The Salvation That We Get (song)

It can never be overstated how much salvation is all the free gift of God. While I do believe there is a call upon humanity to respond to the offer He's made, it's important to note that even that response is something The Holy Spirit evokes as a result of The Father drawing us to The Son as He is lifted up. We contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation in the way of works. Sometimes this can become a mighty, mighty stumbling stone, boss- but it's something we must accept. And that is a very good thing indeed because none of us are good enough on our own strength to make it to Heaven. God says the requirement for entry is perfection (Matthew 5:48) and only Jesus has met that. He died and rose to pay for our sins. There's no need to scavenge about to scrape up good deeds to earn anything from God because we can't do enough. We never have to knock on wood because The Saviour got on wood for us- we just have to receive by faith the salvation that we get.

"The Salvation That We Get"
(Parody of "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 5/7/2019)
(John 3:16-17, Romans 10:9, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Psalms 14, Psalms 53, Psalms 130, Matthew 5:48, Leviticus 11:45, Romans 3 (particularly verse 23), Romans 6, Romans 5:1-11, 1 Corinthians 10:12, 2 Peter 3, Isaiah 2:22, Isaiah 64:6, Isaiah 53:6, Hebrews 12)

Have you ever friend zoned a (child) prodigy?
Wanda chose that fork- Doog's sad
Have you ever felt they're vain (and) infallible?
Hey, Vinnie- how do you match? Oh!
Well, they've never actually walked on water
But I know Someone who has
Which makes Him One above the rest
It means He's the One Direction
Everyone else- not so good
And I'm glad for Romans 5 and 6
Because though we're all nothing good
Justification is God's gift
Tall you may now stand but God's stacked up so high
Your puny strength won't pass the test
Or as Leviticus 11:45
You've got to be like our God- perfect! Yo!
Well, I measure up as not so good
And I know everyone is bad
It makes me wonder how we could
Put faith in blundering I-
There's the bad news- no one's good
And I'm sad some haven't read
Psalms- 53rd.- there is none good
With one Exception- God Jesus!
If God was counting our sins, no one would be standing
I'd like to thank The Lord Jesus He holds fast
Look at the text- 2 Peter 3- grow in grace of Christ
Might think you tower
Be afraid of that- you might fall down
(I've) never had to knock on wood
'Cause I know Romans 5 says
(By) His grace I stand here 'cause He's good
Amazing wonderful grace- (I'm) ever bad so God's my good
(In) resisting bad, I haven't bled
But rest assured He has withstood
The crucifixion I should get
Never sinned but our Saviour got on wood
'Cause you know Son of God Jesus
Replaced me on the cross of wood
He took my sin there and I'm reconciled through what the Saviour accomplished good
To restore us back to good
(He) took all bad and conquered death
That's the salvation that we get!

Undue Pressure (song)

(Note: I'm pulling a few more classics out of the archive. My last post referenced the lines I used in this parody so it only seemed fitting to post this next. I've included my original introduction from 2009 below. Since I had two others that seemed in a similar category of lyric-tweaking that already seemed to be such a good fit to talk about The Lord, I will post those other two soon too.)

   Okay, this one talks about the pressure people put on themselves in trying to live up to God's standards. This is what Martin Luther finally had to learn- no matter what penance we make or what we do trying to measure up- we never can. And we never have to for salvation- God has taken care of it already through Jesus' death and Resurrection. When we put our faith in Him, we are saved by grace and that's all there is to it! Nothing can ever change that! And nothing will ever change His love for us. So don't put undue pressure on yourself- Jesus has done the job. It is finished! :-)

"Undue Pressure" (parody of "Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Queen)
(parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 9/13/2009)
(2 Corinthians 4:3-4, 6:2, Hebrews 10:1-18, Titus 3:4-9, Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 1:18, Deuteronomy 26:12-19, Deuteronomy 28-30, 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, Matthew 25:1-13, Romans 2:1-4, Romans 10:1-13, Romans 8:1-17, Romans 5:8, John 3:3-16, John 14:6, Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 10:32-39, Matthew 25:29-30, Isaiah 64:6, Jeremiah 29:13, 33:3)

