Through the Bible - Psalms 62-64, Romans 3
Good morning,
Today's New Testament reading (above) is from Romans chapter 3. The most well known verse from that chapter is probably verse 23:
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, NKJV
It is the first verse often quoted in witnessing, especially if using "The Four Spiritual Laws" tract. The focus of the chapter quickly shifts to God's grace in verse 24. We considered grace yesterday stating that without it, we do not have the "capacity to do anything spiritually profitable." In short, we miss the mark. The word for sin in Romans 3:23 is just that, missing the mark, falling short of Jesus' standards.
We need to realize that we've all sinned, we've all fallen short. Thankfully, we should all realize that we have God's grace offered to us
.
John Piper writes, "Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon."
For today's verse, we'll go to another passage written by Paul. These verses bring together our shortcomings and God's grace.
Ephesians 2:5-6 (Amplified Bible) Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation).
6And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Do you feel like you are struggling and constantly missing the mark? Go to Jesus, seek His grace, let the Word dwell in you richly.
Read the passage below in Ephesians 2 from The Message. It made me want to sing "Jesus Messiah" by Chris Tomlin.
He became sin ,Who knew no sin
That we might become His Righteousness
He humbled himself and carried the cross
Love so amazing , Love so amazing
Jesus Messiah ,Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners, The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah, Lord of all
In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace NIV
Eph 2:1-11
He Tore Down the Wall
2 It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
The Message
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