All are justified freely

"and all are justified freely by his grace 

through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

--Rom. 3:24

Why is THIS verse not more commonly known and memorized?
Why is THIS verse not often repeated as a stand-alone statement?

Instead we, or at least I, for years and years have known that Rom 3:23 says,

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," 

All have sinned

All fall short

All, and that means you and me, have sinned.

It's part of "The Roman's Road," a simple, easy to memorize, and formulaic way of presenting the Gospel...through just a few verses in Romans.

So we know Romans 3:23, but we don't know it with 3:24 right after it.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

and all are justified freely by his grace 

through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

--Rom. 3:23, 24

But it's even better when you start a little earlier, reading from v. 21...and this might not work now already, because I've drilled in a reminder of verse 23, but try, just try for a minute, to read it fresh, and note what is emphasized as the main thing, and what is more background, in this passage.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. --Rom 3:21-26 (NIV)

Whoa! Sure, Rom 3:23 is true, but if you read it in the context, the main point of the passage is righteousness--there is a righteousness that comes from God that is available to all. That all have sinned is the back story, the obvious reason why we need it, but our sin, or that all have sinned, is not the focus, not the main point at all! It reads as almost a side comment.

The main point, what jumps out to me today, is that there is a righteousness from God that has come, that is available. Hallelujah! Amen! Praise God.

I am justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Thank You, Lord!

Grace pours down...

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, 

Lord who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness, 

so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

(Ps. 130:4-5)

Thank You Lord, for forgiveness, for grace.

Thank You for being "the lifter of my head" (Ps. 3:3)

Sin is real

Shame is real and can be so crippling

But You

Offer forgiveness

You

Don't want to

Are not willing to

See us forever bowed down

And the body

The Christian community

Should be a place that lives this out

Where we can come broken, contrite

And find acceptance, warmth, forgiveness

And strength to go on

Thank You for forgiveness and grace
Thank You for a body that lives this out
Thank You for family, that is real with each other

Semi-related thoughts that have come on this: 

I was tempted, yesterday, to not go to the Bible study. "What's the point?" I hadn't prepared (done my homework, hadn't even read the chapter, only listened to it once or twice. Certainly hadn't prayerfully considered the questions or written anything down). Didn't even have my notebook to write down the thoughts of others. And...I was late...but, I somehow still thought it was good to go.

Then, I had a memory, from 20+ years ago--sitting in church in a weeknight Bible study. The rows of chairs were facing forward. My dad was leading or teaching, sitting in one of the front rows, but not facing the people straight on. He was angled back toward them so they could hear him, but he was looking at the floor the whole time. It bugged me that he didn't look at everyone. I kept wanting to get his attention, thought of writing a note and handing it to him, "Look up, look at the people."

I don't know when we talked about it...maybe that night in the car going home. 

What he said, "You know [my name]..." and then what came was just how low he was feeling right then--how broken down, struggling, hurting. I didn't know the details, still don't, but I've later heard more of the stories and struggle from those years...

And I thought (and I STILL think), "What a shame!" The church should be the place where we can come and share our struggle, our brokenness. This is where we can come to learn to live out the reality of this Book we read, these truths we hold to. If we can't come and wrestle it out here, with these people, pray tell, where and when DO we learn to live out these truths? 

How sad, then, that my dad couldn't be real about the struggle. How sad, then, that there were very few being real about faith intersecting with life, and the learning to live it as a Christ-follower. Ah--when it would get talked about--when things got to an extreme--a "fall," a need for church discipline...  

I hope we are doing better now. I think we are.

It makes me wonder--how did I become one who would be vulnerable and real about it all? When and how did I realize--that if this faith is real, if this God is real, then He must also be real in the reality of life...no need to hide it, or cover it...

A Decision...

A decision made

For sanity

For boundaries

For time and space to recover and heal

In the working through to forgiveness and restoration

I still am not sure where the boundaries are

And that I could do better next time

So...in spite of the "need" that compels

I chose for space

Distance from the hassle

And heart struggle

Until perspective can be regained

Reconciliation at a slower

More measured pace

The decision is somewhat painful

And yet hopeful

I feel a peace

I had not quite expected

I Choose...

I choose...

to put my hope in You today LORD

Thank you that no one who hopes in You will ever be put to shame

I choose...

to trust in You with all my heart

and lean not on my own understanding

Thank You, You will and You do direct my paths

I choose...

to dwell on the good

to remember the joys

to turn my heart and mind away from 

doubts

fears

cynicism about others

I choose...

to capture the negative thoughts

to stop them

to recognize

in so many ways

my memories of the pain, the brokenness and the evil

stop me from seeing and enjoying the good, the delight, the experience

that is here in the now

You came to give 

life to the full

May I rejoice and delight

in every single bit

of life and fullness 

that I see around me

I choose freedom

I choose love

I choose forgiveness

I choose to acknowledge dignity

I choose to laugh

I choose to sing

I choose delight

I choose hope

I choose praise

I choose to give thanks

Thank You, good God, Thank You!

