Friday, October 28, 2011

"I Didn't Do It!"

James?
Really?
How can what you write be true?
How can I be held accountable for
something that I didn't even do?

And really, it's this question:
God, are you really going to punish me
for something that I did not do?

But the bible can be no clearer than this:
James 4:17
So whoever knows what is
good
to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.
NET BIBLE

The NIV version says it this way:
Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

Not only are you guilty of sin... but by not doing good
you are ACTIVELY sinning.

So the ACT of not doing good is really the ACT of sin.

OUCH!

That takes my sin each day to a hole new level... as
if it could be any worse than already is, BAM!
My inaction to love (i.e. do good things) is sin.

Who have you ought to love today? And why didn't you?




Thursday, October 20, 2011

"Within Her Grasp"

"When we heard the news we lost our courage and no one could even breathe for fear of you. For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below!" Joshua 2:11

"By faith Rahab the prostitute escaped the destruction of the disobedient, because she welcomed the spies in peace." Hebrews 11:31

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting,
but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised."
Proverbs 31:30


Hebrews 11 is the hall of fame of sorts of those
commended in the bible for their faith.

And there she is.

Not exactly the girl next door your momma wants
you bringing home for dinner.

In fact, her profession pretty much
makes her the lowest of the lows of any society,
past and present.

Yet, God used her.

And with that, I have a hope.


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

"7"

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 7:7-25