Grace Baby, Grace

Accept, Reject, or Wonder

Acts 13:4-12

Now, it is up to each human to accept, reject, or wonder. 

You can accept that God is doing something that we can’t understand.

You can rely on your own understanding and, ultimately, leave yourself open for doubts to bring rejection.

Or, you can try to keep one foot in God’s Kingdom and one foot in the world and try to force your own understanding on others.

Paul tells the people that God foretold that he would send the Savior and that the Savior would not be corrupted by sin or death. Because Christ defeated death, believers defeat death.

Unbelievers, the unsaved, die without any hope of ever receiving a new and glorified body forever.

But, what do we do with the glorious freedom that we have thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice?

We argue, we fight, we try to push our understanding onto others.

Instead of following the example of Christ and telling people to “Go and sin no more,” and then leaving the decision to accept or reject up to them, we call people abominations forgetting that we ourselves have committed sins that God calls an abomination.

“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” (Proverbs 6:16–19, NIV)

That’s a quick list, but really, from idolatry to unfair scales to ungodly sexual relationships to wickedness of various kinds, abominations separate people from God. Really, all sin (missing the mark of God’s perfection) can be considered an abomination.

But God! Christ was crucified to make a way for sinners – ALL SINNERS – to come into the Kingdom of God. Christ was crucified to make a way for abominations like me to come into the Kingdom of God.

Accept, Reject, or Wonder Rev. Cheryl Farr
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