You sang your song ...

Today’s devotional comes from Jason:

I was lost when you found me here
I was broken beyond repair.
Then you came along
And you sang your song over me
(Second verse of "Born Again)

There she was, thinking that everything was going to be okay. She had done this countless times before. This wasn't the kind of life she had always wanted, or the kind of life that she wanted to have ten years from now. Every day she had said, "I'll stop tomorrow. Just this once more." All of the men had promised her the same thing. They had all said she was so beautiful, that they loved her, that she was important to them. Just then, the door flew open, and there were so many people. She thought she recognized some of the men from past encounters, but couldn't be sure. It was so loud, so scary. They just kept shouting at her, cursing her, and condemning her. Where was the man? Why were they just focusing on her sin? This was a question she couldn't answer, accept to say, she wasn't as important as he was. They placed her there practically naked in the middle of the temple courts, and the shouting just got louder and louder. Everyone was yelling at her, accept him.

"Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"

What would he say? Surely he would just yell and curse her like the others.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

The woman stood there covering as much of herself as she possibly could, because surely the first stone would come at any time now, but instead she just heard silence and the sound of feet walking away. As she looked up she noticed the older men walking away. Then she saw the younger ones following. All she could think of was the fact that she was not alone. She realized they all were in the same shape she was in. They had sin and deserved the same punishment that she did. She stood there in the silence just looking at the feet of the man who had just saved her life.

"Woman where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

No one sir, was all she could get out. She was free from their taunts. She was free to start over.

"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus said. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Is it really that simple? She feels so much love coming from this man. She feels so much friendship, so much forgiveness. She knew this was all happening and she wanted that fresh start.

This was the story from John 8. Some of the thoughts were just an idea of what might have happened. This woman was lost and broken beyond repair. She finally found what she was looking for. She found a man who took her as she was and didn't want to leave her that way. He wanted to show her what true love and fellowship was. She learned it that day.

Can you imagine standing there in the presence of Jesus feeling that love, looking at those eyes of forgiveness? I am sure that she felt like standing at the feet of Jesus from that point on. Some of us can feel how she was feeling. We feel like we have fallen and broken. We feel like we have nowhere to turn. We feel like no one truly understands us. The pain from our sinful way of life is almost too heavy a burden to bear. Jesus stands there looking at us in our sin and wants to sing that forgiveness song over us as well.

Are you ready to experience what the woman did? Are you ready to make the life change? He challenges us to go and leave our life of sin. The woman walked away clean, loved, forgiven, and born again. Do you truly want all of that as well? Are you prepared to start over and leave what you "used to do" in the past, and just follow your Savior? Just like the woman, the choice is ours from that point.

I am glad that God still wants to work in my life and fix what I break.

God's blessings on all us broken and lost.

Jason

The gospel according to Paul and Leroy

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God's will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish — hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith."
Romans 1:8-17 - NRSV

Last night, Troy and I listened as Leroy Garrett preached this great text. Our brother in Christ reminded us that the gospel is, after all, a very simple and powerful thing. It is a word about God. It is, in sum, three things: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This, as he reminded us, brings about the threefold response described by our forebears in the Restoration Movement: faith, repentance, and baptism. Our obedience brings us into the blessing of three powerful promises: forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.

There it is, in one paragraph, the simplicity of the gospel. That is the preaching, the kerygma, to those who are not yet in Christ. Yet for those who become Christians there yet remains learning the teachings (didache) of the church, our doctrine. Now teaching is an enterprise not accomplished in one paragraph. Actually a lifetime of study would not complete the task; the teachings of the church continue to grow as the world changes and new challenges require new responses.

How is the gospel alive and well in our lives today? How does it affect our world view, our actions, our words? How does it shape our interactions with one another and with those who have yet to claim it? As Leroy put it, “Let us treat others as Jesus Christ has treated us.” That is enough of a challenge for any of us on this good day, this day that God has given us.

Grace, and peace,

Ron

Confession and renewal

Today’s thoughts from Greg:

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
- 1 John 1:8-9

Confession of our guilt makes space for God to operate in our lives. God will act faithfully according to His covenant love, which He sealed with Jesus' blood, if we will only confess our sin and offer our hearts up to Him. What work does this confession make room for God to do? The work of renewal.

Repentance is the restoration of baptism. It is a covenant made with God for a second life. Repentance is the purchasing of humility. Repentance is always distrustful of bodily enchantment. It is self-critical reasoning and solicitude for ones' carelessness. Repentance is the daughter of hope and the denial of hopelessness. Repentance is being guilty but not put to shame. Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord through the performance of good works that are the opposite of one’s faults. Repentance is the purification of conscience.
- John Climacus, Ladder of Paradise 5

Confession leads to repentance, the commitment live differently than we have before. When our repentance meets God's promise of grace and mercy, new life happens. This transformation, the renewal of our souls, is the essence of salvation; having been drawn to God, this renewal of our inner being makes us more like God, and less like the sinful nature we have identified and repented of. Confession and restoration are two sides of the same coin. Hear a prayer of confession and rebirth by Kenneth Slack:

God of mercy and forgiveness, For the times when our love of indulgence and ease have weakened our hold on spiritual things; pardon us.

For when we have not held our bodies in subjection, and have forgotten that they were meant to be temples of your Holy Spirit; pardon us.

For the times we have failed those who have trusted us,and have been concerned with ourselves when they needed our concern; pardon us.

For the times when we have failed in courage, when we have failed to take a stand for righteousness, when we have come to terms with evil in our own lives; pardon us.

And make us new, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Let us kneel before God's throne, so that we may be forgiven and transformed according to God's image. May God's Spirit be with you today, and always.

Greg