Pressure- Deuteronomy
In the Pentateuch- Romans 10:4
And we're measured- that burns up kindling now
Splits a family in two
Means gnashing of teeth

(Well, OK)
It's real terror not knowing what this world is about
Watching some good friends scream, "Help me out"
Take the wrong road- get the fire
Pressure on people in their own strength

(OK)
Sticking around, take my blame the Cross affords
This is the Way- I never change but ignore

People's own strength- gnashing of teeth

It's real terror not knowing if good works are enough
Watch as five virgins scream, "Open up!"
Faith in God though- just read Titus 3:5 to 9!
Pressure off people and their own strength

Turned away from God's law like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with God but He's so trashed and scorned
Why? Why? Why?
Love (x5)

Our vanity laughs- in 10 Hebrews- get cracking
Can't we give verse 12 one more glance?
We can't pull up by our bootstraps!
Why can't we
(let go, let God) (x4)?

'Cause trust's such an old-fashioned word
And God dares you to call forth and He will send (some) greatness in reply
And God dares you to change today from scarlet to snow- think now
Jesus, our slain Lamb
Death is now past tense
Jesus beat Hell- He's our Savior! - unearned favor- treasure!

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Just a Note- 2nd. St. John (song)

As Christmas approaches this year, the classic Christmas song that I have thought about a lot that I think really sums up the main point of the holiday so well comes to mind- "Love Came Down at Christmas". Indeed, God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (See John 3:16) There is no greater love than the love God has for us all. He proved that by sending Jesus to die for our sins and rise again. (Romans 5:8) And some of the most verses we have about love in The Bible come from the books of 1st. John, 2nd. John and 3rd. John. I have a trilogy of song parodies I've written about each book and I wanted to post that as a Christmas gift here this year. Funnily enough, I wrote them in reverse order- a song about 3rd. John, then one about 2nd. John and then one about 1st. John. They're all from the 1970s and so there's that theme common to them along with the theme of Love Divine. The Apostle John gives us just a note that's pretty short in 2nd. John but it speaks volumes about real Christian love and hospitality. It really is just an old fashioned love song as we're reminded that the command to love isn't a new one, but an old one. It's just what Jesus told us- love God with all you've got and love your neighbour as yourself. Then when others can see love right in front of them like that, they're drawn all the more to the Saviour. So read in 2nd. John and listen to this song!


Just a Note- 2nd. St. John
(parody of "An Old Fashioned Love Song" by Paul Williams as performed by Three Dog Night; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 9/19/2016)
(2 John, 1 John 3:23, 1 John 4:18-21, 3 John 1:4-8, John 13:34-35, 2 Timothy 3:16, 1 Corinthians 13)

Just a note fashioned by John
Gave it to the lady- yo!
And wrapped up in 13 verses
It expounds on 1 John's love theme- not new, but old
Look there- you've heard it before
3:23 1 John
Reread then bring it on back
To 1:5-6 2 John

Just an old-fashioned love gong
Read 1 Corinthians in 13
Just an old commandment- Love all
John wrote down a 3-part love treatise

So read in 2 John and listen
How it's pleasing when kids walk in Truth
Obey The Lord- that's love, my dear
'Cause many bad deceivers deny Christ's come in flesh
Take care to win full reward
If any leave teachings and go on
Don't greet or bring 'em inside
'Cause they were never really God's

Just a note- 2nd. St. John
Coming about in late first century
Just a note fashioned by John
One I'm sure God wrote for you and me
Holy Ghost impressed it on John
2 Tim. 3:16 calls it God-breathed
Cool to know- fastest read, son
One that's shortest note in Bible- read!

