Romans 3....The Universal Relational God

So this one time, I was swimming with a group of friends in my neighborhood pool. We had decided to go swimming for one reason or another, and we were playing a game of Marco Polo. So were playing Marco Polo and I notice that there is this little boy swimming all by himself in the pool. The boy notices us playing this game and he begins to try and play with us. I mean, he's a little kid, probably around 6 or 7 and were all high schoolers. As he tries to play with us, one of my friends, who now that I recall, had a reputation for being really mean, pulled me aside and basically told me that she did not want that boy playing with us. So I was in this weird position, because I didn't want the boy to feel left out like we didn't like him, but I didn't want my friend to get mad at me either. Needless to say, I never said anything to the boy and I just kind of let him try and fit in, occasionally getting nasty looks from my other friend. What startled me though was that during this swimming experience, there was this instance where I looked at him, and I promise as honestly as I'm sitting here right now, I heard this voice say "Thank You" from nowhere. SO immediatly, I freak a little because I have no idea where this voice came from, and then it hit me mentally. I had this bible verse come rushing through my mind, and it was something that Jesus had said (Paraphrasing) "For whatever you do unto the least of these, so you have done it unto me"

Today I'm reading Romans 3, and God is really trying to open my eyes to His universal nature. When I was younger, and still even today. I struggle with understanding how God related to everybody else. I mean, I knew that as Christians, we had recieved God's messiah revelation, and that through God's prodding and the Holy Spirit, we come to accept Gods truth and we now live in a right standing and right relationship with God. So, I would wonder; well, what about everyone else?

In Romans 3, Paul is essentially talking about the relationship of the Jew to the Gentile, and the relationship between the Law and the Jew, and the Law and the Gentile. Some of the Jews were having issues accepting the Gentiles, because they weren't well, Jewish, and some of the Gentiles, were totally lost on this whole Jewish thing because they weren't Jewish. SO Paul is trying to get some kind of understanding established between the two groups, he's trying to explain that as a Jew, you have been trusted with this special knowledge of God, and with of course maintaing the Law and the knowledge of the scriptures, and he is in addtion, trying to explain the inclusion of the Gentiles into God's family, through Christ.

The Message translation of the bible has Paul saying this:

20 So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:

There's nobody living right, not even one,

nobody who knows the score,

nobody alert for God.

They've all taken the wrong turn;

they've all wandered down blind alleys.

No one's living right;

I can't find a single one.

Their throats are gaping graves,

their tongues slick as mudslides.

Every word they speak is tinged with poison.

They open their mouths and pollute the air.

They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,

litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,

Don't know the first thing about living with others.

They never give God the time of day.

This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin

In essence, Paul is saying that God is universal, he's saying that we are all sinners, from the time were born to the time we die, we are sinners, everyone of us. He says that we all start off in the same indentical postion, and that essentially our understanding of Gods word and His law doesn't save us, or seperate us from one another, but yet opens our eyes to see how wrong we ALL are. We are all created in the image of God, and are all children of God. Osama Bin Laden, is a child of God, Adolph Hitler was a child of God, Saddam Hussein was a child of God. Granted these men went really wrong and did horrible things which God was against, and I'm sure God wasn't for them doing these things and probably did everything He could to stop them. But I mean, right now there is a Muslim praying to God in a Mosque somewhere in the middle east. God is hearing him, and wants to help him. Of course, God is trying to stear them to toward Jesus, and the right understanding of God, but none the less, just because you don't believe in God, or don't have the right understanding of God, doens't mean that He doesn't love you any less. Do we do this as Christians? Do we negate and not accept people who are different from us? I mean, Jesus from what I remember loved and cared for EVERYONE, because He understoold the notion that we are all from God, and therefore are all apart of God's plan and love. For Jesus, people weren't divided by what they were and how they thought. They were all children of God who were in desperate need of saving. If Osama Bin Laden came to your church one day, and wanted to become a Christian, would you help him?......

Add a little bit of Calvin, with a Dash of Wesley...and You've Got Me

So I was having a conversation the other day about God; and in the conversation we started talking about Sin and how it seperates you from God and how our postion stands with God. In the conversation I started telling her about how its weird with me because when I sin and do somthing wrong, that I didn't feel that "seperation" from God. She gave me an awkward look and said "Well, you should?" In responding, I stated back to her that I have always felt like Paul in Romans where he talks about how where there is Sin, Grace abounds all the more, and how I feel God draw closer to me when I sin. Of course the rest of the verse goes on to say that we don't keep on sinning, just to have grace poured out on us.
So of course with the conversation I just couldn't help but ponder these thoughts. I had heard this preached before in church in the past. How sin seperates us from God. However with the experiences that I've had within my own life; I have to say that I disagree I think. I mean, lets put this in perspective. (Theology class) Jesus came, He died, and was risen from the dead. His death brought about a righteousness from God that is imparted to us. Essentially meaning that we are given a status before God that is definatly not our own. (Personally, I will never in my lifetime call myself rightous) Our status is essentially borrowed from Jesus; when God looks at us, He doesn't see the ugly sinful people we can be. He sees the rightousness of Jesus and in effect, sees the same rightousness that Christ has, placed on us as our own. So why would God then after all Jesus did and will continue to do, suddenly seperate Himself from us as believers when we sin? To me, it doesn't make any sense, and personally I think a lot of Churches are missing this point. To me, sin is like letting a person down. If i lie to my earthly father, he is dissapointed in me, and is hurt, but he doesn't ever stop loving me; or make himself unavailable to me. I mean, if God seperated Himself from us when we sin? How would we get better? Better yet, the bible is full of people who were living in sin and God spoke to and still used them for great things. In essence, I think this seperation concept has created an ugly picture of God in a way, it paints a picture of a God who only wants somehting to do with us if we are perfect, and yet didn't Jesus come to bring home to the broken? I don't think God seperates Himself from us, but we seperate ourselves from Him, which is why He pours His grace out abundantly on us when we do Sin, because He wants us to come back home, just like He wants all the world to come home....

