Aim4p31....: Cloudy with a chance of Clarity

Aim4p31....: Cloudy with a chance of Clarity: My mind has been cloudy for a while.  I try to capture my thoughts and somehow they still manage to escape.  Yes, it has been a long time si...

Cloudy with a chance of Clarity

My mind has been cloudy for a while.  I try to capture my thoughts and somehow they still manage to escape.  Yes, it has been a long time since I sat down at my laptop and opened up my "Blogger" account.  Aim4p31 has truly been neglected.  I cannot promise that I will be consistent.  But I will say that I am feeling a bit cloudy with a chance of clarity.

This past week I shared my "thoughts" on Romans 2: 1-11 with my church family.  And as I said earlier my thoughts seemed to be escaping before I could catch them.  Even those thoughts that I wrote down became fuzzy and unclear to me.  I felt discombobulated and my words felt flat as they tumbled and fumbled out of my mouth. I began thinking that I didn't have much guidance to offer my precious brothers and sisters. This is exactly what the enemy had set out to do.  Distract and attack.  Midway through I started to feel defeated and depleted.   I was thankful for the assist from my precious friend as she interjected.  Almost as if she had lassoed those wandering thoughts of mine and brought them to the table.  As the evening ended what I felt was a failed attempt to walk through Romans 2 turned out to be not that terrible.  And next week I get to stumble my way through Romans 2: 12-29.

Whoa hold the presses.  I do not want to stumble or fumble God's precious words to anyone.  His words are perfect.  This morning I started praying about this upcoming weeks journey through Romans 2 and how God would reveal Himself to me and the others in my group.  Where did I go wrong this past week?  Why did I allow the enemy to whisper defeat in my ear?  And how did I not notice the Holy Spirit's guidance?  You see my sweet friend who rescued me is eloquent and articulate with her words and wisdom when it comes to teaching and leading our group.  I wanted desperately to be as eloquent, articulate and full of wisdom.  However, my thoughts were like fireflies.  They were lighting up all around me yet they were hard to catch. I wanted to be like her in my delivery.  Bottom line I can't be like her because I am me.  So, I  need to just be me and ask the Holy Spirit to give me words to speak.  I have listened to sermon after sermon and tried to read commentaries while my head was cluttered with my daily "my life is not my own" stuff.  And honestly nothing was clinging other than the clanging in my brain.  And when there is a ton of clanging I have always felt that writing or blogging has helped me reset.  And before I do either of these things I ask the Holy Spirit to lead in what others may read.  Here I go....

The book of Romans is one of my favorites.  I feel that is encapsulates the entire message of the Bible.  It is difficult and somewhat controversial in the message being delivered by Paul.  But in all reality isn't the entire Bible controversial?  God's wrath and judgment, His mercy and grace, and His unexplainable, unattainable, immeasurable and overwhelming love are always being questioned and debated.  And to be clear.  I don't think God is losing sleep over the controversy.  God is God.  As a human it is difficult to not attempt to humanize God and how He chooses to do the things He has done. But I am guilty as charged.  If I had my way..... well let's just say it's a good thing I am not God.

In chapter 1 and 2 of Romans Paul does a great job putting us all under the microscope. He gathers everyone together and shows us all the mold, bacteria and disease that is growing in the petri dish of our lives.  He calls this sin. As we gather around there is a bit of finger pointing.  We are all trying to deflect the attention.  Not one of us wants to put our slide under the scope. Funny how at this moment we are okay with everyone else going first.  Paul continues by giving us a list of the "sins" that he has discovered under the microscope.  As he lists them the room gets a little noisy.  There are whispers coming from every corner.  A few gasps and some awkward laughter.  I hear some of us saying under our breath, "Can you believe they actually do those things? We live in such a messed up society.  There are so many terrible people in this world." And then bam we all realize that we all are diseased and infected.  And we all need a cure....quick. 

This disease that's been spreading through the lab (or all over the world) doesn't care if you are rich, poor, Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, Pagan, Agnostic, etc....  If you are human you are infected.  And we all need the cure.  What is the cure?  Well, it's called salvation. You cannot buy it or steal it.  It is free to all those that believe. Until a person genuinely acknowledges that they are infected they cannot appreciate this gift of mercy and grace.  Everyone can get the salvation vaccination! Once you receive it the goodness of God is revealed from faith for faith.  God is faithful to us first and in return we become faithful to Him.  Once vaccinated we can begin the process of learning to walk by faith.

