May 19th, 22

 TRUST HIM

Today’s readings are I Kings 6,  II Chronicles 3, Psalm 97, and Romans 1.  We are reading through the New Living Translation.

How do we make ourselves right before God?  Is it by doing more, avoiding things, or by knowing more information?  All of the religions of the world will lead you down one or all of these paths…you must do, you must avoid, you must know.

But none of these paths end up being any good at answering the question of how we are made right with God. In the end, they are not good news.  You know that from your own life.

When we give ourselves to trying to do more, and more, in order to justify ourselves before God, we soon begin asking ‘how good is good enough?’  And that question leads to all kinds of pride and rules.   And the rules never end or satisfy.  In the end, they make us either liars or delusional.  Either we are pretending to be rule keepers when we are not,  or we’re believing that we have kept the rules, but those around us can clearly see the truth, that we are not as loving and pure as we say we are.  No.  Doing more is not the answer.

But either is avoiding – trying to avoid our obligations to God.  Living for the self, our desires and appetites,  leads only to an empty life.  We become owned by the very appetites that we thought would set us free.

And if ‘doing’ and ‘avoiding’ are not the answer, either is ‘knowing’.  God is not a subject to be mastered.  He is the master and we will never really know Him unless we let him master us.

The good news that we are all looking for, to made right with God, is found from start to finish, by faith.  And that faith is a gift, it was lived out in him, in Jesus.  His faith, his obedience, his compassion, His faith is what ultimately saves us, from start to finish.  Gal 2:20 “

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  And that is the good news my friend, our real life is hid with God in Christ, from start to finish, now we live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  

That’s what Paul is trying to say here – Faith alone in God alone.  And faith means we must trust Him.  Faith and trust mean relationship, intimacy, and reliance.  This is the most personal of ways, it’s God’s way, of knowing Him and being known by him, by faith.  That’s what Paul tells us:

This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Rm 1:17)

That’s the good news!  It’s by faith.  Let’s let those other failed ways, go.  God wants you to believe him, trust him, and walk with him, by faith. You were created to know him and to be known by him.

Your life in him, from start to finish, is a journey of faith.  It’s not about doing more, avoiding, or knowing more than the next guy.  It’s about believing him, trusting Him and walking with him.

You are loved!