Never been such a reluctant giver

Wow, that was strange
I heard they were looking for financial support
They did not tell me or ask me to support
I did NOT think they should be getting and living off support
I hoped others would NOT support
That it would all be seen to be the wrong direction

And then I sensed Father saying to me
'Give x-dollars/month'
What? No. I don't want to.
Okay, well if you really want me to, 
I want to obey, more than to 'be right'
But this does not seem at all right.
And how do I know it is really You speaking?
Is this You? or is it my crazy brain?

I've never been such a reluctant giver
Usually when prompted, it's pretty easy
But this time--No, You couldn't be asking that
(I'm still trying to adjust to so much)

And the idea came
Again and again
As I kept bringing myself before the Lord
And it came today in conversation with them
And it came again when I came home 
And felt again the flood--hurt, anger...

So today I did
I started
I don't want to miss this opportunity

I wonder if it will be a bit of a battle every month
It seems tempting to give for a year all at once
But I think I need to stick with monthly

And I sense
It may be a part of the healing of my heart

So I gave
Reluctant at first, but not later

I started
I don't want to miss this opportunity
To give
To obey
To be a part of the good that may come of later
To know healing
To have my heart transformed
To lay down the hurts, and anger
To refuse to let any bitter roots grow

All I can do...

Not quite sure what's going on with me these days.
Two weeks ago I was relieved when a friend on a call answered the "How are you?" with "I'm not really sure." Nice to not be the only one.

Something's not quite right with my heart.
Not sure why I can't seem to lay this stuff down.
Why do I get so frustrated and angry?
What am I holding on to?
What does it mean to love, to go on?

Yes...I've alluded to it above...I have an idea that what is wrong has to do with needing to learn to love (still), and forgiveness (again, still), and ... 

I'm trying.

I just don't know quite how.

I just don't quite know what to do.

Am I making things too complicated? Maybe, not trying to.
Am I making excuses? Maybe, I hope not.
Am I just resisting? I resist, then I lay it down. I really do not want a heart that harbours bitterness, unforgiveness.

There is a part of me that resists laying it all down because I really think there is something that they need to do, something they need to pay attention to.

But they are not listening. They don't want to know, or respond to my ideas.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm right. I hope I don't care most about being right.

So...I don't quite know where I am right now with this. And I don't quite know what I'm supposed to be doing with it all.

All I can do is keep bringing it all to Jesus. I keep coming. I keep asking. I keep trying to listen. I keep pondering His words: Abide in me. Abide in my love. To abide is to keep my commandments. My commandment is this: love one another. Love is patient, love is kind...it is not puffed up, it doesn't seek it's own will. Love comes from God.

I keep coming to Jesus. I keep coming to God. I keep coming and asking that He'd pour His love into my heart, and show me the way. I keep choosing to forgive. I keep choosing to learn how to love, to really love.

Jesus...

I still wonder

I wonder at You, Jesus
More and more it seems
Even after all the years I have known You
It seems I'm only just now
Starting to really understand
 
Last Saturday night
There she was, telling me off
Angry, ranting
Raising questions about my sense of responsibility
Suggesting my carelessness might cause her death
And the deaths of our students
Raising questions about my motives
All in front of staff, and students
Rudely interrupting an event we were trying to hold
Determined to believe some of her own false information
Making it impossible for us to continue
Putting me in a very awkward place
Yet ultimately making quite a spectacle of herself

Although I found I was shaking
And very angry, right after the event
It soon subsided
And I could see much more quickly
With Your eyes
 
I knew how You would be looking at her
Desiring above all ... reconciliation
You would have compassion and pity
For she is the one most hurt and torn up
By the bitterness, replays of offenses, 
And refusal to forgive

And I could more quickly see my error
More quickly move to apologize

You...
Still amaze me
I still wonder at You
And...
I so want to be like You

Once bitten by a snake...

In Chinese it goes this way:  一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳, translated: a person once bitten by a snake will for ten years shy at a rope.

Sure, I dropped my stone, but it's all still so very sensitive. I flipped, over-reacted, again today.  Oh, it's not just from that long-ago event and related issues, but from another earlier this week that really happened. Today's, was a perception, actually not just perception, but once again, "You did something different from what you said you would do. Can you be trusted at all?"

