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In Romans 5:1-11 Paul discusses the benefits of being justified by faith. Years ago, I memorized Romans 5:1-2 in the New International Version: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

First of all, we are justified by faith. I once heard someone define the term justified as “just [as] if I’d” never sinned. Through faith, and only by faith, we are worthy to share in the benefits that Paul describes here. They are gifts given through the grace of God to those who believe. The NET Bible translates “justified” as “declared righteous”. We don’t start out righteous, but we don’t have to clean ourselves up before we can be accepted by God. All we have to do is have faith, believe. (Romans 4:3-5)

The term peace here does not simply mean a contented feeling, but a state of peace. It is not the peace of God, but peace with God. We are not on opposing sides. We can join God’s team, and the only way to get on the team is if we are justified by faith. And this is only possible because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus acts as a mediator for us to reconcile us to God. As soon as we make the decision, we are at peace with God. So, our faith plus Jesus gets us access to God’s grace. We no longer have to worry about God’s wrath because He is surrounding us with His grace, His undeserved favour. It was grace that allowed us to be justified by faith in the first place.

This all brings us to the hope of the glory of God. Hope, as it is used in the New Testament, is not defined as wishful thinking but as expectation. We expect to see the glory of God; we are looking forward to seeing the glory of God—to see God as He truly is. We know that we will see God clearly in eternity, but we can also see glimpses of God’s glory now if we keep our spiritual eyes open. (Titus 2:11-13, I Corinthians 13:12)

Sometimes we can get discouraged by all the things that we have to face in life, and maybe we sometimes think that God is punishing us. He’s not. It’s true that we may have to face the consequences of our unwise choices, but this is not punishment, because, if we are justified by faith, we are no longer under God’s wrath. If we dwell on the promises of these two verses, perhaps our hope will be renewed. What we are going through today is small in the light of eternity. Even still, God is on our side.

Do you ever take a really close look at yourself, at your character? Can you be honest in your assessment, or does pride get in the way? Are you doing the things that you know are right? One of my husband’s favourite quotations comes from Anatole France: “It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion.” You know the right thing to do, the wise thing to do, but you don’t always do it. Maybe you get distracted or redirected, or you do things without thinking at all. Or maybe, for whatever reason, you give in to the temptation of doing what you know is wrong.

The Apostle Paul faced this same struggle. In Romans 7:18-19 he tells us that he wants to do good, but he doesn’t. He does the very thing that he doesn’t want to do. There was a constant battle within him, and there is a constant battle within us, between doing what will please God and doing what will please Satan. Satan is always trying to win our hearts, and is always presenting us with opportunities to mess up. Each time we take him up on it, he wins a small victory. But we can’t blame it all on Satan; we always have a choice. And more importantly, we have the power to overcome the temptation. What is the answer? It is not in the removal of temptations, because they will be with us for all of our lives. The answer is in allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us. This option is only possible because of the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Because He conquered sin, He fulfilled the righteous requirements of God, which allows us to be forgiven for all the bad choices that we make. We make a one-time decision to accept Christ’s gift of salvation, but we need to choose daily, sometimes hourly, to accept, to invite, the power of the Holy Spirit into our lives to fight the temptations that we face and to help us to make the right choices.

This is something that cannot be done without humility. Do you think you have it all together? Are you not willing to admit your weakness against temptation? Is your pride telling you that you don’t have a problem? If you were to be honest with yourself, you would see that we all struggle with this issue. (Genesis 6:5, Romans 3:23) The good news is that God delights in forgiving and healing the hurts of those who will humbly ask for help. (II Chronicles 7:14) Don’t let pride get in your way.

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Have you ever gone through a dark night of the soul? This is a term that is commonly used by people to describe a stage where your faith in God seems to be in a crisis. You aren’t sure if He is still there, if He is listening, or if He even likes you anymore.

I have gone through a dark night, and to some extent, I think I am still going through it. It all started about ten years ago when my husband was unemployed, and I told him that I’d be willing to move anywhere that he could find a job. So I ending up leaving the city I had grown up in to move to a small town where I knew no one. I was willing to do it, but it wasn’t easy, and it just kept getting harder. Every time I thought that things were starting to go well, something terrible would happen. Most recently it was a car accident that left me in enough constant pain that, although I’m not technically disabled, my activities are limited. I think I believed that God wasn’t listening because God wasn’t answering my prayers the way that I wanted them answered. Nothing ever seemed to go the way that I wanted it to—not for long anyway.

I wonder if Abraham felt the same way. God promised Abraham when he was 75 that He would make him a great nation. (Genesis 12:1-4) By the time referred to in Romans 4:18-25 Abraham was about 100 years old. Twenty-five years! Do you think that at some point Abraham might have questioned God about His promise? What did you mean God? Am I really going to have a child of my own, who will become a great nation, or did I misunderstand? I believe You are going to fulfill Your promise; I just don’t understand how or when. Perhaps Abraham questioned, or perhaps he didn’t, but two things are sure.
1. Abraham didn’t understand how having a child at his (and Sarah’s) age was possible. (Genesis 17:17)
2. Abraham believed God anyway. (Romans 4:3)
This is why he is credited with having so much faith. I don’t think that faith like that comes naturally; I think it is the result of a conscious decision. When you aren’t sure that you believe God with your heart, believe Him with your head. Look back at what you know to be true about God. Look at what He has done for you in the past, the promises He has kept and the prayers He has answered. Believe that He knows what He is doing and how He is going to do it.

I feel like I’m beginning to come out of my dark night. It is not because things have become any easier, and they still aren’t how I’d prefer them to be, but I’ve begun to change my perspective. Now I pray that God’s will would be done instead of mine. That’s not an easy thing to do, but I know it’s the right thing. I spend more time listening to God now, primarily by reading His word. I believe that His word is true, but I still need to remind myself what it says. That is the reason that I started this blog; I hope that it will help to remind you too.

Perhaps you’ve heard the term “random acts of kindness”. In my opinion, acts of kindness should not be random, but should be the norm. I think that the world would be a better place if we took others into consideration more often. You may be the kind of person who counts the cost when you give to others, but if we all gave more we wouldn’t lose out, because others would be caring about us too.

Verses like Ephesians 4:32 and Colossians 3:12 tell us to be kind to one another, but what does that really mean? How do we do it? Romans 12:9-21 gives us concrete, practical suggestions. First of all, Paul tells us that our love, our kindness, must be genuine. We must truly care for others, and not just show them kindness because of what we might get out of it, but do what is best for them, and do it enthusiastically. We must do what we can to meet others’ needs and show them hospitality. Provide a meal or a place to stay for the night. Care enough about others to know what they are going through; celebrate when they celebrate, and mourn when they mourn. Don’t judge people or think less of them based on what they look like, how they are dressed or what they own. Do your best to get along with everyone. Don’t start needless arguments, and don’t fuel arguments that are started by someone else. Bless, say good things to and about, others even if that is not the way that they’ve treated you. Treat others the way that you would like to be treated. (Luke 6:31) Do not respond to unkind behaviour by being unkind. Satan just loves to win you over to his side by giving you an excuse to justify your actions. You may convince yourself that you are justified, but you won’t convince God. Always strive to be the person that God wants you to be, rather than following bad examples that you may see around you, because God sees how we treat others as the way we are treating Him. (Matthew 25:40)

There are sad, hurting and needy people everywhere, but you can’t always see the need. Many people try to keep up the appearance that they have everything under control, but you can be sure that they don’t. No one does completely, so everyone could use a little kindness. It starts with love, the first manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit and the essence of the two most important commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40) If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, God’s love will flow through us, and showing kindness will become more regular than random.

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I recently read a sermon by John Piper that seems to follow quite nicely the themes of last week’s posts on judgement. His scripture passage was Romans 16:17-20.

He started by saying that some people focus on truth and others focus on unity. Those who focus on unity may be more willing to overlook the truth, or in my view, to even question what truth is, in order to keep the peace. It might seem arrogant to insist that you are right and someone else is wrong, especially in this era when it is so popular to believe that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and there is no absolute truth. Some people believe that the only way to have peace, or unity, is for everyone to accept the beliefs of everyone else. The term usually used for this is ‘tolerance’.

Piper feels that we should be able to have truth, he used the term purity, and unity together, and that we should have purity for the sake of unity. Romans 16:17 tells us that we need to avoid people who cause divisions. You might wonder if by avoiding them we too are causing divisions. But Paul requires us to be united based on truth, the essential truth of Scripture. There are some things discussed in the Bible that we have choice over, and some things that are part of sound doctrine. The way to be able to tell the difference between these two, which is the subject of much doctrinal debate I might add, is to know the Scriptures and to be led by the Holy Spirit.

This passage must also be addressed in light of other verses in the Bible. We need to love our enemies, (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27) and we need to share the good news of Jesus with everyone. (Mark 16:15) Paul was not advocating that we have no contact at all with those who believe differently, but that our contact makes it clear that if you claim to be a Christian and do not live according to the sound doctrine of the Bible, then we cannot continue to have the same kind of relationship.

