It seems like it has been forever, but in the 1994 elections, Republicans were in a position to take control of Congress for the first time in almost 50 years. With an electorate that was shying away from President Clinton’s fast acting legislative platform, the Grand Old Party found two things that they are lacking now: a message and a leader.
“Contract with America” was that message and Newt Gingrich was that leader, and the right handed the left a decisive defeat. For 10 of the next 12 years, Republicans held the majority in both chambers. By the end of the 2006 and 2008 elections, the GOP found themselves back on the book shelf of irrelevance. If the 2006 election was an indication of the electorate’s disapproval of President Bush and the war in Iraq, the 2008 election was an indication of the beginning of the end of the unity of the right as candidates quickly distanced themselves from the President.
Going into the 2010 election the Republican Party is still very much fractured (a description often saved for the left). On one side, you have conservatives accusing moderates of turning their backs on the core values of the party. On the other side, moderates are slamming conservatives for drawing partisan lines. Then you have the Tea Party fringe groups that are attacking both sides – moderates for being moderates and conservatives for not being conservative enough.
These various groups have developed different platforms and look to different members of the party for leadership. What the GOP needs is - one voice and one leader. And I don’t mean Sarah, Rush, or Beck, at least not if they want to be taken seriously again outside of tea parties and town halls. The party needs a leader that brings people together, not a pundit that divides and conquers. Before the right can right the ship, they have to see and understand were they have gone wrong. They controlled both The White House and Congress, and where thrown out quicker than Sarah Palin can say lip stick.
Some on the far right say the problem is that they weren’t conservative enough. I see this as backing oneself into a corner, the more conservative the party becomes the more of a fringe player they become, because quite simply the American electorate is, and always has been moderate. There also is a perceived lack of tolerance for diversity of opinion on the right. It has become apparent that there is a litmus test within the party on certain issues that magnifies the moderates view that they are a party of exclusion. This has become underlined in the recent budget standstill in California and within the health care debate in Congress. In both cases the party leaders were not shy about telling their conservative brothers and sisters, if you vote with the Democrats you will lose our support, more specifically through party funding for reelection, and current and future chairmanships within their respective chambers. Also the right needs to STOP turning disagreements over issues into attacks on people’s morals (i.e. gun rights and gay rights).
Going forward, the GOP needs to moderate its extremes and clarify its message. They need to become the party of national unity, national security, fiscal responsibility and individual freedom again. The Republicans need to come forward with a clear agenda and platform to get America moving forward and to shake the label of the “Party of No” given to them by the left. The next clear move for the party is to progress from simply disagreeing with the President to bringing forth ideas that are positive and that are going to help people. They must change the cover of the book, from the party of prevention to the party of progression, if they ever want anyone to read their book again.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Whose Side Are You On?
Isn't it amazing, the President of the United States has won the Nobel Peace Prize. The troubling thing about this is the loudest protests for this award have been coming from the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, the Iranian government, oh and of course the increasingly predictable Republican Party. These groups have something in common, it is more important for our President to fail than for our country to succeed. I have been a Republican since I first registered to vote in 1991 and I have never been more ashamed of what this party stands for. When did the politics of our political party become more important than the success of our country? Our loyal opposition has apparently become a bunch of hate filled boo-birds.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Die! You un-American Swine (or Who Cares If You Have the H1N1 Virus, You Bum)
When did the number one, absolute priority in this country become, making sure that not one person whether man, woman, or child gets anything they haven’t earned? I understand the logic behind this kind of reasoning, and I understand the necessity for people to work for what they get. However we as a nation have adopted a new cause, “Do what needs to be done to be certain (even if it punishes the hard worker down on his or her luck) that nobody gets anything they don’t deserve.” Allowing people to live off of the system undeservedly is a problem, I get that.
Some people in this country take advantage of the wealth we possess and the grace we as a nation provide to those in need. I understand all of this, but with our problems in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, the credit crisis, cancer, obesity, aids, global warming, illegal immigration, poverty, prison overpopulation, government and police corruption, the San Francisco 49ers lack of decent talent, the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on poverty, the war on liberalism, the war on Obama, record high unemployment, falling home values, and out of control medical costs to name a few, why has our focus shifted to making sure that nobody gets a free lunch? When did we start throwing the baby out with the bathwater on this issue? Somewhere in our history we became a culture that would rather see a bum starve than widows eat. Today it is more satisfying for us ideologically to prevent someone from receiving a hand out needlessly than to give something to those in need. When did it become better to see thousands of those who are undeserving die from sickness, than see one helpless soul live in peace? In a nation that overwhelmingly calls it self God fearing and Christian, this amazes me.
As believers we have received so much we don’t deserve. If we truly believe in God then we understand that we are nothing more than a people that have received the greatest entitlement ever given. We have been given eternal life through no sacrifice of our own. All we have to do is ask for it and we get it. We receive this great hand out on the shoulders of great sacrifice. Not our sacrifices mind you, but the sacrifice of another. We are granted this on the blood of someone else’s suffering. It would seem to me that before we judge others for accepting what they do not deserve, simply because it is made available, we should consider those gifts that we have also received and accepted whole heartedly, undeservedly, and without regret, solely on the grace and love of another.
Some people in this country take advantage of the wealth we possess and the grace we as a nation provide to those in need. I understand all of this, but with our problems in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, the credit crisis, cancer, obesity, aids, global warming, illegal immigration, poverty, prison overpopulation, government and police corruption, the San Francisco 49ers lack of decent talent, the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on poverty, the war on liberalism, the war on Obama, record high unemployment, falling home values, and out of control medical costs to name a few, why has our focus shifted to making sure that nobody gets a free lunch? When did we start throwing the baby out with the bathwater on this issue? Somewhere in our history we became a culture that would rather see a bum starve than widows eat. Today it is more satisfying for us ideologically to prevent someone from receiving a hand out needlessly than to give something to those in need. When did it become better to see thousands of those who are undeserving die from sickness, than see one helpless soul live in peace? In a nation that overwhelmingly calls it self God fearing and Christian, this amazes me.
As believers we have received so much we don’t deserve. If we truly believe in God then we understand that we are nothing more than a people that have received the greatest entitlement ever given. We have been given eternal life through no sacrifice of our own. All we have to do is ask for it and we get it. We receive this great hand out on the shoulders of great sacrifice. Not our sacrifices mind you, but the sacrifice of another. We are granted this on the blood of someone else’s suffering. It would seem to me that before we judge others for accepting what they do not deserve, simply because it is made available, we should consider those gifts that we have also received and accepted whole heartedly, undeservedly, and without regret, solely on the grace and love of another.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A Prayer For Action
Hooray hooray, I pray for health care today.
My heart tells me it’s soon on the way.
Children and widows don’t fear,
A doctor is near.
Some people don’t want it,
Some people don’t care.
We fought a war in Korea; we fought a war in Vietnam; we fought two wars in Iraq.
We’ve made so many mistakes that we can never take back.
Let’s do the right thing, let’s stand up and fight.
Let’s put ourselves second, and put first what is right.
I like what I have, bud I’d gladly give it up for another.
The Bible has always taught me that I’m the keeper of my brother.
My heart tells me it’s soon on the way.
Children and widows don’t fear,
A doctor is near.
Some people don’t want it,
Some people don’t care.
We fought a war in Korea; we fought a war in Vietnam; we fought two wars in Iraq.
We’ve made so many mistakes that we can never take back.
Let’s do the right thing, let’s stand up and fight.
Let’s put ourselves second, and put first what is right.
I like what I have, bud I’d gladly give it up for another.
The Bible has always taught me that I’m the keeper of my brother.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
God Bless America?
