Friday, September 23, 2005
Where do you get your praise?
Romans 2:29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and HIS PRAISE IS NOT FROM MEN, BUT FROM GOD.
I think the verse above with the main point in large caps describes what is going on with those who don't understand how God relates to man. In the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector, the pharisee is looking to his good works as compared with the tax collector's, to basically praise himself instead of getting his praise from God.
If the pharisee in the parable or a lost person today understood that God loved him just because God is God(God is Love) and we are His creation, then he could be honest with God about his sin and his praise would be coming from God instead of himself or other men. He is stumbling over the stumbling stone of the unconditional love in Christ.
John 3:21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be revealed as having been wrought(worked) in God."
The pharisee was not practicing the truth that he was a depraved man on the inside and only God can make his deeds good. Jesus said our good deeds only come thru Him; John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me."
The bottom line is, when we don't believe God loves us unconditionally then we have to find something in ourselves to justify being loved by God or anyone else. This was Cains downfall. Cain didn't believe God loved him just as he was, mistakes and all. So Cain who was a tiller of the ground brought an offering that he himself helped create thinking that God would owe him His love because of his "work" or performance. God had no regard for this. Cain was not getting his praise from God, he was proud of his own work to God and stumbled over Gods grace and sins desire for him caused jelousy toward Abel and he killed him.
I believe all the things that we call sin are the result of not believing God loves each of us unconditionally. When we don't believe this in our heart, then the other sins are the results our flesh. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans when he says walk by the Spirit(unconditional love of God) and you won't satisfy the desires of the flesh.
Adam & Eve didn't believe God and ATE from the tree of knowledge. Today we don't believe God and refuse to DRINK from the spiritual rock of Christ.
Why doesn't everyone drink? Because this rock is a rock of offense, a stumbling stone to those like Cain who cannot lay down their pride of good works to gain Gods love unconditionally.
So where do you get your praise?
I have to say that I still want and do get my praise from men more than I do from God most of the time. Help me Lord Jesus and change this in my life, because this will truly set me free.
I think the verse above with the main point in large caps describes what is going on with those who don't understand how God relates to man. In the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector, the pharisee is looking to his good works as compared with the tax collector's, to basically praise himself instead of getting his praise from God.
If the pharisee in the parable or a lost person today understood that God loved him just because God is God(God is Love) and we are His creation, then he could be honest with God about his sin and his praise would be coming from God instead of himself or other men. He is stumbling over the stumbling stone of the unconditional love in Christ.
John 3:21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be revealed as having been wrought(worked) in God."
The pharisee was not practicing the truth that he was a depraved man on the inside and only God can make his deeds good. Jesus said our good deeds only come thru Him; John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me."
The bottom line is, when we don't believe God loves us unconditionally then we have to find something in ourselves to justify being loved by God or anyone else. This was Cains downfall. Cain didn't believe God loved him just as he was, mistakes and all. So Cain who was a tiller of the ground brought an offering that he himself helped create thinking that God would owe him His love because of his "work" or performance. God had no regard for this. Cain was not getting his praise from God, he was proud of his own work to God and stumbled over Gods grace and sins desire for him caused jelousy toward Abel and he killed him.
I believe all the things that we call sin are the result of not believing God loves each of us unconditionally. When we don't believe this in our heart, then the other sins are the results our flesh. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans when he says walk by the Spirit(unconditional love of God) and you won't satisfy the desires of the flesh.
Adam & Eve didn't believe God and ATE from the tree of knowledge. Today we don't believe God and refuse to DRINK from the spiritual rock of Christ.
Why doesn't everyone drink? Because this rock is a rock of offense, a stumbling stone to those like Cain who cannot lay down their pride of good works to gain Gods love unconditionally.
So where do you get your praise?
I have to say that I still want and do get my praise from men more than I do from God most of the time. Help me Lord Jesus and change this in my life, because this will truly set me free.
Comments:
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Kris as I read this I realized that your perspective on our accepting His unconditional love for us is parallel to our need to be accepted by him. When we seek the praise of men we’re trying to fill a void that can only be filled by being accepted by God, or as you illustrated here, by accepting His unconditional love.
Your exactly right kc.
What is the ole saying "you can please some of the people all the time and you can please all the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time."
Seeking praise from men for our self-worth is a dead end street.
Believing and knowing God loves us unconditionally truly is the "pearl of great price"
Thanks for your comments and encouraging me to blog.
What is the ole saying "you can please some of the people all the time and you can please all the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time."
Seeking praise from men for our self-worth is a dead end street.
Believing and knowing God loves us unconditionally truly is the "pearl of great price"
Thanks for your comments and encouraging me to blog.
Kris,
I agree with you, too. And it got me to thinking. One thing that a lot of people forget about is that what makes God's love and grace so wonderful is that He is also a holy and just God. It's not only that I don't deserve God's love and Christ's sacrifice for my sins, but that what I deserve is the wrath that He suffered on the cross because of me. I deserve God's wrath and anger and torments in hell for what I've done. It's humbling that the Christ that loves me so, went through all that for me. He deserves the praise and glory. Now that I'm a believer, the only praise I want is "Well done, good and faithful servant," fully knowing that it's only well done because of the work He's done in me. With that type of praise and the Praise Giver, who cares about praise from men.
I agree with you, too. And it got me to thinking. One thing that a lot of people forget about is that what makes God's love and grace so wonderful is that He is also a holy and just God. It's not only that I don't deserve God's love and Christ's sacrifice for my sins, but that what I deserve is the wrath that He suffered on the cross because of me. I deserve God's wrath and anger and torments in hell for what I've done. It's humbling that the Christ that loves me so, went through all that for me. He deserves the praise and glory. Now that I'm a believer, the only praise I want is "Well done, good and faithful servant," fully knowing that it's only well done because of the work He's done in me. With that type of praise and the Praise Giver, who cares about praise from men.
# posted by 
: 10:50 PM
: 10:50 PM
Polly,
Well said. Thank you very much for your comments.
I agree with you the gospel is not good news without the bad news concerning us and our sin.
I have said the following statement before:
Grace without truth is worthless or powerless for salvation. But truth without grace is a doctrine of the devil and many "religions" practice it. Grace & truth were realized through Jesus Christ who came to fullfill the law.
Grace & Peace
Well said. Thank you very much for your comments.
I agree with you the gospel is not good news without the bad news concerning us and our sin.
I have said the following statement before:
Grace without truth is worthless or powerless for salvation. But truth without grace is a doctrine of the devil and many "religions" practice it. Grace & truth were realized through Jesus Christ who came to fullfill the law.
Grace & Peace
Kris,
All of these comments are much better points than what I could say. I really enjoyed this post! In fact that portion from chapter two of romans is the most powerful verse that I have used to fight aberrant Christianity.
The end of Romans 2 flips our idea of righteousness on its head. It says that faith is completely sufficient for righteousness... at least to me.
I also am a big fan of that part from john 3. That's another key truth that set me on my way to a free grace explanation of the gospel. Repentance from sin can never be a requirement for receiving eternal life. No one will come into the light and receive eternal life because their sins are evil. But when all measurement of what is known as "evil" is removed (the law is crucified, that is, the gospel message), we are free to come into the light and find Life because that which could have criticized us has been removed.
I am so pleased to see someone talking about that passage (Romans 2). I have never heard other Christians give it any time at all. When I came here and read this, I rejoiced!
Thank you for bringing me here. Got any more like this?
-Michele
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All of these comments are much better points than what I could say. I really enjoyed this post! In fact that portion from chapter two of romans is the most powerful verse that I have used to fight aberrant Christianity.
The end of Romans 2 flips our idea of righteousness on its head. It says that faith is completely sufficient for righteousness... at least to me.
I also am a big fan of that part from john 3. That's another key truth that set me on my way to a free grace explanation of the gospel. Repentance from sin can never be a requirement for receiving eternal life. No one will come into the light and receive eternal life because their sins are evil. But when all measurement of what is known as "evil" is removed (the law is crucified, that is, the gospel message), we are free to come into the light and find Life because that which could have criticized us has been removed.
I am so pleased to see someone talking about that passage (Romans 2). I have never heard other Christians give it any time at all. When I came here and read this, I rejoiced!
Thank you for bringing me here. Got any more like this?
-Michele
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