Romans 3.23

Continuing on my quest to memorize 100 verses recommended by Robert J. Morgan in his book, 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart, I'm now working on what is referred to as the Roman Road, a set of verses that provides a framework for sharing the Good News. 

This simple verse pretty much sums up our need for receiving Jesus as our Savior. There's no getting around the phrase, "for ALL have sinned". No matter how nice and kind and generous and compassionate we are, we are all sinners.

This concept, I don't think, is too difficult to accept. Sure, I easily acknowledge that I will never be perfect like God who is the essence of purity and holiness. And when I have had conversations with others about this, they agree that they're sinners too. After all, it's impossible to be perfect. 

And so many people want to have a comfortable agreement with God that living a "good" life will be "good enough" to spend eternity in the Kingdom. But the cold, hard truth is that it's not good enough.

But verse 24 gives us some much needed hope. It says, "and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus". 

Translation: We are marked for good and made legitimate for free, at no cost to us, other than our belief that the debt Jesus paid on the cross was sufficient to set us right before God. 

This is the part that messes with people's heads, I think, because how can just believing this message be what God wants from us? How does that take all the wrongs in my life and make them forgiven? Having faith in Jesus can't be enough, can it?

It is. 

Over and over again in the New Testament we are instructed that faith in Jesus is all that is required to be washed clean of the sin that has accrued in our hearts and minds. 

This is what makes the Good News, so very wonderfully good enough. 

John 3.16

Like many children who grew up going to church, John chapter 3 and verse 16 was the first scripture that I committed to memory. And even if a person didn't memorize this text, if he or she watch any kind of televised sporting event, the chances of seeing a fan at the game wave a poster with the reference are likely fairly high. 

But I wonder for how many people, believers and non-believers alike, the regularity of seeing "John 3:16" that the message of what this verse is really about gets glossed over? I wonder this because if we really took it seriously, the world would be radically different for the way that we treated one another.

The world is made up of you and me, our families, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, the clerk at the gas station, the teller at the bank, the plumber, the homeless veteran, the convict spending part of his/her life in prison, and the person who practices a faith that is completely different than yours.

Knowing that God sent his one and only Son to be the Sacrificial Lamb for each and every one of us, should change the way we see each other and treat each other. I shouldn't look at you as only what I see, but how God sees you - worth sending His Son to the cross for you.

I recently saw this video of Jose Antonio, 55, getting a makeover. He's been homeless for 25 years and life had taken a toll on him. 

In other videos of the same story, Jose goes to his local spots and starts talking to the people that he would regularly encounter and they didn't recognize him. And to be honest, who would? And surely people started to treat him differently because of the way that he looked. 

But let's remember that God loves the new hipster Jose Antonio, just as much as He loves the worn down Jose Antonio. And our love for others should be no different. 

If we really believed that God so loved the world, wouldn't we be less judgmental and more compassionate?

If we really believed that God so loved the world, wouldn't we be less stingy and more generous?

If we really believed that God so loved the world, wouldn't we be less afraid and more courageous?

These are just a few ideas, and I'm sure that you could add more. 

It's not that God so loved the world, but that he loves each of us, just as we are - no matter our circumstances or what skills, talents, or abilities, we have, no matter how many wrongs we have committed, His love is unconditional. 

Let's remember this with each person we encounter today.

John 1.14

When was the last time that something held your attention for so long that you completely lost track of time? 

A couple of weeks ago, I was sick, with what I referred to as the Plague of 2017. My head was so congested and I was hacking up a lung - I had just enough energy to tap my phone's screen to watch the next (and then the next, and the next - well you get the point) of Downton Abbey. Before I knew it, I had watched an entire season worth of shows in a matter of 10 hours. 

When I was really into creating scrapbooks, the designing, cutting and cropping, the placement of papers and stickers would absorb all of my attention and just like that - an entire Saturday would vanish.

When I was in elementary school I would shut my bedroom door and play with my Barbies for hours - literally sometimes from lunch to dinner during the summer time. 

One phrase of John 1.14 has been rolling over and over in my thoughts: "We have seen his glory". As I meditated on this verse and especially this phrase, I kept thinking, "What would it be like to be so consumed with the Son of God's glory, that I completely and utterly forgot about everything else?" 

Don't get me wrong, I've had moments of worship where this was true, but then like a dream, reality sets in and it's back to whatever it was that I was doing before with only the memory stamped onto my heart. 

Brother Francis, of "The Practice of the Presence of God" fame has written:

He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you, in the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can.

And so this is my encouragement and challenge. Being captivated by the glory of the uniquely begotten Son isn't limited to a time and a place, it can be and is meant to be continuous. And in order to experience this, and dump the kinds of thoughts that only stir up trouble in my mind and heart, I must keep my thoughts on Christ, rather than on myself. 

If I can manage to do this, then the experience won't just be a fading memory, but instead a constant reality and awareness.

John 1.1-2

Photo by Bethany Ligon (2004)
Pont du Guard Roman aqueduct, France

The significance of John 1.1-2 is found in the first and last three words: "In the beginning" as it mirrors Genesis 1.1

Since the dawn of creation, God had it in mind that we would need a Savior. In fact, one version of these verses says, "In the beginning, there was God's grand design, that declaration was with God, related to Him as His project, and it was fully expressive of God Himself. It was with God in the beginning."

In education, we are told to plan with the end in mind; what is it that students should be able to do at the conclusion of the learning cycle? And so our daily lesson plans are constructed with the goal of getting every student to meet that objective. There are many considerations that are taken into account, most importantly, the students' prior knowledge and current skill level, not to mention time constraints and materials required. 

In His grand design, God took into account the same considerations. He knew the people that He would be calling into a relationship. He knew that some individuals would respond with a quiet whisper and others would need some tough circumstances to grab their attention. God knew that have some would be quick learners and those who would need more one on one individualized instruction. He knew the amount of time he had to accomplish this task and he knew what it would take to get it done. 

This brings me comfort in that there hasn't been any detail left unplanned for nor overlooked when it comes to God pursuing my heart. I can rest assured that He knows what He's doing, even when my own heart's vision and mind's understanding are lacking clarity. I can trust in His authority for every step that He asks me to take. 

It's been planned for since the beginning.