“Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While we was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.” Romans 4:9-10. (See Genesis Chapter 15 for background).
“Then they [the people] said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’ ” John 6:28 - 29.
It is an enigma; on the one hand I want to do something to measure up to God’s commandments and to be accepted by Him, but on the other hand I’m glad I can’t do anything to measure up because it forces me to trust Him and believe in Jesus Christ - I can’t stand before God on my own, I must stand before God in Jesus Christ. I want to go back in my life and make things right, to undo the harm and evil I’ve done - but I can’t do it; I can, however, believe in Jesus and trust God for forgiveness and acceptance - and pray that somehow He will bless those whom I have hurt, that He will heal, that He will draw them to Himself.
In John Chapter 6 Jesus fed the crowd, their bellies were filled, and apparently they wanted more (John 6:26 - 27). The people were more interested in filling their stomachs than their souls, they were focused on physical food rather than spiritual. Whatever the crowd’s motive may have been in the question, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?,” Jesus’ answer was probably not what they were expecting, “Believe in Me.”
We want to do something, anything, we want to be able to look at ourselves and say, “See what I have done! I have done this and now God has forgiven my sins and accepted me.” Oh what a trap, when we walk into that trap and eat the bait the door is sprung and we are prisoners of the self-righteous self, and unless God delivers us from the trap we are prisoners and we cannot escape from ourselves. Surely the self is the most difficult prison from which to escape.
But Jesus says, “Believe in Me.” The Word to the crowd was the same Word to Abraham - believe in Me, trust in Me, throw yourself on Me - leave yourself and come to Me. Yahweh showed Abraham his future and the future of Abraham’s people, and Abraham believed God and God considered him righteous, God bestowed His own righteousness upon Abraham - Abraham exchanged the raiment of self for the raiment of God. We do not need a better self-image, we need to be restored to the image of God. A better self-image is a prison just as much as a poor self-image, they are both traps, both prisons. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17 - 21).
And so I read Romans Chapter 4 and I think, “I can’t do anything to make it better, to merit forgiveness, to undo the past; but I can, by God’s grace, believe in Christ, trust in Christ, utterly depend on Christ.” One of the many amazing things about believing in Christ is that God guarantees our forgiveness and acceptance and the fulfillment of His promises to us through Abraham (verse 16) and through Abraham’s Descendant, Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:5 - 9; 3:26 - 29).
If you are struggling with guilt and remorse, I want you to know that God loves you passionately, so passionately that He sent His Son Jesus Christ for you, to die for you, to rise from the dead for you. I don’t understand it all, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t experience it - the same is true for you, you may not understand it all, but God wants you to experience Him, to know Him, and to know His amazing love and grace. If you have yet to come into a relationship with Jesus, today is the day for you to talk to Him and to turn from your ways and follow Him and His ways (see Mark 8:34 - 38); today is the day for you to allow God to fulfill His purpose in your life, for you indeed have a purpose, you are not an accident (Psalm 139), God knows you and He knows all about you - now He wants you to know Him.
If you are already in a relationship with Jesus and are struggling with guilt and remorse, be assured that God has made you one with Himself in Jesus Christ, that God has forgiven your sins, and that He desires for you to live in this reality, the only reality that matters - and that He desires you to be a blessing to others. We can believe how we feel or we can believe what God says...which will it be?
Yes, I find great comfort in Romans Chapter 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment