It's kind of sunny out right now. (At 7:30, that's good!)
I don't actually mind getting up at 6:30 if it's light out... I just don't like getting up when it's dark. Ta-da! you learned something new about me.
I put up a bunch of pictures on facebook that are old. Like from before I was 5. All before 2000. 1999 really...). The '90s were some funny looking years. That link goes straight to the facebook pictures. I put some of them up on here last night, but the facebook album has more :)
Hannah drove to dance last night. I didn't die, so that was good. I didn't even freak out! Well... maybe I got a little freaked out, but not too badly... and only at one point. Otherwise, she did a great job driving. I'm still alive, aren't I?
On Sunday night (I think) I put a stat counter in... OOOOO. What this means is, I'm watching you. =P I find it very interesting to see how many people come to my blog. Granted, I still don't know who those people are (*cough*you*cough*)... but I know YOU were here. =P (Unless you're reading this over my shoulder... which is impossible since everyone in my family is still upstairs... and I am currently alone. Muwahahaha. Oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to laugh evilly. I'm not mean. Really. =P (Third "=P" smiley face in the same paragraph. Time to stop this paragraph!)
YouTube video of the day! For the Glory of it All-David Crowder*Band
I love this song. He repairs for the glory of it all. No matter how broken, he will repair for his glory. Love that idea! Enjoy :)
Okay. The end of Romans 3. So we've gone through the "God is faithful" and "No one is righteous" parts... so now it's time for the "Righteousness through faith" part. WOOT. Man! There is so much packed into these 10 verses! More than I ever realized... and probably even more than I realize now!
Romans 3:21-31
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. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
OKay. Got that? Imma break it down now. (Now is when I start beat-boxing... and 2 seconds later is when I stop because I realize how ridiculously white I am.)
21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
WOAH. This was huge for them. As New Testament Christians, all they had was the law. Now there's this new way that they can have righteousness that is apart from the law. Radical man.
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.
Verse 23 often gets taken out of context. Which is fine... kind of. Our righteousness is from God. It comes when we have faith in Jesus. It comes to those who believe. But there's no difference among people because all have sinned. Everyone falls short of God's glory. But we're all justified freely by his grace. Jesus died so that we could be redeemed. Make sense?
25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
These people got this. They knew how all the sacrifices worked. What was new was just believing that he died to save them... that he was their sacrificial lamb, and that though faith in his blood they could be saved. This was mostly new. What was new was only having to believe once. Jesus only had to die once. They had to annually sacrifice lambs to keep themselves holy. But once Jesus died once and rose from the dead, you only have to believe once.
I just dictionary.com'd Forbearance. I found a definition I really like:
a creditor's giving of indulgence after the day originally fixed for payment.
That's what God did. He let our sins go for just a little while after we should've paid for them. Then he paid for them with Jesus' blood.
So I'm listening to a little musica while I'm writing. And the song "Christ is Come" (by MercyMe... I think) comes on. And it gets to the bridge and I love the lyrics in the bride. So I'm going to type them out for you
Prince of peace
Yeshua
Messiah
Son of man
Holy one
King of Kings
Lord of Lords
The Great I Am
Comforter
Counselor
Author and Finisher
Divine Truth
Revealer
Deliverer
Healer
You are God
Jesus, You are God
Okay. Back to Romans.
27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.
I don't really get this. I think it's talking about boasting as a sin... boasting as a sin being excluded? Not sure. Any insight would be much appreciated.
28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
YAY. I'm glad we're justified by faith apart from observing the law... It would be BAD if we had to be justified by observing the law. In James 2 it says that if you break one part of the law you've broken the entire law. Mann. that stinks. So it's a good thing that Jesus died for us!
29Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
God is the God of everyone. He's going to justify all of the people who believe in him. circumcised or uncircumcised.
31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
The law is still in place. We should still observe it. We shouldn't go hog wild because God forgave us. We should still be examples of people who honor God and his law. We uphold the law.
Intensity! That's deep stuff. It took me longer than expected to get through it. But I really love looking at the Bible like this. It's something I've never done before. It's healthy for me.
Time to do school!
Adios Amigos,
1 comment:
Might I just mention that I mentioned that song to you first?
I love influencing your blog. Mwahahaha. Oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to laugh evilly. Actually, yeah I did.
H.
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