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A commonly memorized verse is Romans 3:23

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

It’s a great verse, confirming that each of us – every person on this earth – has fallen short of God’s glory – we have all sinned. The word “sin” means “to miss the mark.” We have all missed the mark. We all need someone to make up for that shortfall. That someone is Jesus Christ, as the passage in which the verse is found makes so clear. Let’s look at the whole passage.

²⁰Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by
observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious
of sin.

²¹But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been
made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 
²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ
to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God
presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.
          Romans 3:20 -25a

The passage I’ve included here begins with verse 20, but you’ll notice that the first word is “therefore.” That means it’s worth looking at the previous verses to understand our jumping off point. Verse 20 follows a discussion about how we have all done wrong. We have all cursed or slandered or hurt others. We have all gone our own way instead of God’s way. “Therefore” – in other words, because of that – no one will be declared righteousness in God’s sight. God’s standards haven’t kept us from wrong-doing; rather, they have made us conscious of how far we have missed the mark.

“But now a righteousness from God…has been made known.” (V21) I love it when God says “but now.” Things used to be like this, but God stepped in and now things are different. Hallelujah! In this context, we were a sinful people and none of us could be considered righteous. But God stepped in and has introduced us to a righteousness that is available despite our sinful nature.

Righteousness means “equity of character or act” and “by implication, innocence or holiness.” (Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries) In other words, we can read this verse as “a holiness, or innocence, from God has been made known.” The holiness or innocence is from God, not from ourselves. We fall short of the mark; we are guilty. But He has provided an innocence that He wants to give us.

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (V22) God has provided an innocence, a holiness for us, and it comes through faith in Jesus Christ and is given to all who believe. It does not come by what we do – the discussion prior to verse 20 makes it clear that we haven’t and can’t do it – we can’t keep God’s holy standards. The truth is that we probably don’t even want to.

Let’s think about that. Most of us would like to believe that we’re good people, and by earthly standards we probably are. But God’s standards are so much higher than ours. (Aren’t you glad about that? I am. I would not want to worship a god who is as morally corrupt as I can be!) Again, think about it:

Have you ever hurt another person intentionally? Have you ever said or done anything to hurt someone? Sure, it might have been because they hurt you, but that’s not really relevant. What is relevant is that out of the darkness of your heart you intentionally inflicted pain.

I have. I’m not proud of it, but I know that there have been times when I’ve said things to try to make me seem superior to others. Maybe it was in sarcasm or in debate, but again, that’s pretty irrelevant. What’s relevant is that the other person was hurt by something I did or said. In doing so, I killed something in that person. And so have you. It’s part of who we are in our fallen nature. We seek to build ourselves up, do what’s best for us and think of ourselves first. In doing so, we often put others down, take actions that hurt or hinder them, and ignore their needs and feelings. My friend, that’s missing the mark. Big time.

So we all need this righteousness which comes from God. And in His goodness, He provided it. He has made available to us an innocence – a holiness, a righteousness – to replace our sinfulness. That righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

The words “faith” and “believe” are related in the Greek. They mean a “continued reliance upon.” They don’t mean “intellectual agreement with.” My husband can intellectually agree with the doctors that he should take certain medicines to regulate his heart, but he is not demonstrating faith until he is actually taking the medication – he’s not relying upon the medication by knowing that they will help him; he relies upon them when he makes them a part of his everyday life. The same is true with faith. Placing our faith in Christ means relying upon Him for our righteousness before God and making Him a part of our everyday life.

This point is so important that Paul repeats himself in verses 23 through the first half of 25:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood.”

This passage uses many words that are foreign to our western mind. Words like justified, redemption, sacrifice and atonement don’t bring up the same images as they did for Paul’s audience. But if you’ve been following along with the Resting at the River’s Edge readings, perhaps you’re seeing a shadow in the words that gives them more meaning. The word “justified” is from the same root word as “righteousness,” but it carries with it the act of bestowing that righteousness – that innocence – upon someone else. Being justified means that God has put His righteousness upon us. It is by His grace, looking upon us with favor that he freely chooses to do this.

