There is a theme that runs through the Bible: Man is a fallen creature in need of redemption.
Because many people reject this belief, they reject the Bible out of hand. Yet if it is true, then rejecting this belief creates a problem even for those who profess to believe.
What follows is from the June 19th devotion from Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado.
1 John 1:8 (Today’s New International Version)
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
We do ourselves no favors in justifying our deeds or glossing over our sins. Some time ago my daughter Andrea got a splinter in her finger. I took her to the restroom and set out some tweezers, ointment, and a Band-Aid.
She didn’t like what she saw. “I just want the Band-Aid, Daddy.”
Sometimes we are just like Andrea. We come to Christ with our sin, but all we want is a covering. We want to skip the treatment. We want to hide our sin. And one wonders if God, even in his great mercy, will heal what we conceal.
How can God heal what we deny? How can God touch what we cover up?
Love does not cover up problems. Because He loves us, God will not let us cover over our problems, but that does not stop us from trying. When we try to turn our society into a welfare state, we seek to cover up a problem within ourselves. We cover over our own lack of charity.
Government cannot substitute for personal charity. Faceless bureaucracies will not befriend the poor or wipe away the tears of the suffering. Politicians will not set aside their ambitions. Like ourselves, they too are weak. Too eager to please –and to buy our votes – they will ignore splinters and apply expensive, special interest Band-Aids.
Hi Tom;
Yesterday, I bought a pair of earrings that were red crosses. I just NEEDED to.
It is difficult being born a Jew. And being Christian as well. It sounds oxy-moron, huh?
At 22, I decided that I believed in the Jesus of the Christian bible, and it was an extraordinary event. I had persecution that was UNBELIEVABLE from the Jewish half of my family, even though they are Crypto.
It is hard online, you know? People think I am a Jesus hating, Christian hating individual, and although I am a Jew by birth, (My mom) I love the ministry of Jesus.
Just thought you would like to know. I dont talk about it much online, because Jewish people get mad, and Christian people get mad, and DEMAND that I make some crazy decision to let go of both religions, (faith) when I believe they go hand in hand.
Even though the cross in infamy, and not a ‘good sign’it felt good for a change to have a Christian symbol.
Thank you for sharing. From what you said, I gather you are a Messianic Jew. I don’t see anything wrong with that, but some people are absurdly obsessed with consistency and conformity.
The Apostle Paul addressed the issue. I recall two issues related to this matter that concerned him: (1) the insistence that one had to be a Jew before becoming a Christian and (2) the shame that some Jews felt when they associated with Gentile Christians. Both issues relate to consistency and pressures for conformity.
Paul wanted it understood that Jesus had come for the salvation of all, not just the Jews. Jesus and the apostles were all Jews, but they taught the Christian faith to anyone who would listen. What they taught said that we could not earn salvation; we had to accept it as a gift. Thus, keeping many of the old Jewish laws became optional.
In 1 John, the Apostle John explains how we know when one is a Christian. There are not a lot of rules; there are certainly no prohibitions against carrying on the traditions of a Jewish heritage.
What there is is a matter of faith. We must believe what Jesus and his apostles suffered to teach us. And there is a command. We must love each other. If we keep the faith and love each other, we will suffer. Yet if we endure, we will earn a great reward.
Paul wanted it understood that Jesus had come for the salvation of all, not just the Jews. Jesus and the apostles were all Jews, but they taught the Christian faith to anyone who would listen.
—I agree. There is a ‘grafting in’, I keep telling people that are serious Jew haters that they should not refer to me as some “chosen” person and they just nothing ‘goyims’ it is totally absurd.
I have told so many people, I just dont know how many that if they would READ THE TORAH, they would see that all is fulfilled. Psalms (Tehillim) 106 talks all about the blessings of the Jews, and that is what gentiles that come into the fold are supposed to also recieve. But these Jew haters INSIST that I believe I am some ‘chosen’person, even though I dont even say that—EVER.
The Jews are asked to do ONE thing, and they ever FAIL miserably; Represent LAW. When the Jews get away from the law, a whole nation can turn upside down, which is why the Jew MUST repent, go back to Torah and Synagogue that worships HaShem. The ‘chosen’thing is silliness, it is COVENENT that the Jews have with God, a promise that he will not forsake them in his anger, bring them back to their land. America has been blessed more than any other nation. Why? Christians that loved their faith in Jesus and their blessing of the Jewish people that are LAW ful.
The Jews will see the Messiah if they read Torah, not Talmud, not Kaballah, just Torah.