NONE ARE RIGHTEOUS

The indictment of Romans 3 puts us all in the same boat: It says "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3:9-18 Yes we are all sinners. we are all in the same desperate condition. none of us is better off than any other. none of us is more righteous. none of us is more deserving. none of us have anything to point to that would commend us to God. we are all in need to be rescued from the dark rebellion of our own hearts. there is only one hope for us all: the amazing, forgiving, rescuing, transforming, and delivering Grace of Jesus. The problem is we often don't see it that way, part of the blindness of sin is our tendency to be more irritated by and more concerned about the sin of the people next to us. because we are blind to our own sin and our eyes are open to theirs , we tend to see our neighbors as bigger sinners than we are, and when you fall into comparing yourself to another person you almost always conclude that you were more righteous than he is and when you conclude that you are more righteous than he is, you begin to minimize your own need for Grace. in this way false spiritual comparisons put you in spiritual danger they make you think you're better off than you are and weaken your resolve to seek and celebrate redeeming grace. we must cry out for Grace to deliver us from this tendency! yes we all stand before God deserving of his anger! how grateful we are to be that Christ bore our penalty so that we could bask in Gods Grace!

AWE

Awe:(noun) "a feeling of reverential respect, mixed with fear or wonder." It is a daily battle...... one that is free of physical weapons, political parties, and national boundaries.... It is a battle that has been raging since the garden and will not stop until the war is finally won. This battle is not fought between people, it is fought WITHIN people. It is a much greater danger to each of us than war between nations will ever be. It is a battle of awe..... We were created to live in a real heart gripping, agenda setting, behavior forming awe of God. But other awes kidnap our hearts. Awe of creation, awe of other people, and awe of ourselves, shove the awe of God out of our hearts. So we need grace to see again, to tremble again, and to bow down again at the feet of the ONE who deserves our awe.

ALONE

~Do you ever feel completely alone? Even though you know there's people around you that love you and care about you? Well I'm writing today to tell you that if your Gods child, you are loved today even if, in your human relationships, you are completely alone. ~It's happened to all of us and it's inevitable in this broken world in someway we are all left feeling alone. So what do you do? where do you run? what do you tell yourself? how do you respond when you are left alone? Such aloneness can cut deep and hurt because we were designed to be social. ~Immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, tension erupted in their relationship and it became bad really fast. Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, even murdered his brother in a fit of sibling jealousy. ~In the world that we live in where sin has infected it, wrong infects our relationships. It shatters the community God intended us to live in and leaves many of us alone. ~This aloneness takes many forms such as: friends turn their back's on friends, husbands and wives divorce, neighbors move away, employees get fired, children reject their parents, churches divide, friends and relatives lose contact, old age leaves us lonely, death takes dear ones from us, etc. ~Yes, somewhere in your life, you will be left alone.....But it is in this experience of aloneness that you must remember the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus captured the relational beauty of this in his own life when, as he faced death, he said to his disciples- "behold the hour is coming indeed it has come, when you will be scattered each to his own home, and will leave me alone, yet I am not alone for the Father is with me."John 16:32. ~Yes people and circumstances leave you alone. Yet it is impossible for one of God's children to be completely alone because we have a Father in heaven who is always with us and he will not leave us no matter what. Remind yourself today that as God's child no matter how many people have walked out of your life, aloneness is a thing of your past.....:) PSALM 94: 11-22 “The LORD knows people’s thoughts; he knows they are worthless! Joyful are those you discipline, LORD, those you teach with your instructions. You give them relief from troubled times until a pit is dug to capture the wicked. The LORD will not reject his people; he will not abandon his special possession. Judgment will again be founded on justice, and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it. Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side— leaders whose decrees permit injustice? They gang up against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD is my fortress; my God is the mighty rock where I hide.” ‭‭

Today we have hope, not because people like us or because situations are easy, but because God has placed his unshakable love on us.

If we look to this fallen world to give us hope to continue, it's really just not going to work very well. Just think about the address where you live: -you live with fallen people who inevitably disappoint you in someway, -you live in a broken world where corruption and injustice are commonplace, -you face temptation somehow, someway, every day, -your physical body is growing older and can be infected with disease, -storms and pollution complicate your life, -Satan prowls doing his evil work, -the physical creation groans waiting for redemption, -war and strife pit nation against nation, -partiality and prejudice divide us. God created the world a certain way but sin has corrupted it and it does not function the way he created it or intended it to be so there is constant instability and unpredictability in the world around us. There are times when life is pretty easy and it works well, but there are many other times when financial loss, a sickness, a crime against you, the death of a loved one, etc. makes life very hard . Isn't it so awesome that we don't have to frantically look for hope horizontally where it just can't be found ? The Grace of God has connected us to hope. You see, hope is not a situation, it is not a location, a feeling, or a relationship. Hope is a person and his name is Jesus. His love is unconditional and his Grace is never temporary . He never makes you feel guilty for needing his good gifts and he doesn't ask you to earn what you can never deserve . He never gets tired of you or gives up on a relationship with you . He never throws your sin in your face, or mocks your weaknesses . He forgives all your sins and empowers you to do much better . He is present with you so that you're guaranteed to have everything you need . He came to earth and died a cruel death on the cross so that we can have and know life..... real life . Jesus is your hope as you live in a world where hope is a precious and rare commodity . Remember you are connected to him forever . This means there will be a day when you won't have to hope anymore because the paradise you have hoped for will be the eternal reality in which you live . ‬ Psalm 42 “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?” My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration! Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you— even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. “O God my rock,” I cry, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?” Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?” Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!” ‭‭