That righteousness that God bestows upon us comes “through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” The word redemption isn’t used often in today’s language. Sometimes you’ll see the word “redeem” on the bottom of a grocery store coupon. “You may redeem this coupon for…” In other words, you can exchange this coupon for whatever it’s “value” is. Jesus Christ is the “coupon” and God’s righteousness is the value the coupon carries. We don’t cut the coupon out of the newspaper or magazine, we receive it through faith – by relying upon what Christ did for us to close the gap between God’s righteousness and our sinfulness.

You see, “God presented Him (Jesus) as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood.” (V. 25) In the Old Testament, the Israelites sacrificed a bull, goat, lamb or some other animal as an atonement for their sins. Atonement literally means “to cover” or “covering.” To cover their sins, they sacrificed the animal and poured the blood on the altar. God is now saying, that Jesus was sacrificed as a covering for our sins. We receive or accept that sacrifice when we trust in it to make up the difference between God’s standards and our sinfulness.

What a wonderful God! Choosing so great a sacrifice to cover our sins – yours and mine. And having done so, He then makes a phenomenal exchange – our sinfulness for His innocence – He actually bestows upon us His righteousness. And it all happens when we simply decide to rely on Him – to believe that He has done it for us.

²⁰Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by
observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious
of sin.

²¹But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been
made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 
²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ
to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God
presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.
          Romans 3:20 -25a

Hallelujah!

If you haven’t ever decided to rely on Jesus – to believe His blood serves as the covering, atonement, for your sins, you can do so today. Please take a minute to e-mail me at Sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com. I’d love to correspond with you to help you understand what it means to put your faith in Christ and to help get you started off on the right foot.

Scriptures teaches that Jesus suffered greatly on the night he was crucified. Read about some of his suffering:

Then they spit in Jesus’ face and hit him with their fists. And some slapped him, 
          Matthew 26:67

They made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head, and they placed a stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery, yelling, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and beat him on the head with it.
          Matthew 27:29-30

Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and hit his face with their fists. “Who hit you that time, you prophet?” they jeered. And even the guards were hitting him as they led him away.
          Mark 14:65

As they led Jesus away, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country just then, was forced to follow Jesus and carry his cross.
          Luke 23:26

Even the guards were hitting him…he wasn’t being punched in the face by people like me who throw wimpy punches. He was being punched in the face by Roman guards. Can you even begin to imagine how disfigured He must have been?

In an Easter devotional from a number of years ago, Chuck Missler makes the conjecture that the reason He wasn’t recognized after His resurrection was in part because he was so disfigured.  His beard half torn out and a scarred face. Maybe He even walked with a limp.

I have a large scar on my arm. I haven’t done anything to reduce it’s ugly appearance, because to me, it is a constant memory of God’s goodness to me at a time when I could have lost much of the use of my arm. I would rather carry the scar than have a “perfect” arm. The scar is more beautiful to me.

I have long been convinced that what we consider to be beautiful is vastly different from what God considers to be beautiful. Not in all ways, certainly. I’m sure he considers the same beautiful sunset you and I admire to be beautiful. But I also think He considers the scars of His saints beautiful. I think that we, His bride, are often most beautiful to Him when we are battle-scarred but have persevered; when we show the signs of one who has relentlessly taken the blows of the enemy and stood firm in Christ.

Missler says in his article “that the only man-made things in heaven are His [Jesus'] scars.” And yet, “the marks of His humiliation are also the marks of His glory.” Without the scars and the crucifixion, there would be no resurrection. Jesus’ glory is His willingness to die on the cross to save us. God’s glory is Jesus’ resurrection after His death on the cross.

Beloved, today is Easter – Resurrection Sunday. Christ has risen! He has risen, indeed! He has risen, carrying the scars for your sin and mine, so that we might also rise. His love for us goes beyond anything we have ever experienced or can imagine. Trust Him today with your life.

 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they [the Israelites] did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
          Hebrews 4:1-2 (NIV)

For this Good News – that God has prepared a place of rest – has been announced to us just as it was to them [the Israelites]. But it did them no good because they didn’t believe what God told them.
          Hebrews 4:1-2 (NLT)

“The message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”
“It did them no good because they didn’t believe what God told them.”

It is not enough to hear the Gospel message. It is not enough to be in mental agreement with it. Rather, we must combine what we hear with our faith. We must believe what God has told us.