So read in 2 John and listen to this song

Just an old law- love all now
Like that old song
To be sure, they'll know by our loving
Just like God's Son told us now
13 in John
34- He spoke to you and me

Just a note- 2nd. St. John
So look out! Fakes prey on hospitality
Host an old-fashioned love-in
But be sure they hold to Christ's teachings

Got a whole lot to write on
Don't want now to use paper and ink
Hope to go flesh it out some
Come to your door and make our joy complete
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House Cleaning

         A thought came to mind one day when I was cleaning my new-ish apartment. I was thinking about how we clean our apartments and houses so well when we know company is coming because we want everything to be neat and nice for them. It's interesting to consider how social media becomes that way as well- it's like our house that we want to keep clean for others in some regard. (Thus, the sometimes felt obligation to respond to comments with likes and more comments, etc.) Now we should feel free to be ourselves on our own social media account and be our honest selves- and everyone should be able to listen to each other and experience that honesty and either agree or disagree with it, but still respect and love each other. 
          Of course, just as we take care of our physical houses in anticipation of company and our virtual houses as well, we should take care of our physical bodies, which is our spiritual house, if you will. "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) [This is assuming you have given your heart and life to Jesus and made Him Lord of your life personally.] 
           Jesus uses a house as a spiritual picture in at least two places that came to mind for me. In Matthew 7:24-27, He compares those who hear His words and put them into practice to a wise man who builds his house upon the rock and it stands firm against the floods and rains. (Likewise, He compares those who hear His words and don't put them into practice like a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand and the winds and rain beat it down flat.)
          In Matthew 12:43-45 and Luke 11:24-26, Jesus uses another picture of a house. In this case, He talks about what it's like when an unclean spirit leaves a person and passes through water-less places in search of rest but finding none. Eventually the evil spirit says that it'll return to the house from which it came. When this happens, it finds the house empty, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and finds 7 spirits more evil than itself and they enter and dwell there- and the last state of that person is worse than the first. Jesus says so also it will be with this evil generation. Again, we have the same message here. It's one thing to claim faith in Christ and seemingly try to sweep the house clean and get things in order. But if we don't truly put faith in Him and prove it by putting His words into action, then we're actually worse off (particularly when those eight demons come looking for room and board.)
As Jesus asks in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord' and not do what I tell you?" (If you go on to read Luke 6:47-49, you will see that the parable of the wise and foolish man is repeated here too.) Also check Luke 6:43-45 - Good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks! Of course, none of us are truly good. No one is good but God Himself.
            And that's the whole point of Jesus coming in the first place. None of us are good and none of us can be good. We need the only good One to come and be good for us- which Jesus did by fulfilling all of The Law (Matthew 5:17) and bringing an end to The Law's hold on us (as Romans 10:4 declares) through His sacrificial death on the cross. He paid for all our sins through that. And then He rose again to prove He's God. We can avoid the punishment of sin (which is Hell) when we put our faith in Jesus and follow Him- obey His commands. (I say this to emphasize that salvation entails more than just mental assent to Christ's claims. It involves the surrendering of the heart and life to Christ and putting all faith in His grace given us through the cross of Calvary. Then, we should obey Christ out of gratefulness to Him for the saving work He has already done. But note that the salvation comes through faith alone in His grace alone- it's not by works. However, if we truly have real faith in Christ, the good works should come as a natural outflow of response to Christ- not as a misguided attempt to earn God's forgiveness or pay Him back. We can't and we never have to do so- God loves us all like crazy and He gives us His grace freely! (But to be clear, it cost God plenty- but it is free to us. Therefore, freely you have received, so freely give.)
          Thus, as Jesus told us in John 14:15, if you love Me, you will obey Me. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Praise God for His love! :-) Keep loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. And speak the Truth in Love. God bless. 
            To carry the picture even further, 1 Peter 4:17-19 says, "For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of God? And 'If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?' Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."
            Again, the commandment is there to be doing good, but this is not a prerequisite for salvation. We entrust our souls to a faithful Creator who saves us by grace- then empowers us to do the good works He wanted us to do all along. But if He brings judgment first to the house of God, what will happen for the ungodly and the sinner? We must seek to keep the house of God in order and be holy unto The Lord through His power- and lovingly seek to rescue the perishing, so that they may come to know Jesus' love and grace too.            
               In Luke 12:35-48 (and other places), Jesus gives us the picture of servants called to be faithful to their master while he's gone. They know he will return one day and he will come on a day unexpected- and the servant that is not taking care of the house will be cut in piece and put with the unfaithful. Jesus uses this picture a number of times in warning us to stay awake and be ready for the Son of Man's return, for He is coming at an hour we do not expect.           
               "Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and Godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." (2 Peter 3:11-18)(Love how Peter gives a shout out to his brother Paul here. :-))              
               And I love how The Holy Spirit inspired him to write all this down for us and remind us to make every effort to be found without spot or blemish, but at the same time we know that we are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's the One who really helps make us with spot or blemish more so every day! (Philippians 1:6) And while we are waiting and watching for Jesus' return, we must continue to be working as well. We seek to keep our houses clean for His glory and out of gratitude to Him, and also so that Christ may be exalted and lifted up in our lives- and Jesus said when that happens, He will draw all men to Himself. It's He who draws us all to Himself to begin with in any case. But He can definitely use us to help draw others to Him. So every day, from here forward to the day of His glorious appearing, we seek to live each day for His glory, loving Him with all we've got and loving our neighbors as ourselves and sharing His love with others, with gentleness and respect. And we trust in His grace always- knowing that His grace saved us, is still saving us and will save us in the end. Praise The Lord!              
               I also wanted to note that a lot of this is inspired at least some by "My Heart- Christ's Home" by Robert Boyd Munger, the basics of which I remember my youth pastor explaining to me in youth group a few scant years ago. That picture still works so well in explaining how Jesus cleans out every single part of us and gives us an extreme makeover because He traded spaces with us on the cross and rose again.  :-)
                I'm so thankful for my youth pastor for the time he took to invest in me and help disciple me in following Christ more. And I'm thankful for all the others God has sent me at times to help expand me in my understanding of what it means to love and follow Jesus and open my eyes to places where perhaps I had turned a blind eye to before. God is really good at making you see all kinds of stuff that you hadn't considered before- probably on account of His thoughts and ways being so much higher than our own (Isaiah 55:8-9)- there is always so much more to learn. That's what the sanctification process takes from here to eternity to complete- but God is faithful and He will do it! He will present us before Himself pure and blameless in Christ one day. He's gonna get us there in His time! (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
           "By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches." (Proverbs 24:3)"Unless The Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." (Psalms 127:1) It's all through The Lord!

