Even those among us who pay little attention can finish the sentence beginning with All have sinned and fall _____ __ ___ _____ __ ___. But how is it our people can recite this part in their sleep but don't have a clue as to the rest of the same sentence; being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith....Romans 3:23-25.
Training a people to know scripture the above way (partial truth) is painfully flawed. The entire brotherhood has this glaring contagion. We are in a deep hurt because we have innocently extracted portions of scripture to fit a point desired. It is true that all have fallen. It is also true the fallen are justified by the blood of Jesus.
Why do we not emphasize the last half of the good news sentence? I suppose basically we just don't realize it is there.
What happens when believing half of the above is we become dependent on self to get ourselves right with God. We believe Jesus is the Saviour but we turn to Self and see what we can do better. We toss back and forth as in a bad night's sleep accepting and rejecting His work on the cross because Self continues to pitch in with redemption effort. Jesus is the Saviour; the only one. Not Self.
Grace out-marches sin. Sin does not out-march grace. Because of poor memorization practices, we are not so sure.
1 comment:
Great point, Terry. I spent half my life in fear trying to rely on self, not knowing God's grace was a gift, His Spirit was in me and it was the Spirit that I was to rely on. I think many are in the same boat, wondering why they struggle to be joyful, not understanding GRACE and unable to forgive themselves. Fear is a tool Satan uses to keep us from having joy and peace, even the assurance of a home in heaven. We feel "hopeful" but not sure. Keep teaching, Terry. Everyone WANTS to know!
Thank you for teaching us that we always have more to learn.
Love you, Sara
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