But let me warn you.  There is a generic form of this vaccination.  It is polluted and tainted.  The side effects are: self-righteousness, ignorance, conceit, envy, foolishness, and too many more to mention.  And this one is really cheap.  You will begin to claim wisdom in your arrogance.  In a short while your heart will become dark and you will lose site of the beauty that God has created.  Your idea of truth will be a lie. And instead of finding joy in goodness you will begin pushing for others to buy the cheap version of the cure.

Sometimes, those of us who received the cure have a tendency of getting a little puffed up and judgmental.  Just because we got vaccinated doesn't change the fact that we are human.   Be careful of those judgement shenanigans.  If you have the capacity to judge you better be ready to stand in that same judgement.  How you judge is how you will be judged.

It's funny how my sin looks so much worse on someone else.  I catch myself often thinking, "How could she have done that?" When someone is in the midst of committing one of my sins I suddenly become judge and jury.  When it's me partaking in that sin I can justify it and give you every reason as to why I did it. Not one of us is capable of living up to their own standards.  Dang, that finger pointing is dangerous.  Right?? Trying to get people distracted by pointing at others while in all reality I am guilty of even bigger things.

Have you ever thought about what happens to the people that don't even know about the steps they need to take for the cure? Or what about the people that just don't want the cure?  And how about those that know about the cure, preach about the cure, administer the cure, but haven't really applied the cure?  I know that I have.  At one point in my life I have been all of the above.  But deep inside of me there was something telling me that I needed the cure.  That something is called our innate intelligence.  God has written His plans (law) on every human heart.  We all have an awareness of good and evil. My conscience will either excuse or accuse me in the choices I make. In the end God will look at the condition of our hearts. "They show the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on the day when God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus." ~Romans 2:15-16 

Have you been vaccinated?  Do you think you are living life differently because you have been cured?  Are you a light? Are you listening to yourself?  Are you learning what you are teaching others (or showing others) about the greatness of God's mercy, grace and unconditional love. Do the people around you want what you have?  Or is "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles (unvaccinated) because of you?

Paul continues to explain what he has examined on the slides under the microscope.  He points out that there a some in the room that were chosen from the beginning to be set apart.  They would not succumb to the harsh conditions of this disease because God made an agreement (covenant).  And as a sign of this agreement the chosen ones agreed to a physical circumcision. The spiritual concept behind the physical cutting away of the flesh was that they are alive after the spirit and no longer in the flesh.  Yes this race of people, the chosen ones, should have been living in the way God had laid out for them in His commandments. They should not just have the knowledge but they should be doers.  Their hearts, minds and bodies should be seeking after the Spirit.  But, as Paul shows us what's been growing, we see that all of us need the cure.

Now that we all know we are in need of the cure what are we going to do about it?  We all stand together with the same diagnosis.  We are sick and only getting sicker.  We've been taking pleasure in doing things, unspeakable things. We've been judging others with the same illness.  Pointing out their symptoms and coughing in their faces at the same time.

In order for us to be able to enjoy the brilliance of God's grace it is important that we understand the magnitude of our disease.  Paul now leaves the petri dish out in plain view.  It is now black with mold, bacteria, and disease. Paul laid it out for us so that he might now be able to show us the brilliance of the glory of the mercy and grace of God that has been revealed to us in the cure, Jesus Christ.  We, the disease riddled people of the world, so not deserve this vaccination, and yet we are being offered this gift. Yes we are being offered a life of walking in God's glory and grace.  Get out your bible and read ahead.  Romans 3 is full of God's glorious grace.

Praying that our Heavenly Father will be with us as we seek Him. May the Holy Spirit guide us and help us to not be caught up in the petri dish of living in the flesh.  May we all take pleasure in walking with God and His mercy and grace, His unexplainable, unattainable, immeasurable and overwhelming love, and His power. I pray that we all come into a fuller, richer and deeper gratitude for God's grace and place in our lives.  In Jesus' most magnificent name.  (and the infected people in the room shout......AMEN)