Tag: law

Staying in Bed

[From my journal on  November 26, 2007]

Jan was having a hard time staying in bed tonight. When Jess went down to get water, she came in to ask me to put her blanket on her. I chose to ignore her because Jess had given Jan explicit instructions to stay in bed and consequences if she got out.

When Jess came up with the water, she found Jan in the hall. Jan started to cry and in a heart-broken voice told Jess how she came to talk to Daddy, but he wouldn’t talk to her, and didn’t turn his head to look at her. She was so sad. I almost ran out to hug her. She went to bed and stayed there for a while which allowed me to go tuck her in.

I thought I must know a little how God feels. How often do we try to ask God for things, but He can’t answer or look at us because we have chosen to be disobedient. He gives us commandments and consequences and He MUST abide by them. If He breaks them even once, even the smallest one, He would cease to be God.  He can not be the law giver and enforcer and break His own laws. I think I felt a bit of the heart ache He feels when He is bound to His laws and can not help because we have not kept our part of the bargain.

Fortunately, He is a merciful God and we can rectify our standing with Him when we apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through repentance, continued obedience, and the cleansing power of the Atonement, we can have again a clean and pure relationship with our Father in Heaven.

God is the God of all people

Paul is a powerful preacher and prophet. I finished Acts and have started Romans, and I’m astounded by the works of Paul. Despite constant tribulation he keeps the faith.

In Romans chapter 3, he speaks to the believers and non believers in Rome. He testifies of Jesus Christ. He tells the people that it doesn’t matter if they are Jew or Gentile (non-Jew), because “is he not also [God] of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also” (Romans 3: 29). So God is the God of all people, not just the Jews. The acts and teachings of Jesus were for every human being, not just the Jews.

Why then the special situation of the Jews? Paul explains that it had been the “advantage” for the Jewish population to have “committed” unto them the oracles of God. It was to this people that God gave the prophets, the seers, the revelators. To these people were given the “advantage” to be have the mouth piece of the Lord.

Does this mean salvation is only for the Jews. Of course not. Salvation is available for all human beings. How does it come? Through strict obedience to the Mosaic laws? No! But through faith on Jesus Christ.

Romans 2: 27-28

27 Where is aboasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is ajustified by bfaith cwithout the deeds of the law.

Does this mean we only need to have faith to be saved? Yes, that’s what it means. Salvation does not depend on how well we follow the laws of Moses. Salvation depends upon how we have faith in Jesus.

So what does it mean to have faith in Jesus? I’ll be looking at that through out this week.