The word that is translated “faith” in the New International Version and “believe” in the New Living Translation is a word that means “rely upon.” There is a subtle difference between believing and relying upon. I believe that I would be healthier if I were to walk on my treadmill more often, but I’m not relying upon it. If I were, I’d be walking more often. I believe that my blogs help others to grasp the things God has for them, but I don’t rely upon that. I rely upon God to bring clarity and faith into the hearts and minds of readers.

If God’s message is to have impact in your life, if it is to have an impact in my life, it must be one that we choose to rely upon, not one we simply agree with. As our pastor said on Sunday, “Faith is a verb. It’s an action word.” If our faith is not a verb – if it is not something we act upon, it is not faith.

One of the ways God teaches us to rely upon Him and His Word is by removing from us other things we might putting our trust in. For example, my husband and I have our own business. I have not been able to draw a paycheck from that business for six months because of current economic conditions. God is surely teaching me that I am not to rely upon my business to provide for my needs, but to trust Him. I am often tempted to rely upon my husband for affirmation, companionship, guidance, love and strength. Now it’s not bad for me to anticipate, even expect, those things from my Godly husband, but my reliance must be upon the Lord. Phil’s recent heart attack has been an opportunity for God to speak to me about where I place my faith and trust. Is it in a healthy husband who takes care of me and our life in so many ways, or is it in God? If my reliance is upon my business or my husband, or anything else of this world, I am setting myself up for disappointment, discouragement and ultimately failure. But when my reliance is upon God, I have everything I need.

Only God has the message that gives eternal life, and that message is often called the Gospel, or “good news.” The Gospel message is that God has done for us through Christ what we could never do for ourselves. We could never do enough or be good enough to spend eternity in heaven with God, so He stepped out of heaven in the form of His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus then did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves – he paid the price for our sin by sacrificing His life for ours – He died so that we might live. And that’s the message of Scripture. And when we believe – rely upon – what God did for us – dying for our sins so that we might have eternal life – He will give it. Scripture says that Christ died so that we might have life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). That abundant life is the eternal life we will live in heaven with God, but it is also Christ here with us now. It is living in His Kingdom while still a resident of the planet earth – living in constant relationship with Him. It’s a life of blessing even when there’s no paycheck to be had and a husband who is not able to do all that he once was. It is a life of peace in the midst of the turmoil of the world.

Well, I’m on the verge of writing a blog about what it means to live an abundant life (ok, maybe I’ve crossed over into it), and this blog is about relying upon the message we’ve received. I’ll save the rest of the abundant life blog for another time and close the relying upon blog here.

May I ask the question…upon what or whom do you rely? Is it the Word of the Lord, the message of God given to you? Let me encourage you to “add faith” to the words of Scripture that you hear and read. Then live the abundant life.

Brothers, listen! In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God-something the Jewish law could never do.
               Acts 13:38-39 (NLT)

A couple of weeks ago, I received a comment to a blog that mentioned my husband Phil’s heart attack. The writer said that they were confident my husband was saved but how could they know that they were saved. In the hectic time of Phil’s initial recovery, I never responded, then I accidentally erased the comment. To the writer of the comment – I sincerely apologize. I have been thinking about you a lot and I pray that you are still reading Apprehending Grace and find this response.

There are many ways to know that you are saved, but there is only one way to be saved, and that way is through knowing and following Jesus. Acts 13:38-39 tells us that it is in Jesus that we can find forgiveness for our sins and when we believe in Him, we are from all the guilt associated with that sin and declared right with God. Now that seems like a mouthful. Let me unwrap it.

What’s it Really Mean?
God is a holy God – totally righteous, good and loving. When we sin, we create a separation between this holy, righteous, perfect God and ourselves.

Think about it – when you do something against another person, don’t you feel the wall that develops between you? It’s the same with God. To break that wall down, Jesus said “I’ll be the middle-man.” I’ll sacrifice myself so that you can continue to have a relationship with God. All you have to do is believe in me and trust what I’ve done as being enough – all that is required – for you to be forgiven by God. And once you’re forgiven, you can begin a tremendous relationship with Him.

