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You know, if I didn't know the proper answer to today's verse question, Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? I would quietly question it with a question as I sheepishly raised my hand from the back row and answered, "uh, yes?" because who wouldn't want more grace? Fortunately, we know that once we've been forgiven, we have grace...ALWAYS; and if we sin again, once we confess with a truly repentent heart, we are forgiven AGAIN. This is not to say we can go around sinning all the time and then repenting. But it does mean that IF we sin again, and IF we confess with a truly repentent heart, WE ARE FORGIVEN under God's Grace!! Remember that ol' saying, hmmm, let's see, where was it where I read...oh yeah, THE BIBLE! It's kind of interesting, too, how much this is like the Golden Rule... Matthew 18:21 (New International Version)The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant 21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. 29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' 30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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I suppose the open ended question could be rephrased, "Does receiving such amazing grace motivate us to sin more, or less?" Great thoughts Leigh! |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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Hi Leigh and everyone: I believe the question is answered in following verses. Of course we shouldn't continue in sin! How could we, we have been completely set free from it in Christ. So that's the real point; not that we are justified by faith and so it doesn't matter if we sin or not. But grace has also been given that actually demands that we no longer give ourselves to sin but present our members to God and consider ourselves to be dead to sin, dead to the law, dead to the world, and alive to God in Christ. If we sin then we have an advocate and only need to confess [say the same thing as God] our sin as being sin and He's faithful and just to cleans us from all sin. It also means that we have to take full responsibility for our having sinned and to take full responsibility for believing that we need not do that sin again because we have been immersed into the death of Christ and our flesh, with it's passions and desires really has been crucified [executed]! Christ is now our life and we now depend up him to be our goodness, to live the life that we never could and never will be able to--in the flesh! A great book about all this: Grace: the Power to Change. Blessings!
Craig |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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Everyone gets an apple today. I loved this blog Leigh, and, we have the same wonderful friends, too,... I see. And yes, to all of you. I have to put it in little guy words, though,.. hehe. You and I CAN'T stop sinning,... really,... SPECIALLY, if that is what our focus is on. However, out of our love for God, and His Love (Grace) for us, we will sin less,... and less,...
We can't be sinless, but in Grace,... we will sin less. Born and raised as a heathen,.. there is still much the Holy Spirit hasn't shown me is wrong yet. You see, I recieve victory over one thing,... or two,... and then He says, "now Preston, this thing about throwing trash out the window once in a while,... Stop,... OK,... I love you".
Then, I usually say,... Oh my, I never thought of that as a sin. I believe that no matter how pure I seem to get,... He, My Father, seems to have one more thing to change. But I gotta stay focused on Him and not the sin. Amen? I love you. |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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oops. forgot the star thing. |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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| Amen! Thank you, Earthen Vessel for that further insight! Mike, thank you for always reading my little posts and adding your similar thoughts. I used to write for a newspaper here and got to live out my childhood dream of being a writer, over 700 articles later, and my own column, I was burned out. Now, I just want to be a "phrase" or "caption" writer it seems! The less words, the better! lol! Preston, thank you so much for your insight, too!!! It's so great how God keeps us humble, isn't it? God is sooo GOOD! |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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Amen... echoing Preston's comment |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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| Great message :) |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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I say amen to Preston's response also. Love you, Leigh & God bless you. |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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| Thank you, Pandabear!!! I just wanna hug you someday! ;o) |
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| June 15, 2009 |
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And if we don't forgive others, our Father in heaven won't forgive us. Ouch! Great motivation, eh? Maybe "they" don't deserve it, but neither do we. |
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