False teachers are smooth talkers. They make their point of view sound logical, or loving, accepting of everyone. Their goal is to win you away, so they will do it with flattery, with kind and enticing words. (Romans 16:18) But beware, false teachers do not have your best interests at heart; they serve their own appetites. Knowing what the Bible teaches and being filled with and led by the Holy Spirit will give you the tools to have the discernment you need.
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If you would like to read or hear John Piper's sermon, you will find it here.

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I used to think that I was a patient person, but lately I’ve been realizing that I’m really not. I don’t like it when things go wrong (defined as not how I want them to). I don’t like it when things break, especially if we can’t afford to replace them. And I don’t like waiting for someone else when I have other things that I want to do. I always try my best to be kind and considerate to others, but when it comes right down to it, I’m really a rather selfish person. I want things to go my way. As a general rule, they don’t. Now, I have to tell you that I learned long ago not to pray for patience—all manner of things might happen to a person who prays for patience—but I think the Lord might be trying to teach it to me anyway.

The Apostle Paul always gave practical instructions to the people he wrote to, and Romans 12 is certainly a shining example of that. In the middle of Romans 12:12, Paul tells us to endure in suffering. Be patient! Things are not always going to go the way you want them to; as a matter of fact, we can be sure that in this world we will have trouble. (John 16:33) But on either side of that phrase in Romans 12:12 we are given other instructions that will help us to endure.

Rejoice in hope. We know, and I have said many times, that God wants what is best for us. (Jeremiah 29:11, Matthew 7:11) I always want things to go according to what I plan, because I think I know what is best for me, but the truth is that I usually want what is easiest, most enjoyable, most productive or most rewarding. God wants to build my character and integrity and make me more like Jesus. He has an eternal perspective, and if we were to focus on eternity instead of this very moment, perhaps rejoicing in hope would come more easily.

Persist in prayer. Prayer is a gift from God. It allows us to tap into His plan and His power. It connects us to Almighty God, which is hard to fathom really. That He would allow us to be a part of His family, and to take part in what He wants to accomplish on this earth, is just beyond imagining. Prayer is a benefit to us, and it glorifies God when we come to Him. It keeps us focused on the overall picture, which helps us to rejoice in hope and to endure suffering.

We should pray, rejoice and not give up.

I was just outside enjoying the first full day of summer. It’s a warm day here in Southern Ontario, Canada, and the sky is blue with a few bright white, billowing clouds lazily drifting by. As I walked across the lush green grass, a robin, who apparently would rather run or hop than fly, skittered away from me. A goldfinch flew from the birdfeeder to the safety of the nearby cedar branches. High above me the breeze rustled the leaves of a large ash tree. The dark pink peonies that were in full bloom yesterday appear a little more beaten down today, a result of last night’s thunderstorm. I’m sure some would have enjoyed the majesty of all that thunder and lightning a little more if they hadn’t been trying to sleep at the time.

How can people witness all of these marvelous facets of creation and still try to convince themselves that there is no God? I believe that they are trying to avoid being held accountable to the One who created them. As I said in my last post, (June 20, 2011), God is holy, and because He is holy, He cannot tolerate sin. The only way that people know how to avoid being accountable to God is to pretend that He doesn’t exist. This reminds me of students who don’t look at a teacher when she is asking a question. They must be thinking, if I don’t look at her, she won’t see me, and won’t ask me to answer. God sees us whether we are willing to acknowledge Him or not, and we are accountable to Him, whether we are willing to admit it or not. Just because you don’t want to believe something, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

Romans 1:18-20 tells us that God’s wrath is revealed against the unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth, and that what can be known about God can be clearly seen in His creation. We know from Deuteronomy 29:29 that there are some things that are known only to God, but what we can know has been revealed to us so that we will want to honour and obey Him. God has made all of humankind to understand that creation requires a Creator. The intricacies of this life, the human body, plants, animals, the rotation of the planets in the universe, they didn’t just happen. They follow a design that requires a Designer. We can try to convince ourselves that God doesn’t exist, but it won’t work. The evidence is all around us.

Psalm 19:1-2

In conversations that I’ve had with atheists, they have claimed that there is no God, and then seconds later talked about their perception of God. For example: God does not exist; if He does, why does He allow bad things to happen? People who believe in God believe in fairy tales. Why would He allow us to make our own choices? Romans 1:18-20 addresses both sides of this issue. In this post I will examine God’s wrath, and in the next, the proof of His existence.

Sometimes God shows His judgement in historic events like the flood (Genesis 7) or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:15-26), but sometimes His wrath is shown by letting us face the consequences for our own choices. We have the option of looking to Him for guidance, for asking Him to direct our paths, (Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 26:7, Psalm 37:23) but we often wait until after we are in trouble and then plead for His help.