Now there was a key word there – believe. In the language that the Bible was written in, “believe” means more than just have a mental agreement with something. No, when we truly believe something, it means that we live accordingly. For example, if we believe that an airplane has the capability to fly and we want to travel a long distance, we’ll get on board, relax and enjoy the flight. If we don’t believe it, we’ll drive. One way depends on others to get us there, the other depends on ourselves. So believing in Jesus doesn’t mean you agree that He lived and died a couple thousand years ago. It means that you trust that He will forgive you of your sins and open the way to a relationship with God and that you depend on Him to do so.

How do you do that? It’s really very simple – you just tell Him so. Yes, if you’ve never prayed before, you may feel foolish at first – it may seem like you’re talking to the air. That’s OK. Scripture says:

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not –to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
               1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NIV)

In God’s world, there is no boasting of how good we are…because the truth is that we are not good. We have all rebelled in one way or another, and that rebellion is called sin. We all need someone to save us from our sins. That someone is Jesus. All we have to do is wholeheartedly agree with Him that we have sinned, ask Him to save us, then begin to live our live as He directs us to live it.

And doing so, we can know that we have eternal life – that we are saved. How can we know? The same document that explains all of this to us – the Bible – also says that the things were written so that those who believe in Jesus “may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)

More on the Subject
Still confused? Trying reading these two posts:

“The Gift of Live”
“How Very Much We’re Loved by God”

More questions? Please comment on this blog or send me an e-mail. My hubby is recovering and life is returning to normal – I’ll try to respond a bit quicker this time!

If you’ve made this decision for the first time, please e-mail me at sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com. I’ll help you get off to a good start in your new life with Christ.

I’ve just been reading in Leviticus about all the offerings the Israelites were to offer to God and what (finally) struck me is that in every case, they use the word “offering.” It might have been a peace offering or a guilt offering or some other kind of offering, but they were always an “offering.” They may have been required offerings, but they were still offerings. That is, the Lord required these offerings as a way for them to receive forgiveness (albeit temporary forgiveness) for their sins or show their devotion to Him. And yet, they are called “offerings.”

What began to sink in was the attitude of humility that the word “offering” carries with it. An offering is something given in hopes that it will be accepted – the husband-to-be offers his hand in marriage to the woman in hopes that she will say “yes” or an offending co-worker brings a cup of coffee or donut in hopes that relationships can be restored and peace can returned to the office. An apology is an offering – it is given in humility and in the hopes that it will be accepted. The attitude of the heart in each case is humility and hopefulness. Of course with hopefulness there is anticipation of good things to come.

When I read in Leviticus 5 that a person is to bring a lamb or a goat, but if he cannot afford that he can bring two young doves or pigeons, and if he cannot afford that he is to bring a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, I am ashamed to admit that the thought that ran across my brain was “who’s to say what he can afford?” Immediately the Lord whispered in my ear – “It’s a heart issue.” In other words, our hearts ought to be so devoted to God and so sorry for our sin that we desire to bring the very best and most we can. It’s not a “how little can we get away with to make up for our sins?” Rather, it’s how much can I offer to the Lord to show Him how sorry I am and how much I love Him?

And that brought me to the question – “How do you view your offerings?” Are they obligations, or are they opportunities to express your love to God? Do you give them as a part of your Sunday morning routine, or with an attitude of humility? When you write out your check or search for the money in your wallet, is it just something you do out of duty, or is an act of worship? Don’t get me wrong. Obedience is a good thing. Bring your tithes into the storehouse (Malachi 3:10). But obedience that is not done with the right heart is its own form of rebellion. Think of the child who spits out his apology in obedience to his parent’s command. The child was being “obedient”, but not making a sincere offering from his heart. No, in his heart there was rebellion – “I’ll say I’m sorry, but I won’t mean it. So there!”

I doubt that you make your offerings with the same blatant attitude as that child, but I know that there are times when I unthinkingly offend God by giving my offerings with a heart that isn’t fully “in the moment” (that is, I’m not even thinking about it, I’m just on autopilot) or has a hidden agenda of expectations from God instead of humble anticipation of His acceptance of my offer. When we are “in the moment” and our attitude is humble anticipation, imagine the joy we can receive when we know that our offer has been accepted!

Scripture teaches that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). That doesn’t mean He loves the giver who is a cheerful person. That means he loves it when we give with a cheerful attitude – and that means we are in the moment – purposefully thinking about what we’re doing and doing it cheerfully.

