Well.. I guess that's acceptable

One of the things I like most about my recent bible study is looking at different words and the way they have been translated to English.

Romans 12:1 ..present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God..

For some reason the word acceptable just doesn't do it for me. I am already pretty mediocre why would I strive to be merely acceptable. So I looked over to the right side margin and there it is, an alternate meaning. It says well pleasing. Much better, at least for me. I want to strive each day to a standard that pleases my Lord.

..present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, well pleasing to God..

As I said in an earlier post..... Dig Deeper!


Righteousness, righteousness
Is what I long for,
Righteousness is what I need.
Righteousness, righteousness
Is what You want from me.


Take my heart and form it,
Take my mind transform it,
Take my will conform it
To Yours, to Yours, oh, Lord.

Grace is grace.

Why is it that man always feels the need to take what God has done and try to make it better? Like it was even possible.

Roman 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Is grace not sufficient for us today. "Well of course grace is sufficient, but God must have forgot to mention the levels by which we experience grace based on what we accomplish for Him".

Bull!

Think of the ridiculousness of the previous statement for a moment. What is it that we are stiving for, a bigger mansion? A seat on the executive board of heaven? Grace is grace because of the state we are in and the standard we could never hope to achieve without it. And when we try to work for God's approval, are we even doing things he wants us to do? Do we take the time to ask Him what he would have us do? Are we so busy trying to earn something we can not that we are wasting time and valuable resources?

Yes, God expects us to be an active part of His kingdom, working together with him out of obedience and love. God has given us the gift of grace freely. There is nothing you can do to earn it more or loose it. Max Lucado writes:

God's love never ceases. Though we spurn Him. Ignore Him. Reject Him. Despise Him. Disobey Him. He will not change. Our evil can not diminish His Love. Our goodness can not increase it. Our faith does not earn it anymore than our stupidity jeopardizes it. God doesn't love us less if we fail or more if we succeed. God's love never ceases.

God loves you. Accept his gift of grace and work with him to see his kingdom flourish.


Grace alone which God supplies,
Strength unknown He will provide;
Christ in us, our Cornerstone,
We will go forth in grace alone.

It Happened!!

Who could have imagined! Certainly not me. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that I would have a thought so early in this new process of blogging. So since I had one, I thought I would put it down here. Lately most of my thoughts come out of a new commitment to really dig deep into Bible study. This blog will probably turn into a means by which to process these findings for me, to make them clearer in my mind. Lord knows I wil probably be the only one reading this anyway.

Today I spent some time in Romans chapter 10. This chapter is full of some wonderful truths about righteousness, salvation and faith in Jesus Christ. But, my mind was drawn to a particular verse.

Romans 10:11 For the scripture says "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. "

Hmmm. I have been saved since I was 7 years old and if i'm honest with myself I would have to say that there has been some disappointment in my life. God hasn't always handled things the way I would like Him too. I always seem to fall short of God's standards. Couldn't following Him be just a little bit easier? I would say that's pretty disapointing. Maybe I need to dig a little deeper and not take this at face value. Maybe my disappointment is a result of my own sin and not God's failure to do right by me. Maybe God is always faithful, always just, always righteous.

Deeper still... The verse quoted in the Romans passage is Isaiah 28:16 ....a costly cornerstone for the foundation firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
Disturbed is a much different word than disappointed. It's use in this verse brings to mind a solid stone that can not be moved. Unshakeable, unstopable, immovable.

When I take an honest look back at my life it is obvious that God has never failed me. I am not dissapointed in His ways, to the contrary, I am astounded at what He has done and continues to do in my life.

There is no rock, there is no God like our God.
No other name worthy of all our praise.
The rock of salvation that can not be moved.
He's proven himself to be faithful and true.
There is no rock, there is no God like ours!

Dig Deeper!

Moving into the future...AMAZING!

It seems that everyone has one of these thing now, so I thought I would jump on the band wagon. I rarely have any thoughts so I doubt that this site will ever contain much substance. But when I do have a thought I will be sure and let everyone know.

Right now at this moment, I am amazed. I am pretty much amazed most of the time. Amazed that God has some unique plan for my life. A plan that includes serving him and leading others to do the same. I have never thought myself to be much of a leader. But sometimes I just stand back, almost like I'm outside myself and watch God work. AMAZING!

His blessings are AMAZING! His grace is AMAZING! His forgivness is AMAZING!

Dennis Jernigan writes:

I stand amazed in all
Of Your glory!
That You would die for me.
I stand amazed, I stand amazed,
In all of Your glory!
True love's sweetest story!
I stand amazed!