Thursday, November 30, 2006

Romans 1-4

As I got up this morning and was ugly….ugly and hard….must of journaled 3 pages of ugly and hard….the phone call came NO SCHOOL today. That used to bring such joy a houseful of kids and the first day of snowed in was always fun. Now, you still go to work and I continued to BE ugly. Reading Romans did wonders…….or maybe it’s knowing Your Grace…….the desire to be wrecked for YOU…..and in the being wrecked ….such Grace.

Romans 1: 18-23 But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
Romans 2
God Is Kind, but Not Soft
1-2 Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn't so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you've done.
3-4You didn't think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he's such a nice God, he'd let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change
Romans 3: 9-20 So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:

There's nobody living right, not even one,
nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
They've all taken the wrong turn;
they've all wandered down blind alleys.
No one's living right;
I can't find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mudslides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
They open their mouths and pollute the air.
They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
Don't know the first thing about living with others.
They never give God the time of day.This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin..

Again I could cut and paste forever….the whole of it speaking into…in spite of... a cold and ugly heart. Going back to what I KNOW…the protection……His protection……naked and vulnerable….no secrets from Him……..the ugly and hard needs to wreck me because in the wrecking I am protected….I am touched…..I am forgiven and showered with HIS AMAZING GRACE….
So it’s ugly but not hopeless…
it’s hard but softening…..it’s Him and following Him is…….

Enjoy your snow day….curl up and spend some time with HIM.

2 comments:

Jada's Gigi said...

Wish we could have a snow day!
That scripture even sound ugly and hard...but He softens us by His grace..or else we are broken to bits on the rock...much easier to be softened...
What's going on with you these days?

Anonymous said...

http://theswordsstillout.blogspot.com/2006/11/holiday-tag.html

We had a snow day today, too. Tagging you B...what are 5 of your fav Christmas songs? Bless you and your family.