Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Put Away the Fig Leaves

They were naked as jaybirds walking around the garden in the cool of the day. Free souls—they wanted for nothing. They were naked and unashamed.

Then she did it. He did it. They did it. They ate the one thing God had told them was forbidden. They wanted for nothing, and disobeyed the very One who had provided them everything.

They were naked and ashamed.

Fear, guilt, and shame washed over Adam and Eve, and they quickly hid themselves with the newest designer fig leaf loincloths. All the fig leaves in the world could never cover their sin and shame. The problem wasn’t their nakedness. They had always been naked. Fear and shame covered them and if only they could find another covering maybe they would be okay.

God knows and finds them and calls out to Adam, “Where are you?” God wasn't asking him where he was, God was asking him to acknowledge where he was—hiding and far from God’s design.

Who were they trying to protect? Who were they relying on for protection? With whom were they now most concerned? Around whom were their lives centered? Themselves, themselves, themselves, themselves.

And so sin entered the world and fractured all that God had designed so intricately and perfectly.

Sin is when I forget God’s perfect provision and think mine is somehow better. Sin is when I forsake the fountain of living water for a broken cistern that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13). Sin is when I exchange the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:25).

Our nakedness isn’t the problem. Our sin and shame is the issue. So put away the fig leaves. You have a better covering.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
Romans 5:18

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

The True and Highest Sweetness

How sweet it suddenly became to me to lack the sweetness of those follies, and what I was afraid to be separated from was now a joy to part with.

You cast them forth from me, You who are the true and highest sweetness. You cast them forth and entered in their place Yourself.

You who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not flesh and blood. Brighter than all light, but more hidden than all depths. Higher than all honor, but not to the lofty in their own conceits.

Now my soul was free from the biting cares of seeking and getting, weltering in filth, and scratching off the itch of my lust.

And my infant tongue spoke freely to You,
my Brightness
and my Riches
and my Health, Lord My God.

- St. Augustine -

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Freeing Gospel Truth of the Day

“Only the Gospel can truly save you. The Gospel doesn’t make bad people good; it makes dead people alive...the Gospel is God’s acceptance of us based on what Christ has done, not on what we can do.”

~Tullian Tchividjian~