How do you get over jumping at every little thing that looks like a snake? Is it just a matter of time.  And an ongoing series...of dropping the stone, again, and again. Oh, and apologizing for overreacting...

I drop my stone...

Maybe that's what forgiveness is, just dropping the stone.

I've been wrestling, choosing to forgive, but then wondering if I really have. Is it forgiveness if I still remember? But I may never truly forget. It is the anger that sometimes comes with the remembering that makes me think there is work yet to be done.

And so I have spent much time before the Lord about this. Trying to learn how to forgive, figure out what exactly forgiveness is, and sometimes wondering if I am just playing games to avoid doing what I just need to do.

Forgiveness and trust are two different issues. Okay, so it makes sense that there can be forgiveness, but still a change in the relationship. 

Forgiveness means agreeing to live with the consequences, pay the price, of the wrong that has been done (you have to live with them anyways--just a matter of whether or not you are willing). Okay...so I tried to think through that...what are the consequences? Perhaps listing and mental assent would help.

But then...
I participated in an activity--a "Living Scripture" analogy. It was about the woman caught in adultery--a reading of the passage, then a more personalized interpretive reading. At the end, an activity. 

I knew this activity was coming...I had known for several weeks. I wanted to be able to say, with all integrity "neither do I condemn you".  Ah, but in my heart I do sometimes still condemn (rotten heart of mine), and want to hold onto the condemnation.  NO!! They must go free. They must be forgiven... I kept bringing this before the Lord.

On the day ... I handed the stone, and said, "Neither do I condemn you." (It is a choice to forgive. I can do this. this is my choice.) They looked at me ... not reaching out to take the stone. I asked, "Is there anyone left to condemn you?" They said, "Yes." 

But then I rephrased it, and this is where the new understanding came. "Is there anyone without sin, that can cast the first stone?" (pause) "I am not. I am not without sin, I can't condemn you." The answer to "anyone without sin?"  "Yes, One." But what did He say? He didn't condemn either.

Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

Maybe that's all forgiveness is--dropping the stone. When the memories come, when the anger threatens to surface--remember being there in the crowd, and the One without sin looking at me and saying... and remembering...
 
No, I am not without sin, I have no stone to throw at you. I drop my stone.

I am surprised

I'm surprised at how much still has to die.
I'm not sure I know how to love.
I'm not sure I know how to forgive.

My God...change me...please.

Forgiveness

You told me today...you wonder if I've completely forgiven you.

Thank you.  I'm glad you can say it.

This I need to think about. Father, examine my heart, show me. I definitely DO NOT want to live with unforgiveness--for their sake, for my sake.

It's been a long journey. Painful. Yet so much learned about love and grace and forgiveness. I have forgiven at various points along the way. Then, eight months ago incidents that sparked angry thoughts showed me there was more to forgive. I journalled out my anger to God--the good reasons I had to be angry and not trust and... yes, all valid, but I needed to lay it down, to forgive, to choose to not think about it all. God sees it all, God sees this person, from a different perspective.

I did it. I forgave. I laid it down. Yet even in those days I realized that forgiveness was a continual choice. I have often returned to re-read that journal entry. I will continue to. 

Have I forgotten this now?  Once again, this time of the year brings so many reminders of what happened THEN. All the parts I've heard confessed and processed--I've seen the grief and repentence--those are easy to forgive. They are truly gone, truly forgiven.

Oh God, I am so not like you!

how do You do it?
how do You give so much grace?
constantly pouring it out, on those so undeserving
we're barely even thankful you know
or maybe very thankful today
but in a day or two will have forgotten the wonder

a sinner forgiven
granted new life
free, to rise again
and hope

and it bugs me

oh not totally
I do marvel
and am full of joy at the free hope

but it also bugs me

where do they get off so being light and free
when I'm still weeping over what they've done
so many conversations
so many topics
are a bloody reminder
of the pain
the cost

it's like I want to see them free
but still tied down a little

where is the cure for a heart like mine?

At Best

At best we are beggars
grovelling at your feet of mercy
Oh, but You don't like to see grovelling
So
time and again
You
lift us up, and give us a place to stand
Head hanging, we stand
Lost
Wondering
if there is any usefulness yet to come from this life
this so often straying heart
This heart...so drawn to wander
but so drawn to come back
And the knowing
knowing there is ALWAYS a way back
and a welcome
This I know about You
There is always a welcome
You
always "so ready to forgive"



Glory be, to the God of our yesterdays, the God who is here today, and as tomorrow comes, will still remain faithful, still be offering His love, healing, forgiveness, hope and strength to go on.

(Ps. 86.5, 'God of our Yesterdays' Matt Redman)