5/16/2008

Death through Adam, Life through Chist

Romans 5:12-21
So I'm not going to put the whole passage, that will be way too long, but I want to zone in one verse that has been bothering me today.
v. 18 "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men."
Through Adam all of us sin and "fall short", but then through Christ all have become holy for those who believe in Him.
I can't help but think of the worst torture that Christ must have gone through. It must have been really terrible because he died for ALL who believe in him. He went through torture, name calling, carrying himself to his own death, a crown of thorns put upon his head, his garments being gambled, his friends just watching, nails in his hands and feet, his shoulders going in and out of place every time he breathed, and I can keep going on. The worst possible torture I can think of. But what really bothers me is that he did it willingly! He went through the worst, so that his children may one day go to heaven and be with Him. What grace!
And if you go into the next chapter, Romans 6 it says "...that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." I can't help but hate myself. I have been freed from my chains of sin yet I keep wanting to go back. Like the Hebrews being in the desert, they wanted to go back to Egypt over and over again, though they went through the worst labor there. God provided, He did not fail them, yet they wanted to go back. I am just like them. I see myself slowly going back to sin.
Right now I'm reading over Psalms and I see David cry out to God over and over, "Save me, O God..." and "Hasten O God to save me:..." through his trials he asks God to help Him and he sings praise to God.
Oh how I wished I was like David, a woman after God's own heart.
I can't help but keep wondering why God is so good to us.
Psalm 69:6 "May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O LORD, the LORD Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O LORD of Israel."
God knows my sin, He knows those thoughts that pass through my head. People may see me and think, now there goes a girl who is on the right path, but God sees my heart and knows that I fall so many times. I hate that i fall, I hate that my flesh still desires, I hate that i fall short. But I love that I have a Father that loves me SO much, I have a King who willingly died for my life, He is the friend that will never fail me.
GOD IS SO GOOD!! I want to shout it out, I want to run in the streets, I want to tell all my friends, but I can't. Why can't I? I don't know, my body is lazy, my voice fails, I am peer pressured to conform. God should not take me into consideration, He should look away from me. I am a disgusting creature, I am one who hears, but does not tell. I am the one that that has the cure but does not tell those who need it.
God look away from me, I am not worthy, you are so Holy and so righteous, I am not worthy. LORD over all, take pity for I am needy. You use me and I take credit, I am prideful, I deserve none of your grace, yet you give me all of Your love. My heart beats and my mind can not grasp or even express how much I am Thankful, You have been so good to me. Take all the glory, only you deserve it.
Sorry, this is getting way complicated. I'm outs.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This is deep real deep. You make the rest of us look like we are from Sodom. Good blog Saint Steph

Lucid Thinker said...

I was writing a friend an e-mail. I think my thoughts to her would be appropriate here:

"Thanks for your sweet comments. I am "pressing." But the more I press the more I find myself far apart from where I'd like to be. But as I look back, I see the evidence of God's grace which has carried me thus far. And then I just can't help but praise Him. I've been reading 1 Thess. this month and I keep on being blown away by this verse: "Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass" (5:24). There's such comfort in that. This morning I was rereading through David's sin with Bathsheba and I just couldn't help but get saddened. After reading of how this man was a "man after God's heart" and how he faithfully served and trusted in the Lord, and then see his great fall and the consequences of his sin...oh!...a sort of despair sets in. If this great man fell, surely I am prone to fall as well. It just humbles me and at the same time it sobers me up to realize that this Christian life is indeed a continual, never-ceasing fight with the flesh, the world, and the devil. I can't ever lose sight of that reality."



I've been reading through a great book by a great dead man, J.C. Ryle. Here are some things he had to say on the fight of the Christian life:

* He that would understand the nature of true holiness must know that the Christian is "a man of war." If we would be holy we must fight.
* The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, indolence, and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven...
* The principal fight of the Christian is with the wold, the flesh, and the devil. These are his never-dying foes. These are the three chief enemies against whom he must wage war. Unless he gets the victory over these three, all other victories are useless and vain. If he had a nature like an angel, and were not a fallen creature, the warfare would not be so essential. But with a corrupt heart, a busy devil, and an ensnaring world, he must either "fight" or be lost.
* Faith is the hinge on which victory turns. Success depends entirely on believing. . . . Watch jealously over your faith, if you have any. It is the citadel of the Christian character, on which the safety of the whole fortress depends. Is its the point which Satan loves to assail. All lies at his mercy if faith is overthrown. Here, if we love life, we must especially stand on our guard.
* May we never forget that without fighting there can be no holiness while we live, and no crown of glory when we die!



Ain't that great?! Well, I'm outs now. Hehehe

IM

EBYG said...

Read Romans 5:1-10.

;)