Yesterday morning was one of those mornings. You know what I’m talking about. It happens when you wake up and immediately the voices begin to chirp, and as Jerry Bridges would say, you start “listening to yourself” instead of “talking to yourself.” For me it went like this: I stayed up late Saturday night, didn’t get much sleep, had to be to the church early to open up the doors, had to come home and  shower, then had to get back to the church to serve some more. Didn’t really sound good and my day was certainly going to turn out to be a so-called “bad” day. Though normally I just try to ignore the feelings and do my best to plaster on a smile and a good attitude, I didn’t want this morning to be that way.

At the Holy Spirit’s prompting, I thought it would be wise to turn to the Word of God to once again see truth: who was I, who am I now, and how this transformation was possible. “Let’s start from the beginning. What did my former self look like,” I thought. The Lord led me to Romans chapter 1 starting in v 18 where Paul declares: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” Then from there working through v 32, Paul begins to explain who Danny Dowling used to be before Jesus Christ. In order to make it personal, I found it helpful to change the “they/them”s to “you”s: “So you are without excuse. For although you knew God, you did not honor him as God or give thanks to him…and your foolish heart was darkened…Therefore God gave you up in the lusts of your heart to impurity…because you exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” I was further described in vs 29-31 by the following: unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slanderer, hater of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventor of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, and finally an exclamation point in 2:1, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man.”

And I thought I was having a bad morning before. Something must happen. I’ve messed everything up and now have ZERO chance at pleasing a Holy God. Paul continues in Ch 2:13 “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” Wait a minute, Paul, do you really mean that. You’ve spent the latter half of chapter 1 telling me ALL the ways I’ve failed to keep the law and now in chapter 2 you’re going to tell me that only the “doers” of the law are justified. Where in the world can I turn now? Obviously there’s no hope for this one, because this one failed to keep the law. So I kept reading until Ch 3:20 where Paul seemingly plays an “Uno reverse card”, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight,” Hold on a second, you just said that only by works of the law—the doers of the law—will one be justified. Now you’re trying to say that no one is justified by works of the law. Is Paul, and therefore the Bible, contradicting itself? Does he really mean that “by works of the law no human being will be justified”? Or does he really mean that “the doers of the law will be justified”? If Paul’s logic is to stand, there must be something else in play here. Yes, there MUST be something else, right? People = sinful…..law = way to God…..keeping the law = impossible…..what now = “the righteousness of God manifested apart from the law… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Ch 3:21-22). Now THOSE are sweet words to a sinner’s ear, one who must keep the law to approach God but can’t keep the law to approach God! Take heart, Paul is not contradicting himself, and the Bible remains truthful: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Ch 3:28). Oh how sweet the sound of unmerited favor from God! That wretch, the one described in chapter 1, he is not justified by works of the law; he is justified by faith in Jesus, the righteousness of God. What mercy!

Now how is my morning going? Am I still concerned about all the things that I don’t really feel like doing, or am I freshly amazed at the underserved mercy of God poured out on me in Jesus? I think that’s a pretty easy question to answer. Once…(Ch 1:18-31)…, now the adopted son of God. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ…I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (from Romans 8:33-39).

Freshly amazed at the Savior’s love,

Danny Dowling

For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!

Psalm 92:4-5

So Jen and I decided to take Marie downtown to DC to see the sites …

Anyhow…As we walked to the car to leave the house we noticed that – though it was warm – it was also windy and slightly raining.  I was carrying Marie and she was getting blown on by the wind and a tiny bit wet.  But I noticed that every time the wind blew she would laugh and laugh. Big Breeze then laugh+ cackle…Big breeze then laugh+giggle.

After a few rounds of this it dawned on me: she is laughing because she is delighted by the wind and the sprinkles.  She has never really been able to experience and process them before because she is just a baby.  So it’s all brand new to her.  And what is her largely God -given reaction? Delight and joy at this amazing creation of wind and rain.

Marie hasn’t had time yet to become bored and dull to the wonder of God’s creation.  She can’t take it for granted yet. What a lesson it was for me. Wind, rain, sun, all of creation: These things should lead my heart to delight in the miracle of God’s power and genius. If you stop to think of it all of life – every moment of existence – is a miraculous gift from God. And His wonderful works, which are beyond my understanding, are not beyond my awed delight. …God, help my heart not to take you for granted, but to give you the worship and delight you deserve!

Grace and Peace to my access peeps,

Alb