God is holy, completely unique in His perfection, and because He is holy, He cannot tolerate sin. Therefore He pours out His wrath and judgement against this world’s sinfulness. God’s wrath is not like human anger; He does not have an emotional outburst of fury, but a controlled reaction to that which is against His nature and against His will (ungodliness) and also to offenses against his people (unrighteousness). There are those who think that it is unfair of God to hold us to His standard, rather than lowering His expectations to our level of sinfulness. After all, we are imperfect beings; how can He expect us to be perfect? Yet, if He changed to make Himself more like us, He would not be holy, He would not be worthy of our worship, and He would not be God. If God did not get angry at sin, Jesus would not have needed to go to the cross, and we would not be in need of God’s great love and mercy.

Some people prefer to focus on God’s grace and love rather than on His wrath, and I can’t say that I blame them. He loves us more than we will ever be able to fathom, and because of His love we do not have to face destruction. Lamentations 3:22, in the New International Version says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.” But the wrath of God is real. The gift of salvation that has been made possible by Christ’s sacrifice is what will protect us from God’s wrath. Those who choose not to accept it, will ultimately have to pay the consequences.

I find myself apologizing a lot, not always for something I have done, but often for what I am not able to do. I feel bad when I am a burden to others because of my injuries. I always want to do the right thing, and pull my own weight, but I am just not physically capable. This is similar to the frustration that Paul felt in Romans 7:19-25. He wanted to do the right thing too, but he found that he often did the very thing that he didn’t want to do, because his sinful nature was battling against him.

We can, however, both be assured and encouraged by Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Yes, there are natural consequences for our mistakes, our weaknesses and our sins. And there are times of trial that we must face even though we did nothing to deserve them. But there are no situations in which God is punishing us. None, zero, zilch. I believe that God does teach us through the situations we face, and helps us grow to become more like Christ through them, but this is not punishment. All punishment for our sins was paid for by Jesus on the cross. We are now co-heirs with Christ to the kingdom of God. We are Christ’s brothers and sisters, children of God our Father. Just as God was pleased with Jesus in II Peter 1:17, He is pleased with us. He loves us more than we can fully understand.

That is not to say that God is pleased with the sins we keep committing. It does not mean that we don’t deserve condemnation, but it does mean that the price for our sin has been paid. If we accept Christ’s sacrifice, and we are in Christ Jesus, then His Spirit lives in us. If we yield ourselves to the Spirit, we will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, (Galatians 5:22-23) and we will want to avoid sinning, just as Paul did. If we live according to the Spirit, we will have life and peace. (Romans 8:6)

Do you ever feel like God has forgotten you? Do your trials just seem to go on and on, forever without end? I feel like that sometimes, and I know a lot of people who are in worse situations than I am. The good news is that God has not forgotten us, and nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from His love.

In Romans 8:35-39, Paul thinks about all the things that might separate us from the love of God. He comes up with a long list, two of them in fact, (Romans 8:35, Romans 8:38-39) that range from troubles on earth to powers in the heavenly realms, but after consideration, and adding the words “anything else in all creation” to cover whatever he may have missed, he declares that none of them could. If they could, it would have happened long before now.

The Bible, and history, tell us that Christians will face trouble. (John 16:33, II Corinthians 4:11) Paul quotes Psalm 44:22 to remind his readers that facing trials is not a new thing, but he goes on to say that even still, nothing can separate us from God’s love. That love is not dependent on our strength, our wisdom or anything that we have done. Because Christ was willing to give up His life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins (Philippians 2:5-8, John 3:16-17, Romans 8:32), we are forgiven of anything that might otherwise separate us from God.

Did you notice in Romans 8:38, Paul includes the present and the future in his list but not the past? Our past and all the mistakes we have made have no relevance in determining how much God loves us. Christ paid the penalty for all of those things on the cross, and they have been removed from us, as far as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:10-14) The cross is the basis for our victory. (Romans 8:37) The New International Version says that we are more than conquerors. We not only have victory over our trials in that we can survive through them, but we will benefit from them. We learn to depend more on God, we become more like Him (Romans 8:29), and we are able to be a comfort to others when they go through similar things. (II Corinthians 1:3-4) By doing so we bring glory to God. (Romans 15:5-7)

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has a plan for our lives, a good plan, and Romans 8:28 says that God works all things together for good to those who are called according to His purpose. That doesn’t mean that only good things will happen to us, but that God can turn anything that happens to us into good. We can rely on God’s promises. God loves us more than we could possibly imagine, and He has not forgotten us.

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I find these verses so reassuring that I recommend memorizing them, so that no matter what situation you are in, whether you have your Bible with you or not, you can be reminded how much God loves you. For tips on memorization, read my post from March 9,2011.