For all have sinned

Do you remember when you were a child and the teacher left the classroom with the instruction: “Be quiet while I’m out!”? And you try your best. You really do. You try to concentrate on the work in front of you and not on your friend next to you. You try to ignore the whispers around you and the paper jet that just landed on top of your Math book. You even try not to acknowledge the boy who is poking his pen into your back or the one who is pulling your braid. You try. You try so hard but before you know it you are caught up in all the activity around you when the teacher returns your name is on her detention list and you just can’t understand why. If we try to be good people, if the try to follow the laws and ruled in the Bible we are going to get caught up in all the worldly activity around us and become so involved in it that by the time we have to stand before the Judgement Seat we are not going to receive the ultimate prize of living in Heaven for eternity. That is, if we TRY.

Romans 3:11-18 tells how there isn’t even one righteous person who is under the law. Verse 19: ‘Now we know that whatever the law says, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deed of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.’ We can’t be good on our own. We can try as hard as we want, but in our own strength we cannot keep the law. We can for a while, or sometimes, or with certain things, but not all the time with everything. All that’s going to happen is that we will wear ourselves out trying and then find ourselves mixed up in everything that’s against the law.
So, what do we do to avoid this?
Make the decision that you want to be a child of God. Ask Him to forgive your sins and ask Jesus to come and live in your heart.
Make a decision that you want a relationship with Jesus Christ and allow Him to be master of your life and stop TRYING. All His grace to rule within you. Give the Holy Spirit the reigns and let Him lead you.
Are you now going to be perfect? NO!! But you are going to be justified. Romans 3:23-24 – ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’ In verse 25 – 26 Paul goes on to say that because Jesus died for us, God has forgiven our sins. This grace that we are given because we are children of God is enough to keep us from going to Hell. It is not an excuse to just carry on doing what we want to do without regard for anything, but it covers the things we do that we shouldn’t be doing and it gives us the strength to resist the temptations that come before us daily. We can’t DO anything to win God’s favour. The only way we get His favour is to hold onto His Son and give our lives to Him. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 15:31 “…I die daily.”
Just like Paul we should ‘die daily’ to the old things, to the worldly things that drag us down and be alive and aware daily of God’s redeeming grace.

Preach the gospel

The Gospel isn’t a dead historical account. It is a living, vibrant account of the Good News of Salvation

This morning I started reading thee letter Paul wrote to the Romans and I noticed something very interesting. In Chapter 1, verse 8 Paul says that he thanks God for them and that their faith is spoken on throughout the world. I take this to mean that this group of believers is strong in their faith and therefore a solid church. Then he goes on to say in verse 9 to 11 that he always makes mention of the Romans in his prayers and that he is asking that God make a way for him to visit them again in order for him to impart a spiritual gift to them so that they may be established. This seemed to be a little inconsistent because if everyone is speaking of their faith surely they are already established. But when I read verse 15 the penny dropped. Paul says that he is ready to preach the Gospel to them. I realised that it doesn’t matter how established a church or a believer is, it doesn’t matter how spiritually mature you are, it doesn’t matter if you are a graduate or a street sweeper, you can never get enough of the Gospel. I looked up ‘gospel’ in the dictionary and in short it says:

• The teaching of the revelation of Christ

• The record of Christ’s life and teaching in the first four books of the New Testament

• Good News

So! We are never too good or too spiritual to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thought. Don’t try and complicate things. When you are searching and you feel that God is far away, go back to the Gospel. Read the book of John where the life of Jesus is clearly portrayed. David says in Psalm 51:12 “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.” Let us spread the Good News that Jesus brought. Have a blessed day. 

Satisfaction

When can I say that I am satisfied? When I had a lovely meal and my tummy is full?  When I’ve written a blog and it seems to make more sense to me than usual? When I did a job and I know it was well done? In Philippians 4:11 Paul states “…for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content:”  Paul wrote this letter from prison, so he has a right to speak about being “in whatever state”.  Most of us definitely won’t be content or satisfied with being in prison, especially if we didn’t do anything to deserve being there.

On Monday it rained most of the day and night. It has been really dry and the rain is so welcome.  Needless to say my garden is looking so good.  There’s a big difference between watering a garden and it being watered by rain. When it rains, plants seem to grow much faster than usual and also look so happy.

The peas in my garden are growing at such a speed.  I need to tie string to the poles so that they have something to take hold of and grow upwards.

These are the cabbage and onions I transplanted, looking very happy.

On Monday night I woke up several times and listened to the rain fall on our tin roof. I pictured the earth drinking up the wonderful water and the plants being nourished.  At 4:30 I woke up again and everything was quiet.  It was a beautiful stillness that I couldn’t explain. There wasn’t any traffic, there weren’t any dogs barking, just a beautiful peaceful quiet.  I could see in my mind’s eye the earth being completely satisfied and with the rain it had received.  It was such a moment of complete contentment.  That peace is the peace we ought to be feeling much more often. We would be much better people if we had more moments of being content with what we have and where we are.

I only have a few lettuce plants but they are really beautiful!

Do we really need more stuff in our houses, more clothes in our wardrobes and more money in our purses?  The things we own don’t define who we are. The money in our bank accounts don’t define who we are.  Our relationships are the most defining thing about us. The way we treat the people who are closest to us tell people the most about us. Can we be loving towards our families when things go wrong or do we erupt like an angry volcano every time there’s a crisis instead of being content?  Things are going to change.  That’s the one thing we can be sure of in this life. Status quo is a myth.  Back to normal is a lie. We have to learn to be content and accept that things are going to change and we are going to have to learn to be satisfied.

When things start falling apart around me I am going to try to remember that moment that the earth was still an satisfied and so very, very quiet.