Romans 14:12 - So then each one of us will give account concerning himself to God.

When I used to read this scripture, it made me a little uneasy.  Kinda like, "Oh no, what have I done that God is going to question me about when I get to heaven". I'm sure there have been many things that I have said or not said, done or not done that I would not want reminded of on that Great Day when I stand before God.  In fact, I could see this process taking a long time as God rolled out my "laundry list" of failures. I pity the fool who is in line behind me that day.

The GOOD NEWS of God's Mercy (His unmerited favor toward me and you) and His Grace (His Divine Influence in our heart) tells of a different story.  You see, when you look at this scripture in the original text, the Greek word "account" is actually the word LOGOS. 

Logos: something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is, Christ):

This word LOGOS is also found in the first chapter of the Gospel of John 1:1; In the beginning was the LOGOS (word), and the LOGOS (word)  was with God and the LOGOS (word) was God.... vs 14 and the LOGOS (word) was made flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us....

See, when you look at the 14th chapter of Romans and read from verse 1, Paul is talking about Christians judging other Christians for their beliefs about what they eat or don't eat or different days they celebrate or don't celebrate.  I believe there are even more distinctions today that can fall under this category, but the bottom line is that one day we will all stand before God and give a "reasoning", a "computation" about what we did or didn't do in our body....and the Good News is that the reasoning is CHRIST!  All of our deeds and misdeeds have already been judged in Jesus Christ!  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

Does this give us a license to sin or to act anyway we want with no consequence?  That is the fear that many Christians and Pastors experience preventing them from preaching this Good News. I look at it this way, there will always be those who, when confronted with someone gracious and kind, that will want to take advantage of that kindness. I, like many of you reading this feel compelled to love and serve that person more freely.

It is the love of God that brings men to repentance (turning and going in the opposite direction of our sin). Be encouraged today that when you stand before God on that day, you will be able to say, "I'm with Him (Jesus). He paid to get me in.  Hallelujah.

Resurrection Empowerment

Resurrection Empowerment

The greatest thing that keeps people from understanding and accepting God’s grace (His Divine Influence in our hearts) is the mentality of “What I Do I Will Become”.  This idea has infiltrated the church in so many ways.  It has been called the “Law of Moses”; Laws which govern the church; or even more recently, “Spiritual Principles”.

The Good News is that we don’t have to live by spiritual principles but we can live by the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said He came to fulfill the law and so we no longer live under a set of “do’s and don’ts”. We simply identify ourselves with Christ and the finished work of the cross, realizing that He has redeemed us from destruction or from eternal damnation. The word “redeem” means to “buy us back”. When Adam sinned, man became separated from God. As the bible says in Romans 5:15, by one man’s offense sin entered the world, so too by one man’s obedience (Jesus’ sacrifice) many were made righteous.

What empowers us to live a godly life is not accomplished by us exercising our will to modify our behaviors. If that had been so, man could have accomplished this by simply being obedient to the Ten Commandments and Jesus wouldn't have had to shed His blood for us.

No, God did not give us the Ten Commandment to make us live holy but to show us our inability to achieve righteousness through our human effort, yet churches today seem to emphasize the need to live by “spiritual principles”. The Ten Commandments were called "The Law Of Moses". The bible tells us that Christ came not to abolish the Law but to fulfil it. (Matt 5:17)  We must acknowledge the need for a Savior, Jesus Christ to satisfy or complete the law on our behalf.

Through faith in Christ, as we accept Him to be our Lord, the One who we believe in, rely upon and trust in, leaning our entire personality on Him, then and only then are we empowered to see ourselves as righteous in God’s eyes, enabling us to be influenced more and more each day by His will and His Presence. He becomes greater in us which in turn will diminish our focus on our humanity in exchange for His Divinity. Don’t get caught in the trap of “doing the do’s” or avoiding the “don’t's”. This is the basis for “self-righteousness” and we know that the bible says our righteousness is as filthy rags. Walk in the power of knowing that God loves you beyond your wildest dreams and He has exchanged your sin for Jesus’ righteousness!

Let the Resurrection of our Lord empower you to walk in the righteousness purchased for you by Jesus Christ. Happy Easter!