The deeper our (and by our I mean yours AND mine) country’s debate on the health care crisis becomes, the more disenchanted I become in the ability for us as a nation to mend the divide between those that have and those that have not, those that care and those that do not, those that want to help and those that will not, and those that seek the help necessary from others that they can not provide for themselves and those that should not. It saddens me that many in this country have chosen to ignore a very serious crisis that has befallen us all, a crisis that we can not endure, a crisis that will lead to our economic demise, simply because we refuse to look at the long term consequences of our inaction.
I speak to people every day that have spent the last decade of their lives suggesting that the United States of America is a nation founded upon Christian principles. I have been told that without the grace and favor of God that we as a country would not have the glorious and carefree existence that we have grown accustom to. I have been preached to by my own pastors that in order to remain in God’s favor we must seek, not only as individuals but as one nation under God, to please our maker by our behavior and by our laws. Yet, our nation’s inability to decide weather or not it is right or wrong to provide somebody with quality care when they are ill is astounding to me as an American, as a Christian, and as a human being. When did we become so consumed with our own self satisfaction, our own need to have what is ours (after all we earned it), and our self righteous mentality that if they wanted it bad enough, they could get it on their own?
Some would answer this question by telling you that entitlements go against the deeply engrained ideology that this country was founded upon, some would call this socialism, and still more would simply say, “It’s not my problem.” I would ask you this, if we are a nation base in the belief of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then how does health and well being of our citizenry fit in? Isn’t life based upon our state of well being? If liberty is the ability to choose our own path, should ones inability to pay into a system that is wholly overpriced and largely ineffective, determine the path that they choose? Why, in a Christian nation, is our ability to pursue happiness base solely on what we can and what we can not afford to pay for? How have we come so far (the Emancipation Proclamation, Social Security, fair labor laws, women’s suffrage, and civil rights), yet fallen so fast?
I believe if we had to look into the eyes of those whose lives have been shortened because of our short sighted and selfish choices, and watch as they die from diabetes without medication, cancer without chemotherapy, and heart disease without blood pressure medication, and watch as they live with intense pain without treatment, we would then be unable to ignore those in need. Because we would have to weep for those being strangled by a system that determines a humans life span by how much money they make. I have to tell you though that I am beginning to question that belief in the empathy of my fellow Americans. As this debate goes on, it seem to me as a country, we are more consumed with our fears of that great unknown called "change", than in the reality of the suffering of so many people we choose to call brothers. Why should God bless America, when we choose not to bless those of us we call Americans?
I speak to people every day that have spent the last decade of their lives suggesting that the United States of America is a nation founded upon Christian principles. I have been told that without the grace and favor of God that we as a country would not have the glorious and carefree existence that we have grown accustom to. I have been preached to by my own pastors that in order to remain in God’s favor we must seek, not only as individuals but as one nation under God, to please our maker by our behavior and by our laws. Yet, our nation’s inability to decide weather or not it is right or wrong to provide somebody with quality care when they are ill is astounding to me as an American, as a Christian, and as a human being. When did we become so consumed with our own self satisfaction, our own need to have what is ours (after all we earned it), and our self righteous mentality that if they wanted it bad enough, they could get it on their own?
Some would answer this question by telling you that entitlements go against the deeply engrained ideology that this country was founded upon, some would call this socialism, and still more would simply say, “It’s not my problem.” I would ask you this, if we are a nation base in the belief of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then how does health and well being of our citizenry fit in? Isn’t life based upon our state of well being? If liberty is the ability to choose our own path, should ones inability to pay into a system that is wholly overpriced and largely ineffective, determine the path that they choose? Why, in a Christian nation, is our ability to pursue happiness base solely on what we can and what we can not afford to pay for? How have we come so far (the Emancipation Proclamation, Social Security, fair labor laws, women’s suffrage, and civil rights), yet fallen so fast?
I believe if we had to look into the eyes of those whose lives have been shortened because of our short sighted and selfish choices, and watch as they die from diabetes without medication, cancer without chemotherapy, and heart disease without blood pressure medication, and watch as they live with intense pain without treatment, we would then be unable to ignore those in need. Because we would have to weep for those being strangled by a system that determines a humans life span by how much money they make. I have to tell you though that I am beginning to question that belief in the empathy of my fellow Americans. As this debate goes on, it seem to me as a country, we are more consumed with our fears of that great unknown called "change", than in the reality of the suffering of so many people we choose to call brothers. Why should God bless America, when we choose not to bless those of us we call Americans?
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Some Things Are Black and White
How can one preach about justification without talking about grace, judgment without talking about atonement, or sin without talking about the love our Father in heaven has for all of mankind? That is an egregious form of malignancy within ourselves that we use to apply human principals to those of the divine. By providing insight into the workings of God based entirely on our current belief of the way the world is suppose to work for us, is our inadvertent need to reinvent God. I am not sinless in this, I am the worst of the worst, I spend everyday thinking about how I can rationalize circumventing my need to obey God with my humanly need to serve myself and my family. Today, I am filled with all kinds of depravity.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us… If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.” – 1John 1:8, 10
I battle everyday with the notion of grace. Could I as a father deal with the worst of the worst if it were my son committing despicable acts? If my son were to molest a child, would I still love him? Would I give everything I have for the hope that someday he would come back to me and say, “I’m lost, please help me”? And if that call was made would I answer? I would like to think so. I pray everyday that I will never know. But, I do know of one who has the capacity to love so much, to show everlasting grace and mercy upon his children. Our father in heaven has more love and grace for us than we could ever comprehend. Our humanity is finite, His Holiness is infinite. To think any more of ourselves or less of Him is to put the nose before the face.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29
How could a father love someone so completely that he would sacrifice so much? Could I sit by while my son is tortured and murdered? I doubt it. As a saint in Christ I would break several commandments to save my son from the hands of a murderer. I would most certainly ask for forgiveness for my need for justice, revenge, and malice upon anyone who would hurt my child. He did not. The scripture is clear, without contradiction, inspired by God, and written with the hands of men. He forgives us, he forgives us all. No purchase required. He gave us a coupon in His love and no one can take it away, not ever.
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” – 1John 2:2
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” – Romans 5:9-10.
We all sin and we all fall short of the glory of God, so why do we feel compelled to point out the indiscretions of others without talking about the grace given to us. Our biggest enemy is ourselves, we are self serving, contemptuous people, lucky to be loved, but lacking love for others, at least those that we judge unworthy.
“The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased grace increased all the more…” – Romans 5:20
How can we see ourselves as better than the lost? Is it not true that we were once lost? To talk to someone about sin without explaining grace is not sound doctrine. They are as entwined as night and day. You can not have one without the other. To separate the two is to separate God from his children. Isn’t that what devil is trying to do?
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us… If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.” – 1John 1:8, 10
I battle everyday with the notion of grace. Could I as a father deal with the worst of the worst if it were my son committing despicable acts? If my son were to molest a child, would I still love him? Would I give everything I have for the hope that someday he would come back to me and say, “I’m lost, please help me”? And if that call was made would I answer? I would like to think so. I pray everyday that I will never know. But, I do know of one who has the capacity to love so much, to show everlasting grace and mercy upon his children. Our father in heaven has more love and grace for us than we could ever comprehend. Our humanity is finite, His Holiness is infinite. To think any more of ourselves or less of Him is to put the nose before the face.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29
How could a father love someone so completely that he would sacrifice so much? Could I sit by while my son is tortured and murdered? I doubt it. As a saint in Christ I would break several commandments to save my son from the hands of a murderer. I would most certainly ask for forgiveness for my need for justice, revenge, and malice upon anyone who would hurt my child. He did not. The scripture is clear, without contradiction, inspired by God, and written with the hands of men. He forgives us, he forgives us all. No purchase required. He gave us a coupon in His love and no one can take it away, not ever.
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” – 1John 2:2
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” – Romans 5:9-10.
We all sin and we all fall short of the glory of God, so why do we feel compelled to point out the indiscretions of others without talking about the grace given to us. Our biggest enemy is ourselves, we are self serving, contemptuous people, lucky to be loved, but lacking love for others, at least those that we judge unworthy.
“The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased grace increased all the more…” – Romans 5:20
How can we see ourselves as better than the lost? Is it not true that we were once lost? To talk to someone about sin without explaining grace is not sound doctrine. They are as entwined as night and day. You can not have one without the other. To separate the two is to separate God from his children. Isn’t that what devil is trying to do?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
The Rules Do Not Apply
The law is simply an expression of the nature of God, His holiness and moral perfections. The best efforts of man to live according to this standard are futile.
“What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” – Gal 3:21-25
Even in OT times the Jews were always saved through faith, not adherence to the Law. They kept the Law as an expression of obedience and fellowship with God. As we hopefully realize today it is not nor has it ever been possible for the blood of animals to take away sin.
“...because it is impossible for the blood of bull and goats to take away sins.” – Heb 10:4
Christ died for our sins
“Jehovah…laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isa. 53:16
“Christ died for our sins” - 1Cor 15:13
“...who His own self bore our sins in His own body” – 1Peter 2:24
“...layeth down his life for the sheep.” - Mark 10:45, John 10:11
Jesus has satisfied all the demands of the law against all people, even those who reject Him. The law is no longer in effect as a moral judge to condemn us. The Bible is very clear that Christ lifted the law from us all (including the unsaved). A person is no longer condemned for breaking the law.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matt 5:17 The Greek word translated “to fulfill in the Bible is “pleroo” which mean to fulfill in the context of completing something, or to finish.
“...having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Col 2:14
“...by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations….” Eph 2:15
Christ did not destroy or abolish the Law; it still has its place in the world today. It is there to remind us all that we are and will always be sinners. We are forgiven though grace (nothing required from us), we are saved by faith (we are required to believe). We have never been nor will we ever be righteous or worthy of holiness (Jew or Gentile). We are as bad as and at times worse than the lost
Tolerance is an ugly word. God has not tolerated his children he has loved us all, always. Why do we as a church shy away from loving sinners as God loves us? Why do we choose not to accept things, but rather to put up with them (tolerance), when God scripturally is never tolerant, He has always shown us unconditional love and acceptance. We should not show tolerance for someone that is lost, because that just isn’t good enough. We should show love. We should not preach fear and judgment upon those who sin. We should preach about God’s acceptance for us even when we are stained by sin.
We are not commissioned to make the sinner stop sinning, after all we continue to sin ourselves and our sins are just as bad as anyone else’s. Sin ain’t gonna send nobody to hell. And loving and accepting sinful people in your life is not going to send you to hell. Jesus never spoke against the sinners in His ministry, He spoke against the church leaders who created rules and regulations that judged and condemned others for their sin. In them, faith was dead. Sounds eerily familiar to many messages you hear in church today, when pastors speak about, homosexuality, pornography, infidelity, premarital sex, masturbation, sodomy, cohabitation, and liberalism (HA HA). Although within the church, gossip, contempt, judgment, prejudice, intolerance, disobedience, lying, anger, vanity, lots and lots of vanity, and my personal favorite denominational prejudice go largely unnoticed. Scripturally, these violations are no better or worse than the previous.
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” – James 2:10
Propitiation is turning away wrath by an offering. Our offering is Christ. He didn’t just die on the cross for our sins; He gave Himself up for God’s wrath. The death of Christ satisfies the justice of God that must be poured upon sin.
