Morning: Psalm 27:1-14; Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28; Romans 2:12-24; John 5:19-29
These scriptures today hit home for me, a pastor and teacher, a parent, a wife, a leader. I am a custodian of God’s ways and commands – a teacher and preacher who tries everyday to convey the truth, love and hope of Christ into the lives of my family and flock. Hours of my week include one-on-one conversations with many of you – exhorting and encouraging you to find God in your circumstances, to change directions when you’re tempted, to struggle with temptation. We pray and play and worship together.
And then there is my own life. Practice what you preach, preacher. Paul’s admonishment to the Jewish leaders is taken to heart. IF I teach and preach the goodness of God and God’s laws are for us to follow, IF I preach that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life for every situation we encounter, and for salvation and peace and hope for me and the world – then, how does my life show that? I am humbled every day with that question: 23You that boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
Well, yes. Every day. Since I was born, I have broken the laws of God. The 10 commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, all of them. (Well, almost all of them…). I have doubted, hardened my heart, ignored the law, fallen way, way short in my long life. And so what gives me the authority and right to preach and teach to you with a straight face and shouts of joy?
God gave it to me when Jesus saved me from the law and from myself. God has passed on all judgment to Jesus, who paid it all, who died for me, so that I might testify to you the WHOLE truth: I am a sinner forgiven and redeemed forever. Come and listen to what God has done for me and other believers in Christ. “He has done great things for them.” As Paul writes,
21Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomsoever he wishes. 22The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.
And so, in humility and gratefulness, I teach and preach with joy, while I pray for guidance and holiness and pure thoughts and motives, and forgiveness, every day. Because of Christ, I go to sleep with the evening psalm’s assurance:
1When the LORD restored the fortunes of
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Sometimes, the day of trouble is a day filled with temptations. God will deliver us if we stand fast. Do I always manage that? I'd be a bald-faced liar if I said yes. But God has promised to keep me from the snares of sin if I will trust and obey. And when I fail to do so, he has promised to forgive me when I confess and repent. The words from the morning psalm give me comfort for the trials I sometimes face. If I seek him, he will protect me in the midst of temptations:
One thing I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to inquire in his temple.
5For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.
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