"God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God. Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; For You render to each one according to his work." (Psalm 62:11,12 NKJV)
I'm never quite sure why the Psalmist thinks he is so good and everyone else is so bad.
"'Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.'" (Luke 18:19-20)
If God rewards everyone for what we have done, we are all in big trouble. Has anyone really followed faithfully, doing only what they ought, all the days of their lives? If we trusted in our own good works for our relationship with God, we would not have one. Fortunately, for us, God in His infinite grace and mercy, in His unfailing love, established a new covenant with us. This covenant is not based on what we have done for God, but what God has done for us, through the giving of His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ.
I don't mean to imply that we should not be doing good. If we are truly grateful for this loving gift of eternal life, we would truly love the One who first loved us and not just pay lip service to Him. This does not mean that we are free to do anything we want to please ourselves. It does not mean that we are free to trample on the name of the LORD, or our neighbors so that we might please ourselves. It means that we are free, by the power of God, to love and serve God and our neighbors. We are free to be in relationship with God and one another. In the knowledge that we are free from the power of sin, death and the devil, we actively seek to love as God loves us. Because of the covenant God has made with us with the blood of Jesus, we are forgiven. Our sins are blotted out. The slate is wiped clean through faith in the One who died for us. The only works that God will recall on that last day are those things that were not blotted out - those things that Jesus did through us. Our salvation and honor depend on God; He is our Rock and our Refuge.
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."
Have you been refreshed, by the power of God, by the Spirit, of Christ, so that He might live in and through you, to the glory of His holy name? All honor and power and glory belong to God. Find rest in His unfailing love.
God's Peace - Pr. J P.S. Been thinking about this some more. If the Psalmist was indeed David, David was only good in that he believed God.
I'm never quite sure why the Psalmist thinks he is so good and everyone else is so bad.
"'Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.'" (Luke 18:19-20)
If God rewards everyone for what we have done, we are all in big trouble. Has anyone really followed faithfully, doing only what they ought, all the days of their lives? If we trusted in our own good works for our relationship with God, we would not have one. Fortunately, for us, God in His infinite grace and mercy, in His unfailing love, established a new covenant with us. This covenant is not based on what we have done for God, but what God has done for us, through the giving of His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ.
I don't mean to imply that we should not be doing good. If we are truly grateful for this loving gift of eternal life, we would truly love the One who first loved us and not just pay lip service to Him. This does not mean that we are free to do anything we want to please ourselves. It does not mean that we are free to trample on the name of the LORD, or our neighbors so that we might please ourselves. It means that we are free, by the power of God, to love and serve God and our neighbors. We are free to be in relationship with God and one another. In the knowledge that we are free from the power of sin, death and the devil, we actively seek to love as God loves us. Because of the covenant God has made with us with the blood of Jesus, we are forgiven. Our sins are blotted out. The slate is wiped clean through faith in the One who died for us. The only works that God will recall on that last day are those things that were not blotted out - those things that Jesus did through us. Our salvation and honor depend on God; He is our Rock and our Refuge.
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."
Have you been refreshed, by the power of God, by the Spirit, of Christ, so that He might live in and through you, to the glory of His holy name? All honor and power and glory belong to God. Find rest in His unfailing love.
God's Peace - Pr. J P.S. Been thinking about this some more. If the Psalmist was indeed David, David was only good in that he believed God.
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