Lord, forgive me for all the times I have spent the offering time on Sunday morning reading the bulletin instead of making my offering to You in humility and joy. Forgive me for the times I write out my check out of obligation instead of with joyful anticipation of bringing joy to the One I love the most.

The Offering God Gave
Notice that it was in this same attitude that God gave His offering – with His whole heart and in humble anticipation of the joy to come when His offering would be accepted by men and women. That offering, of course, was His Son Jesus, whom God gave as the sacrificial lamb – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Do you see that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament system of sacrifices and offerings? That He is our sacrificial lamb, offered once for all?

Unlike the other high priests, [Jesus] does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
                Hebrews 7:27 (NIV)

The question is “will you accept His offering?” It is an offering consistent with those we’ve read about in Leviticus, but of such a higher degree that it issues in a new covenant. The new covenant holds the promise of an eternal inheritance – life forever more – even for those who have not kept the old covenant.

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
                Hebrews 9:13-15 (NIV)

Should you have any doubt, let me be clear. God is calling you. He is calling you to serve the living God. He is calling you in love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
                1 John 4:9-10 (NIV)

Will you accept his offering? What will you offer back to him in response?

The LORD confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.
          Psalm 25:14 (NIV)

How cool is that? The Lord confides in those who fear (honor, revere) Him. God has been whispering to my husband and I lately. Many of you know that my husband, Phil, had a heart attack last week. It was a very serious one, but it appears that he will fully recover from it. I’m not ready to blog a lot about the experience, but in today’s reading I read Psalm 25:14. And I want to express to all of you my incredible thankfulness to a wonderful God of mercy, grace and power, who confides in those who fear Him.

During and since the heart attack God has spoken to us  – through other people, through His Word, through strong impressions in our heart, and through dreams. All have been consistent messages – Phil will be fine. Coupled with that was often a reminder of God’s promise of salvation  – the covenant He has with us  – that He will be with us always and that when this life is over, we will be with Him forever.

For today’s blog, let me just be one of those people who reminds you of the Covenant God has with you. If you have made Jesus the leader and Lord of your life, He promises that He will be with you through the most difficult times, that He will be there at the end of those times when you walk back into the sunlight of “normal” living, and that He will be with you when those times are ultimately over and your true life begins in heaven. In the midst of those difficult times you can experience peace. In the midst of those difficult times, and in between the difficult times of life, you can experience joy.

God will confide in you. What a wonderful promise. There’s another verse like it that often amazes me…

Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets.
       Amos 3:7 (NIV)

God wants to speak to us. What a wonderful, personal God we serve! Stay close to Him and listen.

Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, had a life defined by many things, but as I read through Genesis 37-40 this week, what struck me was the frequency and depth of betrayal that he experienced. Before his death, Joseph became an incredibly blessed man – he experienced reconciliation with his family, extreme professional success, and had great riches. But before any of those things occurred, he endured betrayal after betrayal after betrayal.

As I pondered this a bit, I was reminded that betrayal was a significant factor in Jesus’ life. It was as a result of betrayal that Jesus was arrested, accused and then sentenced to the cross. But it wasn’t just the betrayals of Judas, those at Jesus’ trial, and Pilate that sent Jesus to the cross. It goes way beyond that. The cross was only necessary because we had sinned and needed someone to save us from our sin. We had betrayed the Lord, and our betrayal sentenced Jesus to the cross. I had betrayed the Lord, and my betrayal sentenced Jesus to the cross.

Joseph is Betrayed…Again and Again
But I started out talking about Joseph’s experience with betrayal. Let’s return there. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. OK, while what they did wasn’t right at all, maybe you can understand it. After all, Joseph was the bratty little brother who tattled on them (Genesis 37:2), was spoiled by his father (37:3), and thought he was better than his brothers (37:5-11). So they sold him into slavery.

But Joseph’s other betrayals were fully unprovoked.

• Potiphar’s wife accused him of raping her. He had not.
• Potiphar sent him to prison without giving him a chance to speak the truth.
• The Pharaoh’s cupbearer immediately forgot about Joseph once he was restored to his position of cupbearer.

