March 5, 2015

“For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal.” Romans 2:28 – 29

“I hope you will not misunderstand what I am going to say. I am not preaching, and Heaven knows I do not pretend to be better than anyone else. I am only trying to call attention to a fact; the fact that this year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behavior we expect from other people. There may be all sorts of excuses for us. Like what you promised to do for old So-and-so and have never done – well, you never would have promised if you had known how frightfully busy you were going to be. …human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really…behave in that way.” Mere Christianity

C. S. Lewis (1898 – 1963)

Oh if we could live up to the expectations that we have of others, Amen? Did you say Amen? I hope so, because we are no better than the so-and-so we just cursed out because they cut us off in our car, or pulled out in front of us as we were trying to get to work because we overslept once again. Paul said we only see in a mirror dimly, and that is so true as we stare at the image that stares right back at us. We want to appear perfect – but we are simply the imperfect person that we appear to everyone else. And that is a reality that is hard to accept. Here’s the good news – G*d sees us through the lens of Jesus Christ. What G*d sees is a perfect person – because G*d sees us through the lens of Christ. It is Christ who makes us perfect – not anything that we do or promise to do, and then fail. Thank G*d it does not rely on us – on our promises – our track record is not so good, Amen? Did you say Amen? Then I guess I am done….Amen.

Pastor Dave