Dear God,
Thank you for this time to spend in your word together. Thank you for the free gift of your salvation, help us to stand firm upon your promises. Lord bless our days, give us faith and peace that comes from you. -Amen
1:20And by him God reconciled every to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.
1:21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions,
In Genesis Adam and Eve brought sin into this perfect world that Christ had made for us to enjoy. We were his friends in the Garden of Eden. God would come down and talk with Adam and Eve and they were blessed by his presence. Once sin came into the picture we could no longer be friends of God, the sin separated us from God. God who is holy and just and sinless could not be friends to us who were so consumed by sin, God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden and we were apart from him. By Jesus we are reconciled with God, through him we are no longer enemies, because of his blood we are made clean.
1:22 yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
This verse is underlined in my bible because I think this is a point that we somehow miss as Christians. This is the definition of salvation, true salvation. I have known so many “good” Christians who feared there deaths because they believed that they would be severely judged for their sins on earth. Doug Glein did a sermon once that illustrated this verse perfectly, he said when we stand before God we are covered in Christ, in his blood, that when the Father looks on us he will see only his Son. That doesn’t mean we can trample on it and do what ever we want, it simply means that we are free from condemnation. We will mess up, we will sin but Christ completely covers us. Once the gift is accepted we have to learn to forgive ourselves and move forward, move towards God move towards becoming more like Christ.
1:23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it.
The problem with a gift is it is given freely. We don’t do anything to deserve it, to pay for it. The motto you can’t get anything for free is something we as savvy Americans believe. The fact is salvation is free for us, it is a gift freely given. The true measure of faith is to hold on to the truth that Christ has already paid for the gift, he has already taken the punishment for our misdoings, and then wrapped it around us to mark us as his own family. If you were to believe one thing in the bible just one truth it should be the Christ died for our sins, took our punishment and was raised to life on the 3rd day. God wanted to set us free from sin!!
1:24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am completing what remains of Christ’s suffering for his body, the church.
Ok Paul you are a little crazy here. I wish I could rejoice while in suffering pain mode, I can’t. This is a weird verse for me, after all Christ did say it is finished on the cross. No more was needed or added to his crucifixion exit from humanity. Ok so Paul isn’t saying anymore needs to be added but I think what he is saying is I will suffer through because I am doing God’s work to grow his body here on earth, the church. That his suffering is a constant reminder of what Jesus went through on the cross. He might have needed this painful reminder since he was such a Jesus hater while Christ was living on earth. Paul knew that Christ loved the church and his way of loving Christ was to give up his life, his health, his vocation, to give up as much as he could for the church just as Jesus would have done if he had been here.
1:25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his message in all its fullness to you Gentiles.
In the past, God had not told people the complete message; I love this about God he is a secret and yet revealed.He is the wonderful author of life. The Jews could read about some of God’s plan. They thought that his plan was only for Jews and they were completely messed up when it came to the messiah prophecy and redemption aspects. But God showed his complete plan when Christ came, Jesus came as the embodiment of God the Father. He came to show us who God is and what he loves like, how he cares, what makes his cry. Once Jesus was raised to heaven and the Holy Spirit was sent to live in us Jesus lived with Jews and Gentiles or anyone else who accepted his gift. When Christ returns to earth, every Christian will live with him. The Bible promises that Christians will share Christ’s glory. I also think that Christ has a sense of humor here, we can look back and see Saul (Paul) and know that he thought he was just a good upstanding Jewish man, he hated Christians and he hated Gentiles. Jesus completely turned him around, poor Saul did a 360’ degree turn about. He ate with Gentiles, slept in their homes, preached to them, and loved them. God can do amazing things. Paul was the man for the job, we have the evidence throughout the New Testament but I find it funny to watch throughout the bible who he chooses to use.