And yet in each setback, God blessed Joseph. And, in fact, each betrayal led Joseph one step closer to the purpose God had for Joseph’s life. If his brothers had not betrayed him, Joseph would not have been in a position to be accused by Potiphar’s wife. If he had not been accused by Potiphar’s wife, Potiphar would hot have had the opportunity to have him thrown into prison. If Potiphar had not betrayed Joseph, the Cupbearer would not have had the opportunity to forget him until Pharaoh had his dream.

Betrayal – A Part of Life on This Earth
It seems to me that Joseph’s life is not too different from yours and mine. Betrayal is part of the package. It’s part of the package because we live in a sinful world and because we are sinners. All of us. Your best friend is a sinner. Your spouse is a sinner. Your children are sinners. The person you esteem most is a sinner. You are a sinner. I am a sinner. And sin is a betrayal. And if betrayal is in our very nature, we should not be surprised when we are betrayed. It’s part of the package.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am not suggesting you develop or nurse a pessimistic attitude. “No good deed goes unpunished” is a common sentiment, and one that I hate. I cringe every time I hear it because it reveals a root of pessimism that I believe does not honor God. Because truth, God’s Word, says that good deeds will be rewarded. Yes, we might experience betrayal in this life and our good deed might yield negative consequences for a short time, but our focus isn’t on this world. In the world we ought to be living for (i.e., the Kingdom of heaven), good deeds are blessed.

So Let’s Live for the Kingdom of God
What I am suggesting is that we focus on truth instead of lies. And since betrayal is not truth, since it is perpetrated by the father of lies, perhaps it ought not be our focus. I know that’s not an easy thing to do when you’ve been betrayed. I’ve been betrayed. Badly. It sent me into a tailspin. I understand the emotional damage that betrayal can cause. I admire Joseph for his apparent ability to shake it off quickly and continue to be faithful to do his best in each place he was put. I can’t help but wonder if his earlier dreams of what God had for him sustained him as he was continually pushed down. Scripture doesn’t say that, so we don’t know.

One instruction that Scripture does give us is to think about those things that are true and noble and right, those things that are pure and lovely and admirable, those things that are excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). Let’s recognize betrayal for what it is – at the very root of our nature and from the hand of the Enemy. Then let’s turn our focus away from it and toward the One who faced our betrayal by stretching out His arms in love.

A Step Further
In each situation, Joseph continued to be faithful to God. Dr. Shane Johnson’s definition of success is this: “Doing the right thing over an extended period of time.” Notice that the definition doesn’t include anything about income or fame. He leaves the issues of income and fame to God and instead teaches that success is an issue of character. Success for Joseph wasn’t becoming governor of Egypt. His success was in not letting each betrayal keep him from being faithful in whatever position God placed him.

Betrayal is most devastating when it is a violation of trust from the hand of someone whom you have allowed to become close to you. The betrayal from a stranger affects your circumstances but doesn’t pierce your heart. The betrayal of a friend, a family member, or an authority figure has the power to debilitate you unlike that of other betrayals. These betrayals will come into your life, though. Remember, we are all sinful; betrayal is part of our sinful nature. We all have the capability to betray one another. The Enemy wants to use these inevitable betrayals to cause you to build a wall around yourself so that you let no one, not even God Himself, get close enough to hurt you like that again. But Joseph didn’t let the repeated betrayals of these significant people in his life shake his trust in God. He continued to do the right thing over an extended period of time, and that was the secret of his success. 

Think Kingdom living and keep at it. That’s what we are called to.

Hear the heart of God in the following Old Testament passage:

¹But now, O Israel, the LORD who created you says: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. ²When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. ³For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave [your enemies] as a ransom for your freedom. ⁴Others died that you might live. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.
                                               Isaiah 43:1-4 (NLT)

This passage speaks of how precious Israel (that is, the people and the country) is to God. They are His chosen people and he tells how He sacrificed their enemies to save them, how He gave up some lives to save Israel because she is so precious to Him. God even says simply “I love you.”

Don’t just read the words. Feel the emotion. Imagine that it is your husband or wife saying the words to you. How would you feel? Your spouse is saying that he/she paid a ransom for you – the life of someone else for your life. You must be incredibly precious!