:-)
:-)

"Looking for Faith" (song)

There are a few themes that are simply repeated over and over and over again in The Bible. Chief among these must be the need for faith. The Christian life cannot be lived without faith. It is necessary to please God (as Hebrews 11:6 tells us) and it's how the righteous of the Old Testament walked with God- by faith. As Jesus told us in John 6:35, He is the Bread of Life and all who come to Him shall never hunger and those who believe in Him shall never thirst. And then verse 40 reminds us that it's The Father's will that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life and He will raise us up on the last day. Genuine faith in Christ is demonstrated through the Godly actions that it manifests, but we can't have one without the other. Faith that doesn't produce good works isn't really genuine (as James 1-2 points out), but good works of self-effort that don't come from a place of faith in Christ are worthless as well. Whoever comes to Jesus must have faith that He has spanned the space between us and God with His cross- and through His Resurrection, He has given us the hope of new life in Him for this life and eternal life in the next. So as we follow along the straight and narrow way, we must keep walking as Jesus did in faith.


"Looking for Faith"
(parody of "Looking for Space" by John Denver; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 8/1/2015)
(Deuteronomy 7:9, Isaiah 40:28-31, Psalms 103:1-5, Romans 1:17, 1 John 5:1-5 and 13-15, Habakkuk 2:4, James 2:14-26, 2 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Timothy 4:7-10, Hebrews 12:1-2, Revelation 14:12, Revelation 21:5-8 (ESV), James 5:5-8, Mark 9:14-29, Mark 10:13-16, Mark 10:46-52, Matthew 6:25-34, John 16:29-33, John 17:20-21, John 20:24-29, John 20:30-31, John 14:1-6, John 16:1, John 16:23-24, Matthew 21:18-22, Matthew 15:21-28, Matthew 9:1-8, Matthew 17:14-21, Mark 11:12-14 and 20-26, Luke 5:17-26, Luke 7:44-50, Luke 8:22-25, Luke 8:40-56, Luke 9:37-43, Luke 11:9-10, Luke 12:28, Luke 17:5-6, Luke 17:11-19, Luke 18:15-17, Luke 18:35-43, Luke 21:18-19, Luke 21:36, Luke 22:45-46, Luke 24:39-43, John 1:12, John 1:43-51, John 3:14-21, John 3:36, John 4:46-54, John 5:24, John 6:35-40, John 7:37-38, John 9:35-38, John 11:25-27, Matthew 13:53-58, Matthew 14:22-33, 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6 and 23-24, Matthew 18:1-6, 2 Corinthians 6:2, Matthew 11:15, 2 Timothy 2:7-13, Luke 24:13-36, Hebrews 11:1-6, Matthew 8:5-13, Ephesians 2:8-10, Matthew 8:23-27, Luke 18:1-8, Ephesians 3:1-12, John 10:10, Isaiah 53:1, Romans 3:9-31)


On the road to Emmaus
Near crying, two guys commiserate
Suddenly this other Guy comes join the fray
When they speak, He rebukes them
'Cause their belief's near nil
He explained what Scripture says about Him

And He's looking for faith
Will He find some when He comes?
And He's looking, but no one understands
It's a mystery
One through Holy Ghost is clear
One that's outlined- 3 Ephesians
And one we must preach and declare

And you know, 18 Luke 8 verse
Will He find faith?- Now go read
Judge who's lost gives some justice to widow's plea
When we look to our Father
Certainly He's always fair
We'll find from Him speedy justice when we plead

And He's looking for faith
Will He find some when He comes?
And He's looking but no one understands
Well, His grace redeems
But find this verse right here
11 line 6 in Hebrews
Must have faith to please The Savior

6:2 2nd. Corinthians
Now's the day to get saved
Christ paid our ransom
Jesus said we must have faith

When you look in 1 [one] James
In verse 5 through 8- that part
When you're asking, use faith with all your heart
Faith is the victory!
Substance of what's not seen
Salvation lies (in) 2 Ephesians
It comes by faith in Jesus' grace
God makes me fly like an eagle
Wait on Him though
The right live by faith!
Ooohhhh!

