Forgiven Much

St. Paul was forgiven much and so are we

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

                                                     (1 Corinthians 15:1-10 KJV)

By the grace of God I am what I am. By the grace of God we are what we are. We have not loved God with our whole hearts. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have sinned against all. Yet, we  are saint. We are children of our heavenly Father. We have been cleansed of our sin through and by faith alone through by the blood of Jesus the Christ!

Paul declared himself a horrible sinner; a persecutor of the church of God. Although, he was the least, after meeting Jesus on the road after  Jesus' ascension, he became most ardent in proclaiming Jesus as the one who died in declaring that Jesus' died for our sins and that he rose again from the dead for us.

There is not one of us who is without sin. No matter how hard we try we cannot save ourselves by any good works so we turn to the only one who can and has saved us. We turn to our loving savior Jesus in faith. We turn to the one who saved us by his work on the cross for us.

Do not let your sin overwhelm you. Repent and believe that your sins have been washed away for in Christ you have indeed been cleansed.  You have been forgiven!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

As My Beloved is Dead; So am I

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Gen 2:24 NKJV)

Over the last couple of weeks I have commended an elderly sister in Christ into the hands of Almighty God; informed her husband of her death; and attended her funeral. It was both heartbreaking and reassuring to be with her husband and to witness his love for her. The Lord's Prayer was said many times in the last week as was the Shepherd's Psalm and many other prayers, as well. Between prayers, he lamented, "I am dead." 

This man who has lived on earth for over one hundred years knew what it meant to be one, completely one, with his wife. Assuredly, he was also an individual; but, when God joined them together as husband and wife they truly became one flesh. When she died, it was as though he died. In fact, a part of him has. This woman who was joined to him as one flesh is no longer with him in this world. A huge part of him has been ripped from his life. It is not as though he wishes death for himself; although, he might desire greatly to go home to the Lord, as well. The emptiness within him feels as though there is no life left within him as is common when we lose someone that we love so deeply. The emptiness; the grief, swallows up the breath, the life from within us. It leaves behind the emptiness; the absolute aloneness, of death.

Yet, he is not alone. He has hope. He has hope that as he was joined with his wife as one flesh; through, the gift of the Spirit of Christ, he will always be joined; he will always be reconciled to God our Father, our Lord Jesus, and to all of the people of God. "....nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Rom 8:38-39) In this lies our comfort and hope.

And, so we pray with him: 

        
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

                                              (Psalm 23:4-6)

God's Peace - Pr. J

Prosperity Gospel Full Of Greed

   Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
   “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone." 
                                                                                                         (Luke 11:39-42 NIV)

Having fallen asleep with the television on, I woke up this morning to hear one of those "prosperity gospel" preachers. He reminded me of many of our politicians; with no clue as to what poverty really means. They have no clue as to how many people in this country and around the world are living without the very basics needed to sustain healthy lives. This early morning preacher was encouraging people to "sow a seed" of $1000.00 and God would reward 1000 of those givers of $1000.00 seeds with 100 consecutive days of miracles to prosper them. God would bless these 1000 poor people. 

Now, a whole lot of you might think that someone who only has a thousand dollars to sow is poor. But, the reality is that if you have a thousand dollars to give away you are not the poorest of the lot in this country. If you can afford to give a thousand dollars away in the hopes for more money (i.e. gamble the money away) then you are far richer in this world than multitudes who live pay day to pay day and get further and further behind in providing even the bare necessities of life to their families. When Christians give we are not to be giving to gain anything; to help ourselves in this world or the next nor can we buy our salvation. We give because we want to help others to live. The kind of giving that this prosperity preacher is advocating is the greed and wickedness that we hear our Lord warn us about in the Gospel of Luke (11:39-42).

Giving is a good thing. It is even a necessary thing. But, we do not give to honor ourselves or to gain anything for ourselves. We give out of love for God and for others, even as Jesus was willing to give his whole life for us.

May God grant to us generous hearts as we give to the poor; doing justice; and, loving God.   

God's Peace - Pr. J