Scared......

So I'm sitting here right now at my desk. I've got roughly about 10 months left in the army, and about 2 completed hours of college. I have no jobs lined up, I've got nothing to really rely on other than Jesus and my fiance, and I'm not really sure what needs to happen.
I'm scared, there I said it. I'm freaking out a little bit. I had this realization the other day that I'm going to be married. I mean, I can barely function as an individual, let alone becoming one flesh with this wonderful woman of mine. I am freaking out, because I have no way of making sure that I am set up and established, and I'm a little bit angry with God at the moment, because I'm not sure where He needs me. I get a little tire of wallowing around in the dark trying to find Gods only match.
I mean, how am I going to get a job with no real job skills or a degree. I mean, contrary to what the recruiters tell you, most places could care less that you served in the military. How am I going to take care of my future wife. How will I have heath care, and a place to live. Where do I go from here? How do I get a job that allows me to have what I need, what she and I will need.
I just don't know how long I can take this, I mean, everyone is begging me to reenlist, and some of it sounds good to me, but most of it does not. The army is a hard life, and not one that I would like to put a future marriage through. So now what?

"Do I look Like a Guy with a Plan Harvey?"

Doesn't it seem akward at times the way people talk about religion? I mean, its interesting to see what people actually believe about things. Have you ever honestly had a conversation with a true Atheist? One that has not only not believed in God, but has researched it, studied it, and put his whole lifes concept into the idea that there is no God.
Its crazy the way Atheists can speak, and not just speak, but passionatly speak about how God doesn't exist and how if there is a God, then why doesn't He do something.
One of my proffessors asked a question during one of his lectures. He asked the class about shining a light in a blind man's eyes He said "If I shine a light into a blind man's eye, will he see light?" Essentially the answer he gave was no, they never would because they lack the ability to see light.
He likened this to God, and how sometimes no matter what we say or do for a person, they just won't see light. No matter how much God does for them, or how much He blesses them, there free will tainted by sin, still says "nope, sorry your not real" I mean how does this happen? How can someone just not see light? Its almost like there is a secret understanding about God, and understanding that only those who've opened themselves up to God, can see. Is this true? I mean, does the wages of sin really go that far? So far that it completely blinds us to God, not just relationally in our spirits, but in the world we exist in as well?
One of the Psalms essentially has God asking a quesiton to the readers. I'm Paraphrasing heavely. The Psalm essetially says (from Gods point of view) "Have I hidden myself from you?" "Is there anything that I haven't shown you?" I mean, maybe its a sin issue? Maybe the wages of sin go so deep that it does in fact blind us all toward God. I mean, we all started out having to essentially discover that God had been looking for us, and thank God we all had churches that helped us get there; but in scripture God says it "Have I hidden myself from you?" I mean, God has given us every indication of His existance. Romans talks about the conscience of a person being from God, it talks about the very world around us in nature being a physical representation of God's power and design in the world, and that we have no excuse for not believing. So whee does it end, the whole Atheist thing? The world may never know.....

Psalm 5 (An Image of Jesus...)

Psalm 5:

1 O Lord, hear me as I pray;
pay attention to my groaning.

2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
for I pray to no one but you.

3 Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

4 O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness;
you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked.

5 Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence,
for you hate all who do evil.

6 You will destroy those who tell lies.
The Lord detests murderers and deceivers.

7 Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house;
I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.

8 Lead me in the right path, O Lord,
or my enemies will conquer me.
Make your way plain for me to follow.

9 My enemies cannot speak a truthful word.
Their deepest desire is to destroy others.
Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with flattery.[a]

10 O God, declare them guilty.
Let them be caught in their own traps.
Drive them away because of their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.

11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them sing joyful praises forever.
Spread your protection over them,
that all who love your name may be filled with joy.

12 For you bless the godly, O Lord;
you surround them with your shield of love.

I'm reading Psalm 5 for my devotion today, and as I'm reading I can't help but get this overwhelming sense of how great God is. Its that feeling that you get when you come to the realization that everything is, and will be because of God.
Verses 7, really caught my attention today as I read. "Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house". I mean how much more basic can that get? Its all because of God we can do what we do. I mean, lets think about this, God created the law on Mount Sainai so that the Moses and his people could know how to essentially "be" right standing in God's presence. God gave Israel Kings, so that the Kings could lead the people and determine what needed to be done to honor God and maintain His presence among them. God sent the prophets, so that we would know what God needed and how he required His people to change and repent and be Holy. God sent us Jesus, so that we could break the chains of sin and (inadvertently) the law so that we could truly know God and gap the broken bridge between God and man; so that we could know God completly and walk in His light. Or as Psalm 5 points out "Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house"
If I could descibe life, the bible, and the church with one sentece it would be this. It is the story of God making a way time and time again so that we might know Him.

PEace