But perhaps you’re a skeptic and think, “Well, they were Israel’s enemies that God gave as a ransom. It’s not like they were important to Him.” Au contraire, my friend. All life is precious to God, and those He calls enemies are those who have chosen to be His enemies. A message that sometimes seems to get lost in the Old Testament is that God called “His people” not only the Israelites, but all who chose to trust Him. Rahab and Ruth, for example, were not born Israelites, but they chose to align themselves with Israelites. As Ruth said, “Your people will be my people and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16).

God shows the same attitude in the New Testament toward His people as He showed in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, the Israelites have clearly rejected God.

¹⁰But although the world was made through him, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. ¹¹Even in his own land and among his own people, he was not accepted. ¹²But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan – this rebirth comes from God.
                                               John 1:10-13 (NLT)

God offers His love to everyone, and those who accept the gift of forgiveness and salvation that He’s offered began to be called “Christians.” It’s the term we still use today.

Let’s look at that first Old Testament passage again:

¹But now, O Israel, the LORD who created you says: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. ²When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. ³For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave [your enemies] as a ransom for your freedom. ⁴Others died that you might live. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.
                                               Isaiah 43:1-4 (NLT)

The concepts and words that stand out in my mind are:

• God ransomed us
• He will protect us
• He is our Savior
• Others died that we might live
• We are precious, honored and loved

Remember those concepts and words as you read the following New Testament passages. In this first one, Jesus describes why He came to earth:

[Jesus is speaking] “For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”
                                               Matthew 20:28 (NLT)

Peter amplifies Jesus’ words in his first letter:

¹⁸For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. ¹⁹He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. ²⁰God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.
                                               1 Peter 1:18:20 (NLT)

How precious we must be to God, for Him to pay a ransom, not of His enemies, but of His son! God’s own son is the price required to ransom us from the empty life we would otherwise have. What an honor! What love!

⁸But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. ⁹And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. ¹⁰For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. ¹¹So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.
                                               Romans 5:8-11 (NLT)

God has ransomed us through Jesus Christ. Praise God! He has delivered us from eternal punishment to eternal life!

¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
                                               1 John 5:11-12 (NIV)

I hope you have the Son! Because being in the center of God’s love is life!

How good are you? Let’s draw a scale to represent “goodness.” We’ll put God at the top of the scale. Scripture says that He is perfect in all His ways and that His goodness knows no bounds. He is the pinnacle of goodness.

Now where would you put yourself on the scale? Well, before you try to figure that out, let’s pick an easier one. Where would you put Mother Theresa on the scale? I’m guessing pretty close to the top. How about Hitler or Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer and cannibal? Pretty close to the bottom I’d guess. Think of some other people you know and imagine where they would be on the scale. Now, where would you put yourself on the scale?

I’d put myself a little above the half way mark. I’m a little more good than bad, but I have a long way to go before I even approach God’s goodness. And that’s the point of the scale. Everyone on the scale, whether they are Mother Theresa, Hitler or you or me, experiences a gap between God’s perfect goodness and where they live.  That gap is what the Bible calls sin – the word actually means “missing the mark” of God’s standard.

Let’s look at a verse from the Bible:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
            Romans 6:23

This verse tells us a lot about that gap between us and God’s moral standard. Let’s look at some key words:

Wages — What we earn for something we do.
Sin — As I said above, it’s missing the mark of God’s standard. In this verse it’s what we’ve done to earn our wages.
Death — That’s what our wages are!

…in other words, we’ve earned death by sinning. Not a great wage, I’d say, but then it wasn’t a great work we did to earn it!

Gift — It’s something we receive for doing nothing – the exact opposite of wages!
God — The gift comes from God, it isn’t the result of our own actions.
Life — God’s gift is life, both now and throughout eternity. It is the exact opposite of death!

…in other words, the gift God offers to us is eternal life. It’s a pretty great gift that we cannot earn but we can surely accept.

Through Christ Jesus — Hmmm…God gives the gift, but it had to be paid for by someone. It’s a gift to us, so we don’t pay for it. This verse tells us that Jesus paid for it. We’ve already seen that the price, the wages, is death. So when Christ died on the cross, He was paying the price for our sins.

Our Lord — These two words explain how we receive God’s gift – by making Jesus Christ our Lord, by choosing to let Him be the leader of our lives.

