Moral Authority

Romans 3:21-31

I’ve been very clear on one area of my life with my readers, I’m not the smartest guy on the block, and often I’m on the slower side of getting the point, and that once more will be brought to light today.  I never could grasp why educated people try so hard to prove the Bible was flawed, that is until this morning as I read Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and a light came on, if all sinned, there is a judge, someone who has the moral authority to judge sinners, and so it seems the most enlightened, the higher educated want to find proof of error and remove any thought of a moral authority.

Think about it, sin was passed down from Adam every male born of man has come from that seed, so all have sinned.  So the foolish driven by their father the devil will do anything, even believe the origin of life came from slime than to have God as their Father.  One wonders if they have given thought to where the slime came from.  Maybe you and I should go back to Romans 1:18-25, for it tells us mankind suppressed the truth, for what is known about God is clear to them, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature is clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in things that have been made, so we, all of us are without excuse.  This could be breaking news; mankind has been doing this from almost the beginning of time, you can read all about it in your Bible.

Let’s return to Romans 3:21-26, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Last night Jan and I attended a fund raiser for the Central Texas Life Care and  we were blessed to hear a young lady tell how God kept the butchers of life, some refer to them as Planned Parenthood from killing her little baby.  And what came of this was two lives were saved, the young lady went from looking for love from men, to a deep understanding that in Jesus she has great value and is deeply loved.  That did not happen by accident and God used people at Life Care who let the love of Christ flow out of them into her life, and she saw Jesus in their love and actions. 

Faith quote by Joni Erickson Tada:  “Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future.  It’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice