Romans 4 – Brandon Hatmaker “I’m not okay”
Monday, May 26th, 2008
“It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.” – Romans 4:13-15
In many forms, in many ways, and many times, Paul states and restates this truth: "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Even Abraham’s faith was credited as righteousness and He was under the law! Wow. How much more are we under the blood of Christ?
And yet, here are some realities, many believers still struggle with their salvation. Many believers still think their works have something to do with their salvation. I also would say that most believers who do trust in the free gift of life through Christ, still struggle with trying to “deserve” their faith instead of just living in his Grace.
We are a weird people. I truly believe that one of the most important things we can do is to just admit our “weirdness”. I guess that has something to do with remembering our humanity. I’m not okay. I mess things up. You’re not okay. So do you. Just as much as we need Christ unto salvation and redemption, we need him in life.
Okay, Carrie Underwood, there’s your cue, “Jesus take the wheel…” Geeze. Sorry about that. I’ll be sure to reference Willie or Waylon in my next post.
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And there's the first Carrie Underwood reference of the season...priceless.
ReplyDeleteBrandon, I totally agree with you. And struggle with this too from time to time. It's like that story of The Great Blondin...the 19th century showman who crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Homeboy would go back and forth alone, blindfolded, backwards. And then he had a wheelbarrow and started whipping the crowd up into an emotional frenzy...
"Do you believe the Great Blondin can cross while pushing a wheelbarrow?"
"YES!!" the crowd yells back, "WE BELIEVE!"
"Even with 150 pounds in the wheelbarrow?" he asks.
"YES!!"
And then he asks for a volunteer to get in the wheelbarrow.
Crickets.
Classically human, this reaction. Classically Christian in so many ways too. We rattle off scripture and pop off God's promises to each other, but when push comes to shove, we take matters into our own hands. We ask a bunch of questions. We doubt. We lay out a couple of fleeces. We trust ourselves...no one else. Not the body. Not God.
It's not easy, this whole trust thing. But man, when you do fall backwards in total abandonment...it's pretty exhilarating! It took me six years to let go and trust God's plan for me...and even still, I'll look down and start to panic a little. But then, I get smoked by the word going through today's chapter and it's so encouraging:
"[Abraham] didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said."
God give us the guts and the simple faith to plunge into your waters and come up up strong, confident and overflowing with your spirit!
The line that got me was, "Abraham believed God ..." That is it. It doesn't say he did this or that. It doesn't say he came up with this plan or that plan. It doesn't say he did this program or studied this bible class. It simply says, "Abraham BELIEVED God ..." How many times can we say that is it? We all know the answers. We all know that as complicated as the Christian walk is, it is simple at its heart. We must believe. After we believe everything else falls into place. The buy into that something so huge and complicated could be so simple is where we fall. We think we have to do some more. We think we must log so many hours of study or church pew time or listen to the right music or podcasts. We have to watch so many dvds or go to so man y confereces. We just have to believe. - Michael
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