Day of Praise

Tu, 01/14/14, "Day of Praise"

1 John 3:20 - "If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

Uuuuuuggggly!

That's what I see when I forget to take off my reading glasses, and I look in the bathroom mirror. Am I twice as big since I'm looking through magnifying glasses? Or am I four times as big since I'm looking through glasses at somebody who's looking through glasses?

All I know is that my eyes look like I'm an iguana. And my hair looks as big as the rainbow-haired dude on TV at pro football games in the 1970's. Through those glasses, everything looks a whole lot worse than it already was.

It's a lot like looking at my own sin through the lens of unbelief. My sin looks huge. Unforgivable. Through the lens of unbelief, I look unlovable to myself and, as best as I can tell, everyone else too.

But faith changes the way I see things. And the way you see things. Through the lens of faith, my sin still looks big, and my sin still makes me ugly. And your sin looks and does the same.

But through the lens of faith, God makes it possible to see something bigger. Something greater. God makes it possible to see the "God [who] is greater than our hearts, and [God] knows everything." (1 John 3:20)

So, yes, God knows my uuuuuuugh. And God knows my ugly. And God knows my sin. And God doesn't like it a bit. Faith doesn't approve, condone, or tolerate my sin or anybody else's. Because God doesn't approve, condone, or tolerate my sin or anybody else's.

But God is greater than my uuuuuugh, my ugly, and my sin.

And he swallows it all into the death and grave of His Son, our Lord and Savior.

And I don't need glasses to see that.

I only need faith in Jesus Christ.

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson