Can you imagine meeting someone for the first time standing entirely unclothed and not feeling at least self-conscious about it, if not royally embarrassed?
Everything Made Good
Tag: creation
Nonconformity: Does It Even Matter?
Because of grace, there are no excuses for sinful living. Only, God is for us. Not against us. Too often we live the Christian life expecting ourselves to be more perfect then even God expects us to be. As if holiness is something we are to accomplish before we have peace with Him. But that matter was taken care of by Christ on the Cross. We have peace, period. We can now live in relationship with God, and it is from that relationship we find the ability to live as He designed, to obey Him from the heart instead of obligation as they did under the Old Testament Law.
We still live in a fallen world, though, bound by a fallen nature. Living as He designed goes contrary to our nature. We have been grafted in—we’re not a part of the trunk that gave us root. It feels more natural to live without Him.
It is within this context that Paul is writing in Roman’s twelve.
How to Know Your Calling
We all long for a sense of meaning. Until you and I get a picture for how we individually fit into God’s plan of reconciliation, we will always settle for lesser pleasures that give just enough fulfillment for us to sense deep meaning.
Knowing a lot about God and what He created us to do doesn’t motivate us to actually do it anymore than knowing how to churn butter motivates us to churn it ourselves. Knowing our calling isn’t so much about learning facts as it is discovering God’s work in our lives.
Until we discover His work in our lives, the pleasures that following Him requires us to give up will always have a greater pull on our hearts then Jesus Christ Himself.
What I Believe About Creation
I announced earlier that I am starting a study on church: its purpose, how it should function, and the relationships therein. As I study, I’ll write at least one post a month about what I’m learning. To kick everything off, I felt it valuable to go back to the very beginning of that which makes up the church—mankind.
Over the next five posts I will be doing a series on what it means to live a life that matters. This series is not an in-depth exposition, rather a basic understanding of why man was made and God’s plan for him throughout his life. We’re going to start with creation, then look at salvation, then discuss the church, and end the series with two posts focused on ourselves individually and how we find our place in God’s eternal story.
In order to live a life that truly matters, you and I must first understand a few things about our creation.
