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Jan
31
Written by:
Spence Hackney
1/31/2006 8:19 AM
The idea of "God's economy" has figured into my thoughts a lot
lately. What I mean by this idea of God's economy is that God has completely different
valuations of things than we do. In Matthew 5 God lauds the
meek while the world admires the strong. God blesses the
peacemakers and the persecuted, while the world claps for the
victor. "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say
all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Salt and Light
(Matthew 5:3-12 NIV)
Lately I have tried to read the scriptures through this lens of God's
economy. Today I went back over the end of chapter 1 in Romans:
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness,
evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife,
deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, Godhaters, insolent,
arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey
their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
(Romans 1:29-31 NIV)
Did you see it? God put gossiping and disobeying your parents in
the same list as murderers! If we were putting together a list of
things that resulted from a depraved mind would we include these two
things? I doubt it...but remember this is God's economy....God's
valuation system, and he does things differently that we do.
Even at 2 years old, my son disobeys us. Does this
mean that he is depraved? I have gossiped in the past week or
so? Am I depraved? YES! I am depraved. My son is depraved. Sin is
in our human natures. If left to my own devices apart from God I
exhibit many of the traits that are listed in these verses.
Sadly enough, my son is depraved too, and has been since birth.
OK...so what can we do about this?
This is where grace comes in. This 5-letter word is possibly the
sweetest in the English language. Grace allows us to be forgiven
and for a depraved, disobedient, lying, gossip to be welcomed into the
true family of God. By the ultimate show of God's grace, the
sacrifice of His son, he has made us perfect and we are no longer held in bondage by our depraved heart.
Day after day every priest stands and performs his
religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which
can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time
one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since
that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by
one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made
holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
"This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says
the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on
their minds." Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there
is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have
confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw
near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our
bodies washed with pure water.
(Hebrews 10:11-22)
God forgives us for doing all of the evil things that we do with the
simple admonition that we are to continually strive for perfection in
our day to day life just as the sacrifice of Jesus' life has made us perfect in God's eyes.
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
(Matthew 5:48)
I don't know about you, but this changes things for me. To know
that
I, at my core, am depraved, but that God has made me "perfect" is
almost too much to comprehend. To be welcomed into his family
because of God's good grace, this is incomprehensible in the human
economy, but it makes perfect sense in God's economy.
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Zechariah 7:9-10
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart."
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