Episode 452

TODAY’S READING:

“19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law, we become conscious of our sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. “

Romans 3:19-24

 

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will ever declare righteousness in God’s sight by the works of the law. Instead, through the law, we became conscious of our sin. But now, apart from the law of righteousness of God has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe there is no difference between to and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption. That came by Christ Jesus, and I am able to face evil by grace through faith in this long passage. We get to understand that we get to live in right standing with Jesus by His grace and through faith in Him. 

 

It is that easy. Back in the day before the days of Jesus, before he went to the cross, there was the law, and you had to abide by the law, and your righteousness was determined by your sacrifice and by how well you abided by the law. But today, we get to use the law to become conscious of our sins are our righteousness as measured by our faith in Jesus. So I needed the reminder today, and maybe you do too, that our faith is the pillar of our life. It is not by our merits that we get to live in righteousness. It is not by our merits that we have a stronger relationship with Jesus, but it is by our confession and our vulnerability and the way we’re able to just lay it off on his feet and say, Here, take this, this is heavy. I can’t do this. I’ve been messing up in this area. 

 

This has become a habit in my life that I just cannot do anymore. If we’re vulnerable and we can lay down the things that stop us from living in true righteousness if we can become vulnerable and confess the things that have us feeling out of place, things that make us drive a wedge between Jesus and us, if we continue to clean out all of those habits in our lives, that crowd our way of living. That cloud our way of living put it at the feet of Jesus. Thank Him for His grace. Remind yourself that it is your faith in him that allows you to be in right standing with God, and remind yourself that he wants to live with you. Remind yourself that he wants to be your pillar of strength. Remind yourself that he has called you to do something, and don’t talk yourself out of what He has called you to do. 

 

A lot of the time, we look at what the calling is, and we look at our lack, or we look at where we’ve been. And we don’t add the two together, and we say wait a second. I cannot be a writer. I cannot be this teacher. I cannot be a filmmaker. I can’t be a mom. I can’t be a dad. Look at all of the things that I lack. Whatever God has called you to do. Remember that he will walk you through it.

 

Prayer

Father God, we love you so much. And every day, we are reminded of our past, we are reminded of our luck, and we are reminded of the things that drive us away. From you, Lord, every day we act in sin, we have habits that cloud us, and Lord today, we just humbly bring all of that to your feet. We remind ourselves that it is by grace and through faith alone that we have a relationship with you. We remember that it is not because of our good merits but because of our willingness to surrender everything to you. Our willingness to lay it down at your feet, our willingness to be transparent, our willingness to be able to confess with our mouths the things that we need help with. So, Lord, there’s a lot that we need help with today. And we give that to you. We thank you for your grace, and we thank you for your faith. in your son Jesus. We love you so much. And it is in your son’s holy name that we pray. Amen.