Grace or Guilt
When Pastor Don Conley asked me to try my hand at a blog on the weekly sermon topic, my response was that I was a sinner, and that some of my sins were not dark secrets, but very public. The pastor told me we are all sinners in need of a Savior and that’s why he wanted me to give this a try.
Because of my years at the newspaper, I am more experienced as a writer than I am at reading the Scriptures. In the past few years, I have been delving into the Bible with the aid of a spiritual adviser who lives in Falling Waters, W.Va. I had occasion to call on him recently after something I read on my Bible app.
When going through the four gospels again, I noticed that when Jesus healed someone, he told the person healed not to speak of it. Why would He do that, I wondered.
My adviser did not know, but promised to consult a woman who was well-versed in such matters. Her answer was that Jesus came primarily to teach, not to heal. That also answered my question about why Jesus came in a time when there was no communications technology to speak of. Had he come in the age of television, I reasoned, his arrival would have been a media circus, as opposed to the appearance of a spiritual teacher.
This week’s sermon features the Apostle Paul, who was not called away from his job as a fisherman. He was a persecutor of Christians and preparing to do as bad or worse to the next batch he came across. Then, as he traveled the road to Damascus, he was knocked off his feet and asked why he was persecuting the Lord. He was struck blind and led into the city, where he prayed and fasted for three days.
Now it does not say what prayer he said, but I would guess it was what we call a foxhole prayer, as in “Dear Lord, get me out of this jam and I won’t do bad things any more.” And if Paul said such a thing, his prayer was answered. Ananias gave him God’s blessing and he recovered his sight and became one of the most powerful preachers of Jesus’ word.
“now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
In Romans 8, Paul writes to those he hopes to see when he reaches the imperial city. He begins by saying there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
This a gift, freely given by God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. But it is not a prize like a Mega Millions jackpot that comes with no strings. Want to buy 10 fancy cars with your lottery winnings? Go ahead. If you’ve got the cash, they’ll sell them to you.
But this gift from God does require us to be ‘in Christ.” I can’t be “in Christ” if you worship money or power. I have to be in the family of Jesus and follow him faithfully. When IU’m tempted to sin, I have to stop and think “I can’t do this because I am with Jesus now. I’m leaving all of those material goods behind for a better life.”
Easy to say, hard to do. When Pastor Don speaks from the pulpit, I am inspired to live the right way. But when I’m at Walmart and an employee is acting like he’s in charge of the D-Day invasion when he’s just letting people into the store gradually, I want to say something mean, to puncture his haughty attitude. I am fortunate that the experiences of the past few years have given me a 10-second delay. Then I remember that he has a job to do and people to answer to, just as I do.
When I am out in the world, I am with many people who aren’t in Jesus’ family. If I want to bring them in with me, I have to behave like a loving Christian. There are many tests out in the world, but if I fail, some may conclude that all Christians are hypocrites.
In the early 1990s, a top official of the United Way was found to be using donated money improperly. Many saw that as evidence that the whole organization was corrupt. Not so. The local agencies had no more to do with that than the corner grocer has to do with the big grocery chains. But donations to local drives fell anyway. I have free will. I can choose to be sarcastic and mean or I can be a loving follower of Jesus. It’s my choice. I pray I always make the right one.