The gap on our scale between where God is and where we are represents our sin.  Turn the scale on it’s side and you’ll see us on one side and God on the other. The gap between us and God represents our sin and the wages we’ve earned for that sin is our death. Praise God that He sent Christ, who willingly accepted those wages on our behalf! The free gift God offers to bridge the gap between us is the death of Christ. When we accept that gift by recognizing His leadership in our lives, we are reconciled to God – give life now and throughout eternity.

Are you reconciled to God? Or are you choosing to live your life your own way, earning the wages of death? Accepting God’s gift of eternal life is easy. It means agreeing with God – that you don’t meet His standards – that you have sinned and therefore earned death, and then choosing to accept His free gift of eternal life by following Jesus – by living your life and making your decisions based on His leadership.

It’s that easy…and that hard. Easy because all that’s required is talking to God conversationally and asking him to forgive you for choosing sin and telling Him that you want to choose life by following Jesus. Hard because it means choosing to let God be the Lord of your life. Fortunately, it’s a process. You won’t totally change overnight, but your thoughts and desires will begin to change and that change will increase exponentially you spend time with God by praying more and beginning to read the Bible. Try it! It means life…now and forever.

If you’ve made this decision for the first time, please e-mail me at sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com. I’ll help you get off to a good start in your new life with Christ.

Psalm 136 reviews Israel’s history and recognizes at the end of each sentence “His faithful love endures forever.” Verses 1 through 7, 10, 13, 16, 17, and 26 all begin with the phrase “Give thanks to” followed a name or description of God. So in 26 verses, 12 of them specifically say “give thanks” and all 26 of them remind us that God’s “faithful love endures forever.”

Has the writer made his point? When I look at society around me, and truly when I look at my own attitudes sometimes, I don’t think he has! How sad!

Significant snow has fallen early this year. I was watching a friend go out to his car after the first big snow the other day and he first had to brush snow off the doors before he could open them, then he had to scrape all the snow off his windows before he could drive away. As I watched him (from the cozy warmth of my house), I thought “I bet he’s annoyed about this.” That thought was quickly followed by “He’s going to spend the next five or six months in a cranky mood if he lets himself get annoyed by the snow on his car at the beginning of each day.” And that thought was even more quickly followed by the Lord whispering “so will you.” Yep. I don’t like having to go outside and scrape snow off my car in the morning, especially if I’m dressed for a meeting and not wearing proper “snow” clothes. I like to stay inside in the warmth and look at the beautiful snow outside!

‘Tis the season for crankiness, it would seem. As if the weather turning cold and snowy isn’t enough, it’s also the season for too many cars in the store parking lots, too many people pushing overflowing shopping carts in the stores, and too many people to have to wait in line behind at the check-out counter.

God has been speaking to me gently about attitude lately. The truth is He probably needs to be hitting me on the side of the head with a frying pan about my attitude because it hasn’t been very good lately. But He’s been dealing with me gently about it. (And for that I’m thankful.)

His faithful love endures forever…despite my tendency to focus on the negative sometimes.
His faithful love endures forever…despite the wrong choices I make.
His faithful love endures forever…despite…all that is my life that is not what it should be.

I am convinced that the change in attitude that I need, is one of increased thankfulness. And in order to increase my thankfulness, I must change my focus. That’s the example set by Psalm 136. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! He created all that has been created. And He did it really well! Give thanks to the Lord for He has repeatedly rescued us – even though we didn’t deserve to be rescued! Give thanks to the Lord for He provides for ALL my needs! Give thanks to the Lord because He is not like me…He is not prone to crankiness when He has to practice patience. (If He was, He would surely be cranky all the time because He shows incredible patience with me.)

For God so loved the world…He didn’t complain bitterly about it. For God so loved the world…He didn’t scold us or beat us up. For God so loved the world…that He loved us more! He loved us in a way that cost Him a great deal and in a way that we could identify with. He sent His son to make up for the difference between our behavior and attitudes and God’s standard of perfect righteousness.

‘Tis the season to set aside ourselves and to focus on the God whose faithful love endures forever. From eternity past when He created the world through eternity future when those who trust Him will live with Him forever. I hope you’re one of those people! Watch for my next blog series about what it means to be a Christian – what it means to trust God.

In the meantime, be thankful! Because God’s faithful love endures forever!

And have a blessed Thanksgiving day.