So trying to live a life without sin (emphasis on trying) is noble to say the least. However it doesn’t guarantee you a closer spot in the line to see God. We are all equally undeserving of His enduring love, but we receive it anyways. We are giving ourselves too much credit if we think otherwise. No one is holy enough to deserve the grand prize. God doesn’t believe in equal pay for equal work and he doesn’t grade his love for us on our desire to impress him with our lives. Unfortunately for all the saints who want more love or need more blessing for their Christ driven lives, they must remember…
“...Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’" - Luke 15:29-30
From God’s mouth to our brains.
“What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” – Gal 3:21-25
Even in OT times the Jews were always saved through faith, not adherence to the Law. They kept the Law as an expression of obedience and fellowship with God. As we hopefully realize today it is not nor has it ever been possible for the blood of animals to take away sin.
“...because it is impossible for the blood of bull and goats to take away sins.” – Heb 10:4
Christ died for our sins
“Jehovah…laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isa. 53:16
“Christ died for our sins” - 1Cor 15:13
“...who His own self bore our sins in His own body” – 1Peter 2:24
“...layeth down his life for the sheep.” - Mark 10:45, John 10:11
Jesus has satisfied all the demands of the law against all people, even those who reject Him. The law is no longer in effect as a moral judge to condemn us. The Bible is very clear that Christ lifted the law from us all (including the unsaved). A person is no longer condemned for breaking the law.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matt 5:17 The Greek word translated “to fulfill in the Bible is “pleroo” which mean to fulfill in the context of completing something, or to finish.
“...having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Col 2:14
“...by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations….” Eph 2:15
Christ did not destroy or abolish the Law; it still has its place in the world today. It is there to remind us all that we are and will always be sinners. We are forgiven though grace (nothing required from us), we are saved by faith (we are required to believe). We have never been nor will we ever be righteous or worthy of holiness (Jew or Gentile). We are as bad as and at times worse than the lost
Tolerance is an ugly word. God has not tolerated his children he has loved us all, always. Why do we as a church shy away from loving sinners as God loves us? Why do we choose not to accept things, but rather to put up with them (tolerance), when God scripturally is never tolerant, He has always shown us unconditional love and acceptance. We should not show tolerance for someone that is lost, because that just isn’t good enough. We should show love. We should not preach fear and judgment upon those who sin. We should preach about God’s acceptance for us even when we are stained by sin.
We are not commissioned to make the sinner stop sinning, after all we continue to sin ourselves and our sins are just as bad as anyone else’s. Sin ain’t gonna send nobody to hell. And loving and accepting sinful people in your life is not going to send you to hell. Jesus never spoke against the sinners in His ministry, He spoke against the church leaders who created rules and regulations that judged and condemned others for their sin. In them, faith was dead. Sounds eerily familiar to many messages you hear in church today, when pastors speak about, homosexuality, pornography, infidelity, premarital sex, masturbation, sodomy, cohabitation, and liberalism (HA HA). Although within the church, gossip, contempt, judgment, prejudice, intolerance, disobedience, lying, anger, vanity, lots and lots of vanity, and my personal favorite denominational prejudice go largely unnoticed. Scripturally, these violations are no better or worse than the previous.
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” – James 2:10
Propitiation is turning away wrath by an offering. Our offering is Christ. He didn’t just die on the cross for our sins; He gave Himself up for God’s wrath. The death of Christ satisfies the justice of God that must be poured upon sin.
So trying to live a life without sin (emphasis on trying) is noble to say the least. However it doesn’t guarantee you a closer spot in the line to see God. We are all equally undeserving of His enduring love, but we receive it anyways. We are giving ourselves too much credit if we think otherwise. No one is holy enough to deserve the grand prize. God doesn’t believe in equal pay for equal work and he doesn’t grade his love for us on our desire to impress him with our lives. Unfortunately for all the saints who want more love or need more blessing for their Christ driven lives, they must remember…
“...Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’" - Luke 15:29-30
From God’s mouth to our brains.
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