Monday, January 26, 2009

Self-satisfied? - January 26, 2009

Good Monday morning! We have more snow and a fine winter morning today. Some of you may not like it, but I do believe that this weather is more appropriate to January than what we had last week. Today I have an interesting question for us. Have you ever sat in a sermon or read a devotional and been thankful that the topic could not be applied to your self? Every time that happens to me, I am reminded of Paul's message in Romans... you know the one. "For all have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard." Yes, as a single person a message on divorce cannot be applied to me. Whoopie smack! I am still a sinner in need of salvation by faith through the grace of Jesus. We are all one body in Christ, if a brother or sister is convicted of past or present sins, then all of us can pray seeking forgiveness. Yes, we will face God individually, but one thing He might ask us on that great day is whether or not we reached out to remind a brother in Christ that he is forgiven, or if we walked out of the church self-satisfied that WE had never been guilty of THAT sin. Hmm, something to think about in that.

Speaking of self satisfaction; have you ever met your own standard for life? Only in isolated instances have I met my own standards and never in life as a whole. How then can we expect to be saved by meeting the standards of our perfect God when we cannot even meet our own? We have already found that we cannot. However, learning to be content with our situation also includes learning fully that God loves us as we are now. This does not stop us from striving to improve, but to stop that dreadful trashing of the self we often engage in. Remember to ask forgiveness often, but also remember that you and I are children of the King.

Have a beautiful Monday in Christ!

Bucky

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