Category Archives: Forgiveness

41 things married people ought to know

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My longtime friend Jim Martin is a minister of the gospel in Waco TX, and writes what is, according to recent stats, the #9 “Church of Christ blog”. Jim began a series of articles yesterday titled 41 Things Married People Ought to Know. In part 1 he lists the first 10, including these 5:

  1. Married people are called to move away from self-centeredness and toward self-lessness.
  2. Jesus can be disruptive to a marriage and family.
  3. Married people can become very lazy with one another.
  4. Every marriage has some kind of atmosphere.
  5. Something is very wrong when a married couple claims a commitment to Jesus and belongs to a church, but they have never allowed Jesus to have any kind of practical impact on their marriage.

Each of these has some bit of explanation as to why it’s on the list, so I encourage you to read the article on Jim’s blog A Place for the God-Hungry, where you can see what else is in the first 10. You’ll want to check back to see what the other 31 are too!

Humility is seeing ourselves as God sees us

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I saw that quote on a church sign recently. You know the ones — these are the signs that have quippy sayings that are intended to make you think, and sometimes make you groan. Like most quotes, some are better than others. This one got my attention though, because I wasn’t sure if I agreed with it or not.

How do you think God sees you?

Let me ask you this — if I had a huge, ugly brown spot on my back, would you ever know about this blemish if every time you saw me I was wearing a shirt? Scripture tells me that at the time I was baptized, I was clothed with Christ.

26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:26-27

Therefore, since I am clothed with Christ, whenever God looks at me He sees Jesus. He doesn’t see the blemishes that abound — the blemishes that Jesus’ blood washed clean (1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7). He sees me as pure and spotless as the day I was born.

And this brings up another question — if God sees us as being clothed with Christ, and doesn’t see our blemishes, shouldn’t we see His children in the same state? How easy it is to focus on each others’ dirty laundry and blemishes, when we should see our fellow life-strugglers as washed clean with the same blood as we have been.

So, back to the original quote and the question it provoked — is humility seeing ourselves as God sees us? I think not. “Humility is seeing ourselves as we would be without Jesus.” How’s that for a re-write?

Living without sin — it IS possible!

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8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.…10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1 John 1:8, 10

That seems pretty clear — we all sin. That’s exactly what Paul wrote to the Romans as well — “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). That word “all” is pretty inclusive.

Ok, so no argument there. I’m a sinner. But I want to be this guy: “…the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him” (Psalm 32:2, quoted in Romans 4:8).

Quick recap: No one can claim to be without sin. If we claim we haven’t sinned, we’re calling God a liar. There is someone who, when he sins, God doesn’t count it against him.

Do I have that straight? Because it’s not really adding up.

It’s not adding up because I’m not considering the whole context. Let’s see that 1 John passage again:

5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1 John 1:5-10

“All have sinned”, but if we don’t see ourselves as sinners, we have no need to confess anything (v. 9), do we? I believe John is telling us that if you’re “living in the light”, as opposed to “living in darkness” (v. 6), your focus is on Jesus rather than on yourself, and you’re living for Him rather than for yourself. If that is the case, then you are the one “whose sin the Lord will never count against him” (Psalm 32:2). Therefore in a very real sense you can claim, through the victory of Jesus, that you have no sin because Jesus has taken it away! Those who claim because of their own pride and their own goodness that they have no sin — they are deceived indeed, and have no truth in them (v. 8).