Today's Meditation
Read Romans 10:9-13
9because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”
12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I was trying to think of something profound to say about this passage this morning. We have spent decades (maybe centuries; okay, yeah centuries) debating and arguing with one another about who's in and who's out when it comes to salvation. Denominations have split numerous times over this debate. We have even gone to war with one another (can you imagine?) over this, as well. For whatever reason, we still don't actually get it.
The message we need to provide the world is not one of division, but one of unity and justice, love and compassion. It is a complex and cruel world, we only make it more so when we act uncaring, hateful, and hurtful towards others.
I was reading Rev. Graham Standish's post for today and he quoted from one of his own books, Paradoxes for Living
"The gift of free will means that we can choose to live either in good or in evil. The same free choice is available to everyone. There is no way to avoid the inherent problem of free will. When people choose to be uncaring, bitter, hateful, and evil it has repercussions. It leads to poverty, hunger, torture, broken relationships, conflict, loneliness, and pain. This is the reality of the real world. Even without meaning to, we make life difficult for one another. In trying so hard to live comfortable lives, we make decisions every day that have repercussions elsewhere.
"When we grow spiritually, we engage in a process of becoming in touch with the real world. We leave the comfort o our protective wombs and step into the real world - the world of torn relationships, broken hearts, shattered dreams, and fragmented lives. We enter a real world in which no amount of family values and biblical ideals will save certain marriages. We enter a real world in which giving people economic opportunities still does not eradicate poverty, hate, and crime....
"Do you know why we step into this world? We step into it because God will not let us live in a fantasy world. God does not want us to live in a protective womb. God wants us to be reborn so that we can grow to become God's children who reach out to people stuck in a world of pain and suffering. God wants us to enter into this world and become God's hands, feet, eyes, ears, and voices. In essence, God wants us to incarnate and embody God's Spirit in this life."
This is the real work. Let's not get caught up on things of God and let's get caught up on things of earth, stepping out into the real world and do the work of Christ. We are God's hands and feet, eyes, ears, and voices. Let's do the work of the Kingdom, here, now, because the same Lord is Lord of all.
They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love by Jars of Clay
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