First, I want to apologize for not blogging yesterday. I forgot. Please forgive me. Now on to what God has to say to us today.
I, like you, have areas of my life where I need to apologize and areas of my life where there is no apology needed. I just expressed my apology for not writing. That is where I "need" to apologize. I have a faith in Jesus Christ that "needs no" apology for. Should I do what is right, I don't need to apologize. Likewise, should I do what is wrong, I need to apologize. Who sets the "right" and "wrong" standard? Is there some wiggle room for good intentions? The easy answer is that God sets both standards. So we are encouraged that this can be simplified for us. What is right defines what is wrong. Rarely do we look at this from the other direction: what is wrong defining what is right. If we are honest with ourselves, God and others, what will surface between the black and white of right and wrong is a huge area of gray that has been defined by man. Basically this area is the place where we go to justify or rationalize a wrong to make it feel or sound right.
The only time we wrestle with a stand for "right" is when our faith or beliefs are challenged. We'd like to have verified that the rest of my world sees the world as I do. Then there is the opposite view that all I need to do is see the rest of your world as you do. Neither is good. That thinking has brought so many different belief systems into place where they jog along in the competition to have people convinced that you (or I) am right. This has, since the garden, began and continued to divide a created humanity that is "less than" what they could be. We live in a world where the prominent attitude is to "tolerate" and to "co-exist" with others who have beliefs contrary to God's teaching. So muddled is the water that no one (almost) is able to see any light from any of the tunnels we are rapidly approaching. In the end, "He who won't stand for something will fall for anything." Many practice "oral tradition" from generation to generation even if it's contrary to what the Bible says.
I'm reminded of the story about the young girl helping her mom in the kitchen after church. Her mom was preparing a beef roast for dinner. Prior to placing the roast in the oven her daughter asked her why she cut off the ends of the roast. Her mother thought for a moment and said that she had learned to do this from her mother. Her daughter ran along but the mother, whose mother was available by phone stated that she had learned the habit from her mother. Grandmother was in a nursing home but answered the phone call from her granddaughter. After hearing the musing and problem her granddaughter was addressing the grandmother said: "I cut off the ends of the roast because it wouldn't fit in the oven." Even though technology had changed the "tradition" though no longer needed, continued. We do this. We profess what we are taught until proven wrong. We hold others to our standards until we find out that our standards are sub par.
Jesus said, in the Bible, that the Word is offensive to those who are perishing. Don't apologize. The Word says that there is no other name than the name of Jesus by which man can be saved. Don't apologize. The Bible further states that we will be hated (God's term) because of our belief in the Bible. Don't apologize. Jesus instructed his followers to not tolerate sin (even other belief systems) in our own life or the lives of others. Don't apologize. Salvation is about being saved from living outside the will of God and not just being a good person. Don't apologize. God tells us to tell everyone in the world (big place) to share the Gospel so that some might be saved. Don't apologize. We who believe and are saved in Christ will not taste death but will live to life eternal. Don't apologize. Those who do not know Jesus will not be saved. Don't apologize.
I'm sorry that I forgot to write yesterday. I apologize. Please forgive me Jesus.
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