What a week! It's been a busy and crazy one...my beloved Skins decided to take the night off Monday (at least it was just a Monday Night Football game and only about a billion people watched it...especially all the Steelers fans in our church!!), then Tuesday night offered a lesson in history and if you read Tuesday's Blog you will know the night didn't turn out as I had hoped. Even so, I am confident that God is control, and I assure you that I will be praying for President Obama, his family, and our country. It is an incredible testimony to the U.S. that we finally elected a black man as president (not to pat ourselves on the back too much) after all that transpired in our history. I thought that both Obama and McCain did great in their speeches to try to bring voters back to a single focus. If you want an excellent read about responding when "your guy" didn't win, check our Dr. Al Mohler's blog from yesterday (he's the president of Southern Seminary).
All that being said, it really ties in well with the overall topic from today's passage, Romans 3:1-20. We have all, at one time or another, had to submit to the authority of someone else. Perhaps it was a parent, an employer, a school system or the government (we all must to some extent). We don't always like the rules or regulations that we are submitting to, though if we are going to live in the U.S., we must follow the laws of this country. If we are going to work for a particular company, we must follow the Employee Handbook of that company. And Paul is sharing with us here that if we want to be a Christ follower, a Christian, then we must place ourselves under (the very meaning of submission) the leadership and guidance of God. Paul emphasizes, though, that this is not just following the Law, or The Ten Commandments...these commandments bring us the "knowledge of sin."
Paul does share that "...we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law...", so if we never truly place ourselves under the Law, we can't really get a full knowledge and understanding of sin. We fool ourselves into believing that we're "pretty good," or as they would say in Biblical times, that we are righteous just because we may think that we follow the 10 Commandments. To correct this thought, Paul quotes from Psalm 14, sharing that "there is none righteous, not even one...". WOW! Not my sweet grandma? Not even one! Not my cute little daughter? Not even one! Not my PASTOR?!?! Not even one!
We'll stop at this point for today, but not to worry, the fact that NONE of us are righteous is not the end of the story! For today, though, consider a few things: 1. Have I submitted my life to God's leadership through His son, Jesus? 2. Have I acknowledged that I am not righteous (or good?) 3. Have I been led to believe that if I just live by the Commandments everything will be alright? Consider these points today, and tomorrow we will build on this thought process...it is going somewhere, and the destination is incredible!
Have a blessed day!
In Him,
PJ
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