The saga of my pizza sauce, is still going. I have simmered it for about 10 hours now,
and it has reduced about one third – it isn’t quite thick enough, yet. BUT, the aroma if driving me nuts, it smells
delicious.
Things are warming up, Carla will be in the kitchen today
working on some more zucchini squash.
She will make another batch of relish, this time sans dill seeds so
Celinda can eat some. As I have said
before, it is nice having a garden.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
The great apostle Paul often pointed out the sins he
committed against the early Christians, while God had forgiven him, Paul still
remembered. This is not the first or the
last time he brings up his persecution of the church. It caused him pain, he was ashamed of what he
had done.
I had one of those o-dark-thirty in the morning nights last
night. I couldn’t believe some of the
things that were dredged up out of my memories, things that I had done long
before I accepted Christ. Why bring
these up, I asked myself, they have been covered by the blood of my Lord Jesus. Yes, but this offense... covered by the blood. Then there was this one..... covered by the
blood. The next thing I remember is
several hours later awakening to the music of AllClassical.
Paul knew his sins had been forgiven by Jesus. But by the grace of God I am
what I am, he also knew that what he had done was a part of
him, while God had forgiven him, satan would work on him to remember his
past.
In confessing his sins to the congregations he preached to,
wrote to and taught, he reaffirmed that no matter the sin, we can be
forgiven. He showed that God worked
through Him to teach and save thousands of others. The churches knew the persecution he had
endured since his conversion and they knew the words he spoke were not given
lightly.
Paul risked his life almost daily to present the gospel of
Christ. He was incarcerated, stoned,
beaten even to the point where some thought he was dead. More than once had to escape from his
accusers or be killed. He spend years in
jail, yet, he continued his mission of preaching the gospel.
He was not afraid to chastise those that would not embrace
the truth that Jesus gave and started going about their own way. In this chapter he talks about the
resurrection of Christ and how those that kept saying there was no such thing
as resurrection of the dead were wrong – they were in effect saying that if
there is no resurrection, then Christ was not resurrected, and if He wasn’t
resurrected, all they believed was false:
vs
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our
preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Paul did not allow his past sins of persecution of the
church to hinder his teaching others and censuring them when they strayed.
What we have done in the past, is in the past. Yet, it is part of who we are, what we have
become. From time to time, either our
memories will betray us and remind us of our sinful past, or someone else
will. Whatever happened, happened. If we can change some of the results of those
sins, then we should do it. But, just as
Paul did by dedicating his life to the service of God, sometimes we can’t
correct the past, we can only move forward and live a life committed to Him.
But all of our life experiences have made us what we are –
the good and the bad experiences. We
are, what we are, but thanks to the Grace of God, we are forgiven and can be
used of Him to further His Works here on earth.
Because we are who we are we have the ability to reach
certain people; people that a preacher could never reach because he doesn’t
understand them and/or they would never listen to him.
Who better to reach a person bound in addiction than the
person that was at one time also bound by that addiction and found Christ? Christ lifted the person out of his captivity
of sin and that person can show the Grace of God to another addict far better
than any of us who have not had that experience.
So our experiences can help reach others, with an empathy
that only we can give, help them find a new life in Christ.
Paul had a unique background. He was a Pharisee, well-schooled in the
Jewish laws and traditions. He was a key
leader in persecuting the church, even holding the coats of those that threw
rocks and killed Stephen. He had an encounter with Christ that not many
have or will ever have, but accepted Christ for who He is and dedicated his
life – which means, in part, all his knowledge and experience obtained before and
after his conversion – to God to be used by Him to further His Gospel.
Paul’s story helped prove that the Love of God surpasses all
we have done and He can and will use us if we but trust in Him.
When people think that they cannot be saved because they have
sinned so badly, committing what they believe are sins that God so detests that
they can never by worthy. Our testimony
of our journey may help them understand that no one is worthy and we can never
make ourselves worthy. We cannot ‘improve’
ourselves in order for God to accept us.
It isn’t by our works that we are saved, but in the faith
that God forgives our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His Son and
we can never live up to that sacrifice.
We may not be proud of many of the things we have done, but,
sometimes it may be necessary to admit them to others, as Paul did, to
establish a connection with another person and help them overcome their shame
and accept Christ.
That doesn’t mean we dwell on our sins. But as Paul did, use it as a springboard of
where we were and where we are and what God is doing in our lives right now.
God provides hope to anyone that comes to Him. We need to help the sinner find that hope and
we are uniquely qualified, because of who we are, to do that very thing.
Later, Art :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment