Notice on a slight format change:

Except for July 2012, these are mostly a collection of current devotional notes.

July 2012 is a re-write of old quiet times. My second child was born Nov 11, 1987 with multiple birth defects. I've been re-reading my QT notes from that time in my life, and have included them here. They cover the time before the birth and the few years immediately after the birth. They are tagged "historical." I added new insights and labeled them: ((TODAY, dd mmm yy)).

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

QT 10/30/2024 Rom 3:15-20, The danger of ignoring God's protective features (law, guilt, and shame)

Romans 3:15–20 (ESV) —

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 in their paths are ruin and misery,

17 and the way of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

 

NOTE: The purpose of the law, at least in regards to salvation, is to make you aware of sin. It defines sin very clearly. It has a long list, almost 613 commands, and some of those laws are not even moral ones, but rather ceremonial or dietary commands. God wanted his people to realize that they were sinners, and that is evidence of God's grace and mercy. If we did not know we had failed or that we were sinners, we might not realize we need a savior -- which is the whole problem with the "PRIDE" movement. Technically, Jesus never forced behavior, and I believe that people have a choice in their actions, BUT, homosexuality is still a sin, it is not something to be proud about. When we do that, when we make sin okay or take pride in evil, we remove another protective feature (like the law) that God has given us, and that is guilt and shame. Those protective features are the way are conscience communicates sin to us.

 

PONDER:

  1. Am I in the process of searing my conscience by call sin, good?
  2. Do I take pride in disobeying God's moral laws (that too will sear a conscience)?

 

PRAYER: Father, I pray for tender hearts that would be quick to repentance. Protect us from hardening of hearts or searing of our hearts that makes us less receptive to you.

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