Angela,
Please pray about some things. I pulled Ioni out of public school today and she is going to do home school. She is miserable and she feels really unsafe at school, there is constant barrage of obscene comments, out of control kids in class and peer pressure. Would you believe her friends were shocked to to hear she was a virgin! In 8th grade! She was so bold and even told them that she has never kissed a boy either. Since we started talking about pulling Ioni out the other girls are expressing a desire to come home too, they have similar problems and issues. I would love to be able to home school the 3 younger kids but I work, and I am struggling through a lot of pain with RA. Kiah and Ruby would need a real teacher present, Ioni is a self studying fool. I am praying for God to give me an answer about this, I know he is capable of anything. I am also looking into the idea of going on disability, I contacted my doctor by mail this week to see if it is a possibility. Great changes are coming here and I just pray for wisdom and composure through it.
Love you,
Tina
I especially like the part you wrote about verse 22, about forgiving ourselves. More and more I see that what it really means to me to be a child is that I'm growing. I can't get it right every time, because I am growing in wisdom and stature...I am not mature now. I will never be finished because I will always be growing. I never want to be finished now. I have spent so much of my life wishing I was farther along. I have begun to enjoy myself right where I'm at, and this urgency to be farther along is slowly beginning to ebb away.
ReplyDeleteI love your questions about verse 24 and your statement about how you don't know how he could take joy in his sufferings. I would like to point out something I have learned about pain; a distinction that I did not understand until He touched my body and healed me of chronic pain. Paul is not talking about pain without a purpose, which is what my fibromyalgia represented in my life. Now, if I'm in pain, I am connected to the source and reason for it. That means that I know I can change the things that trigger my pain. You see, God hasn't cured me of fibromyalgia; He has connected me to my pain and taken away my fear of pain. It is a huge difference. Pain, like death, is an enemy that has not only been defeated but has now become a friend...a messenger telling me when to slow down and when to make changes in my diet or lifestyle to take better care of myself. I think what Paul is talking about here is the pain he suffered as a direct result of spreading the gospel. That kind of pain is a lot easier to rejoice in...it's the same kind of pain we go through to birth a baby...productive pain is far easier to endure than nonproductive pain.
ReplyDeleteWith every verse you illuminated something new for me! I love the idea of God's sense of humor in who he uses and what He shows through their brokenness and humility. I am eager for my life to testify to His humor as well as His mercy, redemption, and power!
ReplyDeleteTina, I read each paragraph one at a time and commented as I went. So I wrote my earlier comment about pain before I read your prayer requests. Furthermore, I always write my new post before reading yours so you fully get just me and my bare thoughts. That means I prayed my prayer for you before I wrote these comments. I know God is ministering to your body. I know He is touching you and is bringing you into preparation for a greater work than you could ever imagine. That being said, I also know that He takes His time and He is not opposed to us doing what is best for us in the reality we live in. I just want you to know that your ideas about going on disability and reigning things in with your girls has a ring of wisdom to it. That being said, I will pray for this "wisdom" to be confirmed by God so that we are sure it is not just my own human wisdom.
ReplyDeleteFather, I lift up Tina to you right now and ask for your gentle touch and gentle whispers to miraculously have the power to quench all her doubts. I pray that you would give her doctor wisdom and clarity about how to help Tina. I thank you so much for this warrior doctor who can see through the veil of human error and see to the heart of these physical ailments that are plaguing Tina. I pray that she would become, as I have, aware of the triggers for her pain. And I pray that she would not be afraid of what she has to do to come to a place of freedom from chronic, unspecified pain. I pray that where there are emotional and soul roots for this pain, that you will gently touch and bring to the surface the areas that she is ready for you to work on. I pray for great hope and great patience in this healing process. I thank you that she is at this juncture, where hope is a tad easier to come by, and I ask for more resources of hope and joy to come. I thank you for Ioni and also that Mark and Tina are never afraid or hesitant to regroup and make changes that are best for their girls. I pray that Tina will trust you with the younger girls in the meantime as she sorts through what is best for her and for them. ~Amen.