As you know, I just got back from chaperoning a week at the beach for RYM. For those who don't know, RYM stands for Reformed Youth Ministry; you can learn more about who they are and what they do, plus listen to some of their lectures by clicking HERE.
I know all of this to be true in my own heart and life, but hearing it again makes me so excited all over again! I'm going to do a short series of posts about what we covered this week, and hopefully you can be excited about it, too!
Main speaker: John Stone
Read Genesis 3 about Eve and the serpent. We are not God's friends. Sounds bizarre, right? Especially because we have songs like "Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners"; but really, we're not. We're His enemies, because we are infected by sin. We rejected God's love and run away from Him constantly. Like a boat, in a storm with no anchor, we are drifting away from God. We may think that we "have" sin under control, but we are the ones "had" by sin, and of our own power have no way to fix that.
That sounds pretty bleak; we are hopelessly infected by sin, enemies of God, constantly rejecting and running from the One who can save us, and have no way at all to stop. So is that all?
Of course not! Now read Romans 4:1-8. We may have nothing, but there is something outside of us that justifies us. Don't remember what "justified" means? Think of it like this: just-as-if-i-never-sinned. Someone beyond us speaks for us, and becomes our friend. Their name becomes ours. Their actions become ours. Their righteousness becomes ours. Their life becomes ours. For us, that someone is Jesus Christ.
That part gives me shivers because it's so awesome! I'll go into that some more in Part 2. In the meantime, if something doesn't make sense to you, or you just want to talk about it, send me a message; I'd love to talk to you (seriously)!
Labels: bible, faith