Seen and Not Heard With a Heart of Gladness

       Have you ever heard that saying we sometimes hear in church- "How close can I get to sin without it actually being sin?" Why do we love getting so close to the wrong? There's something in it that calls to us, of course. Ultimately, we all have a sin nature that draws us to the wrong naturally. And it drives us to do so many wrong and stupid things because we think we find pleasure and fulfillment in them.
      We play blackjack, roulette (and maybe even Russian roulette) and the gambling tables at casinos. We play the lottery faithfully each week. We play the ponies at the racing horse gambling hall. We do stupid (and often wrong) things because someone triple dog dared us or called us chicken for not doing it. And because we want to fit in with the rest of the world, we give in.
       All of us have a desire to be loved and accepted and we'll take them anywhere we can get them. And we find ourselves syncing up with people who lead us down a negative and unholy path so we can get their approval- approval from people who need love and acceptance just as much as if not more so than us. And we walk down a broad path that makes a lot of empty promises that it never fulfills and find ourselves instead in the way of destruction- and ultimately, death.
       So we go ahead and see how much we can smoke without getting lung cancer. How drunk can we get without damaging our liver or crashing our cars? How many drugs can we take without overdosing? How much sex can we have with anyone and everyone without getting any STDs?
        These questions are just some of the more obvious ones that come to mind. There are other probing things to consider that we often don't. How much pornographic material can we consume before we are corrupted in our thinking regarding people? How much violence can we view on television, in movies or video games or read about before we decide to engage in it ourselves? How much vulgar language can we hear before we start to repeat it ourselves? How much can we engage in the world's methods for getting ahead in life before realizing that the ways of Babylon are so anti-Christ? (See Revelation 18.)
       It is really easy to fall into this slippery slope as a Christian quite possibly because of the one reason that should inspire the exact opposite attitude. Our God is a gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy- a long-suffering God. Of course, He is also a jealous God Who will have no rivals for the worship He alone deserves. He is a God who also punishes and will pour our His righteous judgments upon the earth one day- and He already chastises us with judgment when we need it, because every father disciplines his sons and daughters. And God disciplines everyone He accepts as a son or daughter. (Hebrews 12:1-12)
          So, rather than taking on the principles of Ephesians 2:8-10 and Philippians 2:12-13- to go and do the good deeds God created for us in advance to do all along, never in our strength but in God powering us to live like Christ, we instead go and do the opposite. We take the grace that God gave us through Jesus' cruel death on the cross and His glorious Resurrection and turn it into a license to sin. What then? Shall we sin more so that grace may abound more? By no means! (That sounds familiar. ;-) See Romans 6:1) That's just what those dudes in Jude were doing! Read that whole book and see what The Bible says about them- they're like trees without roots, clouds without rain and they're blown about by the wind....and they're also reserved for darkness and gnashing of teeth! Yeah- God's grace doesn't mean we can go and do whatever we want because Jesus is always ready and willing to forgive us! It's kinda like the same abuse some people do with the welfare system when they aren't really going out and looking for work like they're supposed to be doing, but instead just sponging on the system and doing whatever they want to do with the money that the government is supplying. (I say this as someone who has been there before and who God brought through there! Praise The Lord! :-))
          Grace is not meant to be abused the way that it gets abused so often. Since we know that to be true, what should we do then? Well, let's be careful here because we can quickly go the other way too. We can get so nail-biting anxious that we're hurling ourselves down steps and physically punishing our bodies as much as possible like Martin Luther because we are so scared of messing up- and so scared knowing that we still mess up so many times anyway- and maybe the physical wounds can purge the evil in our hearts. Physical pain might certainly help correct our actions to some degree- that's why our parents discipline us in that way, besides the fact that Proverbs commands it a number of times, but it doesn't really speak to the issue of the heart. As has been said before, the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
        And a heart that is truly set free by Jesus Christ should be so consumed by the amazement and wonder that God would deign to care for this dead dog and save the life of such a worm as I that our souls and entire beings are enraptured with delight in Christ and obeying His Word. Infinitely stronger than Chewbacca's to Han Solo, we owe Jesus a life debt that we can never repay. And the crazy thing is that- though we should feel that indebtedness to Him- He tells us that we don't owe Him a thing. As Romans 6:23 tells us, the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's all free- we don't have to pay anything. And that's a really good thing- because we could never pay anything that would make us worthy. (Isaiah 64:6- even what we think are our good deeds are nothing more than filthy rags before the Holy God.)
