – that will put you ‘in Christ’.”

 

Father, I’m glad I long ago gave up trying to argue with You and simply admitted that I am and always will be a sinner.  I crossed the line that You set before me, just as Adam did.  I was guilty as charged.  But You stepped in, erased the old record, and brought be back to You, and You gave Your only Son to do that.  Help me every day to be more like Him and less like Adam.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 4 -- Lawyer Speak Translated

Paul was a former Jewish lawyer, and his arguments regarding faith are unshakeable.  Yet the lawyer-talk can almost get a normal person lost.  I loved how my commentary cut to the chase:

 

The Jews were basing their salvation on being physical descendants of Abraham, on being circumcised (tough for the women to comply) and on following the law of Moses.  Yet they’d completely overlooked something that Paul points out:  God had declared Abraham righteous 14 years before he’d been circumcised and hundreds of years before Moses had received the law.  Abraham couldn’t have read the law and determined to follow it.

 

He also didn’t have a Bible, he was almost alone as a believer, and there were no believers before him with a long record of faithfulness – all the things we have today to help us believe.

 

There was another point I liked – the part about resurrection in verses 17-25.  My commentary said that what this had to do with Abraham was that reproductively, he and Sarah were both “dead”.  But God resurrected that part of their being, from the dead, and allowed them to have a child.  It was that one promise from God that Abraham had believed and clung to.  Despite his reproductive death, Abraham still believed that what God promises, He performs.

 

I also loved what I read about David here, from Psalm 32:1-2.  God imputes (credits to our account, must like interest) righteousness, not sins.  “Once we are justified, our record contains Christ’s perfect righteousness and can never again contain our sins.  Christians do sin, and these sins need to be forgiven if we are to have fellowship with God, but these sins are not held against us.  God keeps a record of our works, so that He might reward us when Jesus comes, but He is not keeping a record of our sins.”

 

Father, thanks for such a better understanding of these very technical human terms describing our relationship with You.  Thank You for Your Son and for His taking on of my sins so that You could credit me with His righteousness – an invaluable and totally undeserved gift from You!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 3 -- The Gospel In A Nutshell

So much in here today that I’ve just gotta sum it all up.  My commentary said it well:

 

1)       All men are sinners

2)      The whole of man’s inner being is controlled by sin:  his mind, his heart, and his will

3)      God puts the righteousness of Christ on our record in place of our own sinfulness.  And nobody can change that record

4)      God looks on us and deals with us as though we had never sinned at all!

5)      Righteousness comes by believing, not by behaving

6)      God declared all men guilty so that He might offer to all men His free gift of salvation

7)      God is love and when God relates that love to us, it becomes grace and mercy.  God in His mercy doesn’t give us what we deserve, and God in His grace gives us what we don’t deserve

8)      Salvation is free, but it is not cheap.  Jesus had to die on the cross to pay for it.

9)      He doesn’t cover over our sins – He carries them away

10)   Jesus purchases us as sinners, then sets us free

11)   A God of love wants to forgive sinners, but a God of holiness must punish sin.  How can God do both?  The answer is in Jesus Christ

12)   When Jesus died, He reached all the way back to Adam and took care of those sins.  His death and resurrection also covers all of our future sins

 

Father, I’m so glad that You set out from before time began to create a world full of people to whom You’d grant free will, knowing we would sin, yet planned in advance for Your Son to sacrifice Himself just for us.  Such incredible love!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 2 -- A Wait-A-Minute Start Until He Fleshes It Out

At first blush, these verses cause a “wait-a-minute!” reaction from Christians:  “Some people, by always continuing to do good …. God will give them life forever.”

 

By the writer of my commentary believes that Paul was addressing Jewish readers in this section.  “It would not be an easy task to find the Jews guilty, since disobedience to God was one sin they did not want to confess.”  He says what Paul is doing is telling his Jewish readers that having the law and obeying it are two very different things.  Having God’s blessings didn’t mean they were getting special treatment from God – those blessing gave them greater responsibility to obey Him and glorify Him.

 

“Paul was not teaching salvation by character or good deeds.  He was explaining another basic principal of God’s judgment:  “God judges according to deeds, just as He judges according to truth.  Paul was dealing here with the consistent actions of a person’s life, the total impact of his character and conduct.  For example, David committed some terrible sins, but the total emphasis of his life was obedience to God ...  God not only judges according to truth, and according to men’s deeds, but He also judges ‘the secrets of men’.  He sees what is in the heart!”

 

It didn’t matter if they honored the Sabbath if their consistent daily life was one of disobedience to God, it added.

 

God attracts us and draws us back to Him by His love.  Verse 4 says:  “He has been very kind and patient, waiting for you to change, but you think nothing of His kindness.  Perhaps you do not understand that God is kind to you so you will change your hearts and lives.”

 

Father, thanks again for the reminder that attitudes are as important as actions and that You realize that we will fail because we are human, but You look at our practice and not simply at our failures.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 1: 18-32 When God Gives Up

Evolution says that we all started from one-celled organisms and evolved into the highest form of intelligence on the planet.  God says it’s exactly the opposite – that we have devolved because of sin.

 

We started with intelligence – knowing God as our Creator – not just the human race, but every one of us began life instinctively knowing this.  Sin creeps in and we don’t allow this truth to work IN our lives.  As sin grows, we suppress this truth so that we won’t feel convicted by it and experience unhappiness.  Finally, we choose to abandon the truth altogether and we become as unintelligent as the beast themselves.

 

We start out knowing God, but then sin causes us to not want to know Him.  We certainly don’t want to honor Him if we don’t want to know Him.  We’ll even use the good things He gives us and never thank Him for them.  That causes our minds to grow empty and our hearts dark.

 

If we continue along this path, after holding down God’s truth for so long and refusing to acknowledge Him, we’re left without a god.  But since we are created to worship, we end up inventing our own gods.  Glory turns to shame, we become corrupted, and we are willing to believe lies rather than truth.  Paul’s list of earthly idols starts with “earthly people”.  We begin to worship others.  We also hope they worship us.

 

My commentary said that it’s just one short step from idolatry to immorality.  If we become our own god (New Age theology), then we’ll not worry about judgment and do whatever we want.  It’s about then that our depraved thinking tells us there’s no such thing as Satan (which is exactly what he wants, because then we don’t see him as a threat and he has us) and then it’s just another short step to believing there’s no such being as God.

 

That’s when God gives us up to what we want.  Every alarm bell ought to be going off in our heads when that happens, but sin has deafened us as well as blinded us to what we’re doing.  That depraved mind means we can’t form right judgments, my commentary said.  Up becomes down and vice versa.

 

The next step is horrible.  We lose our shame and begin to commit the sins in open defiance of God, and we encourage others to do so as well.  There is so much of this in our country right now.  So many have lost all sense of shame and no longer care what God or people think.  At this point, God says we are “without excuse.”

 

Father, I’ve been down the path of defying You.  I listened to the wrong-headed thinking and began believing the lie of New Age stuff, thinking that I was enlightened.  It’s a place I don’t ever want to be again.  I cannot understand the love You showed for me in not giving up on me  and bringing me back to You, but I treasure it.  I was stupid and prideful and rebellious, and yet You loved me anyway.  Thanks for not giving up on me!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 1:1-17 Getting Right To The Point

Paul’s words to people he knew and didn’t know in Rome echo what God is doing in our lives today:  “God called me … and chose me … God promised the Good News … Through Christ, God gave me special work … I have a duty …”  It’s not just Paul who’s been commissioned.  It’s us today as well.

 

They key message he had for everyone he met was summed up in verses 16-17, and I loved the way my commentary fleshed it out:  “God does not ask men to behave in order to be saved, but to believe.  It is faith in Christ that saves the sinner.”

 

God is a righteous God, and on our own, we can never attain His righteousness.  He revealed His righteousness by punishing sin.  If He didn’t, then people would see Him as two-faced.  But since we had no way on our own to become righteous, God in His mercy and love “revealed His righteousness by making salvation available to the believing sinner through Christ’s death and resurrection.”  That answers the question of how a holy God can forgive sinners and still be holy.  But how do we partake of it?  Paul cited Habakkuk 2:4:  “The just shall live by faith.”  Not works.

 

Father, I’m so thankful that behaving is not a requirement in order to be saved, for I’d have no hope.  Thank You for making believing the requirement, for it is something I can do.  Thank You for what You did for me in letting Your own Son take on my sin and take the penalty of death for me.  I believe!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 23-24 Not A Way To End

David wanted something.  He wanted to see how big his army was.  Jewish law permitted a national census if a Temple tax was collected.  He didn’t want to bother with that, probably because the people would complain about the cost to them.  His army commander and general staff thought it was wrong and told him so.  He ordered it done anyway.  Was it a matter of “I’m the king and I’ll do what I want”?  We’ll never know.

 

During the nine months it took to do the census, David could have relented and repented and called it all off, knowing he was wrong.  But he didn’t.  My commentary said:

 

“Sometimes God’s greatest judgment is simply to let us have our own way … David’s sin with Bathsheba was a sin of the flesh … But the census was a sin of the spirit, a willful act of rebellion against God.  It was motivated by pride … Pride is the ground in which all other sins grow.”

 

It also noted:  “Scripture makes a distinction between sudden sins of passion and willful sins of rebellion and treats the guilty party differently … David sinned against a flood of light.”

 

God gave David 3 choices of punishment:  Years of famine, military defeat, or disease.  People would likely revolt against his throne during years of famine or following multiple battle losses.  But disease was God’s province alone, and David trusted God’s mercy despite his sin.

 

The judgment angel killed 70,000 Israelites in 3 days of sickness, then God extended mercy and halted the killing.  The prophet then told David God wanted an altar built where the judgment angel halted.  It “just so happened” to be the same spot where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac.  Solomon would one day build God’s Temple on that very spot.  First David had to acquire it.  The owner offered it as a gift, but “David knew the high cost of sinning, and he refused to give the Lord something that had cost him nothing,” my commentary said.

 

Father, help me to see clearly the high cost of my sin before I yield to temptation.  Help me to know what I could possibly lose and make it abundantly clear to me.  Also, never let me forget that the highest cost of my sin was the death of Your Son on the cross to pay for it.  That alone should get my attention.  Thank You for Your mercy and love!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford