Scripture
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
~Romans 3:23, NLT
Quote
Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.
~Roger Crawford
Have you ever noticed that when you are doing a group photo, everyone fights to be on the back row. Why is this? First of all, it is a pride issue but a deeper issue is our desire to be tall, to stand over the group. Tall people look down on others whereas we who are shorter or forced to look up. No one wants to be looked down on.There are advantages to being tall, especially at football games. The Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote the verse above…all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I believe and I am not alone, that Paul was a dwarf or at least a very short man. This was not his thorn in the flesh but it was an issue. Until his conversion, he went by the name Saul [Hebrew for big] but afterwards he was called Paul [Greek for small]. He was a small man who dreamed of being big. My question is, are we any different? My preferred height would be 6’4 to 6’6. I wouldn’t want to be any taller because I would have to duck going through doors and I would have bruises all over my forehead for forgetting to duck. Back to the family photo: the last one we did included about 26 people and as usual they were fighting to be on the back row but I noticed one of my daughters took a knee with the children. This is what God wants all of us to do, take a knee and eventually we will.
Truth is– and the LORD knows– we don’t always like the truth, “We are all short.” Do you really think you are tall or a big man? Wait till you stand beside Jesus; you will feel like an ant or a flea. None of us measure up to God’s glorious standard. I like the New English Bible’s version of our text… For all alike have sinned, and are deprived of the divine splendor. The word deprived means to suffer from a lack of something important. Yesterday in my prayer time, I became overwhelmed by my own inadequacy. Spiritually speaking, I am a dwarf. I put a whole new meaning on the term “Come short.” As I was feeling the weight of my own sin and inadequacy, I cried out to God, “When am I going to measure up?” He said clearly, “Not in this life time. If you could measure up, I would not have sent My son, and if you could measure up, you would not admire Him so; you would worship yourself instead of Him.” The only thing I can do is confess the truth: God has it fixed, everything is grace so that Jesus gets all the glory. Personally, I have no problem with taking the knee and Him getting the glory.
Best comment on yesterday’s Blog comes for Sir Michael Hembree…he texted…“Good blog for a man of your intelligence.” I am still laughing. Best joke came from Chloe bug as we sat around the fire pit last night. She asked me why gorilla’s had such big nostrils and I said, “so they can breath better.” She said no, “It is because they have such fat fingers.” Get it, picking their nose, etc. By the way, Chloe Bug won the spelling bee in first grade but had to compete with 3rd and 4th in the finals. She did’t win there but we are proud of her. Imagine one of my grands winning a spelling bee: I can’t spell cat. It is all grace.
My sister Holly went home last night. Jean Smith may go home if they can get physical therapy lined up. Ralph Glenn is better but still in DMH. My friend Phillip in Cleveland is not any better. We have a much longer list of those recovering at home. Some are doing well and some are hanging in there. We will be outside at Grace Point for the rest of 2020 and we will begin the new year outside. Our service begins a 9:00 a.m. Enjoy your Saturday. If you hurry, you may get a few things done before the rain. What about yesterday and last night? I wouldn’t mind a month of those kind of days.