         So what can we do? Jesus died and rose to set us free for all eternity! How shall we respond to such amazing lovingkindness? Romans 5:8 has long been one of my favorite Bible verses because it describes the circumstances that this happened in when Jesus did that. It wasn't like Jesus came to die for the righteous who were already seeking Him. No- there's no one righteous- no, not one! But the only Righteous One, God Himself, became man in Jesus Christ. Jesus, the GodMan- fully God and fully Man- He went to the cross for us and died for us when we were sinners. When we hated God, desecrated His laws, mocked His Name and ran from Him. And no matter how much we reject and despise Him and insist we don't want Him- God insists to us- "I have loved you with an everlasting love." Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the House of The Lord forever. (The last part being true for any of us who have decided to make Jesus Lord of our lives, of course.) And that's just it- Love will never leave you alone. He (and Love is a He- because God Himself is Love- 1 John 4:8) keeps following us and desperately calls to us and cajoles us with carols of His amazing love and grace that wants to forgive and accept us- not condemn us. (John 3:16-17)
          It's not about trying to live a pious life of righteousness in an effort to please or placate God. It's not about living life for ourselves and leaning back on that fire insurance policy that we treat Jesus like sometimes. And for those on either end of it, that hellfire insurance policy we hold to doesn't work like that. Jesus really isn't concerned about sacrifices- as Psalms 51 says, that's not really what He's looking for anyway. What He wants is a broken and contrite heart- that He won't despise. Jesus saves anyone who comes to Him sincerely in faith. But The Bible tells us that whatever doesn't proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:22-23). If we have faith in Jesus, then we trust Him with all our life and live our life for Him. If we ignore His offer and try to live out a life of righteousness and hope it's good enough to please God, then we live out of fear of God and not from faith in Christ- and we're still in sin. (Remember that Perfect Love casts out all fear. 1 John 4:18) And if we listen to Christ and claim His offer, but choose to ignore His commands and expect His grace to pull us out of the fire in the end, we're living in a false hope that is still self-centered and is not from faith in Christ- and we're still in sin. Real, saving faith in Christ brings us salvation. But salvation means that we are saved from what we used to be- we're saved from the wholly depraved person we used to be- we are now redeemed, bought back with a heavy price (though we don't pay it) and we are called and chosen to be a picture of God's redemption in the world. We are called to show the world God's love through Jesus. And as Colossians 3:1-4 says, we no longer live, but our identity is now totally found in Christ. He lives in us (Galatians 2:20) and we no longer live for ourselves, but rather for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. What other response is there to this kind of Love but to love others in kind? That is the response we should have- a heart of infinite gratitude that lovingly seeks to obey Jesus and share His truth and love with others. Love God with all we've got and love our neighbor as ourselves. Speak the Truth in Love.
            We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) So go out in the world and show them that love. Not because you're scared to death of going to hell and hoping that enough good deeds will make you good enough for God- because that won't work. And don't brag to the world of all the things you can get away with because you know we have a Savior who loves to forgive us and has set us free from The Law. He forgives those who truly repent. And true repentance requires us to turn away from our sin and seek to obey Christ instead. So that laissez-faire attitude towards Jesus doesn't work either. The way of salvation is through Jesus alone- through giving Him all our fears and pathetic attempts at goodness- through acknowledging to Him that we are miserable sinners who desperately need His love and forgiveness- and trusting Him to do just what He said He would- and following Him as Savior and Lord. And in thankfulness to Him, we seek to obey His every word and love Him more and more each day.
          And yeah- I totally identify with Romans 7. We're still not perfect. We don't get it right every time. We get sucked back into that old world of darkness and shame so many times over. But the difference is now we don't stay there. We get back up and come back to God and move forward again. 1 John 1:9 is there for a reason and it does work. Jesus is always faithful even when we're not. Thank God for His faithfulness. And no matter how we may doubt and perhaps even deny, He is still there loving us and assuring us of His presence and care for us. And The Love that wilt not let us go keeps drawing us back to Himself and keeps us going forward. And then He reminds us that it was never by our might or power anyway- it's always by His Holy Spirit. (Zechariah 4:6) And The Holy Spirit keeps infusing all of our being and driving us to be different in this crazy world and be the bastion of righteousness and faithfulness and truthfulness and love in this place. We not only reflect The Son, we've got a Sontan that replaces our old skin and gives us new skin instead so that we want to please Jesus in all we do. And even when we fall away for a while, He picks us back up when we ask Him for forgiveness and He gets us going right again. And He is faithful to do this all the way to Heaven's gates! (Jude 1:24-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
            So we can't just talk the talk and not walk the walk. That's hypocrisy. And we can't just walk the walk and not talk the talk. That's a misguided and futile effort. We must be real and true in all we do and worship in spirit and truth by following Jesus with all we've got. We must let our light shine so that people will see our good works and praise our Father Who is in Heaven. (Matthew 5:16) And lovingly tell them about Jesus, Who loves us all with an undying love. :-) Real Love and Life demands nothing less.

(And for those wondering, yes- I was totally inspired by this classic Petra song, "Seen and Not Heard", for the title of the blog. One of my favorites. :-))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZUdLCE6EIg

Another one of my all time favorite Petra songs- "St. Augustine's Pears"- also speaks to a lot of what I've been trying to say here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yCP1gOpvpc )