“The story goes that a public sinner was excommunicated and forbidden entry to the church. He took his woes to God. 'They won't let me in, Lord, because I am a sinner.'
'What are you complaining about?' said God. 'They won't let Me in either.”
― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
18The Lord is close to the brokenheartedPSALM 34-35
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
ACTS 22
22The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”23As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”
JOURNAL
I woke up this morning in a comfortable air-conditioned home. I have an automobile that will take me wherever I need to go with simply the turn of a key. I have communication devices that allow me to travel the world in cyberspace and to speak and talk with anyone who will listen. I have family and friends and live in a country that protects my rights, allows me to speak my mind, and pursue whatever business or endeavor my heart desires. I have at my fingertips all the knowledge I could every devour for 100's of lifetimes...and yet far too often, my thoughts drift to all that I don't have.
When I really think about it...it's so ridiculous! Yet that awareness doesn't take away the part of me that drifts to places of doubt, fear and selfishness. That's because biblically it all goes back to the garden...I ultimately want what I cannot have, I want perfect paradise and there is a part of me that will do anything to have it and have it now.
This hits me right between the eyes. It really is horrifying to realize that there is this part of me that is actually that selfish. Biblically the Bible shows me that there is a part of me that if indulged would commit the most horrible of sins. I have to look no further than David to realize that as great as he was and as close to God as he was...he was capable of and actually acted as a monster at times.
Having innocent priests slaughtered because of his lies...sleeping with one of his best friends wife, attempting to cover it up, then having him murdered. Then to realize that God still loved and blessed David. Why? Because that is the greatness of God. All he wants from us is our love, our attention, our service, our obedience. He is willing to forgive all sin, all wrongs, all arrogance just to have us back in his arms. He was willing to live and die to show us the way back to his heart. All I must do is turn toward home and he will be the Father running down the road to embrace me...throwing his arms around me, putting the ring on my finger and calling me his son.
4But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.b 6Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,c Father.” 7So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
When I really think about it...it's so ridiculous! Yet that awareness doesn't take away the part of me that drifts to places of doubt, fear and selfishness. That's because biblically it all goes back to the garden...I ultimately want what I cannot have, I want perfect paradise and there is a part of me that will do anything to have it and have it now.
This hits me right between the eyes. It really is horrifying to realize that there is this part of me that is actually that selfish. Biblically the Bible shows me that there is a part of me that if indulged would commit the most horrible of sins. I have to look no further than David to realize that as great as he was and as close to God as he was...he was capable of and actually acted as a monster at times.
Having innocent priests slaughtered because of his lies...sleeping with one of his best friends wife, attempting to cover it up, then having him murdered. Then to realize that God still loved and blessed David. Why? Because that is the greatness of God. All he wants from us is our love, our attention, our service, our obedience. He is willing to forgive all sin, all wrongs, all arrogance just to have us back in his arms. He was willing to live and die to show us the way back to his heart. All I must do is turn toward home and he will be the Father running down the road to embrace me...throwing his arms around me, putting the ring on my finger and calling me his son.
4But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.b 6Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,c Father.” 7So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
GALATIANS 4:4-7
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