Righteousness, or being right before God.

[Statue of Martin Luther outside the St. Mary's Church, Berlin.]

"First of all, we speak of the argument of this epistle [Galatians]: in it Paul is seeking to establish the doctrine of faith, grace, forgiveness of sins, or Christian righteousness in order that we may know the difference between Christian righteousness and all other kinds of righteousness. There are many sorts of righteousness.
...the most excellent righteousness of faith, which God through Christ, without any works, imputes to us, is neither political, nor ceremonial, nor the righteousness of God's law, nor consists of works, but is contrary to these; that is to say, it is a mere passive righteousness, as the others are active. For in the righteousness of faith, we work nothing, we render nothing unto God, but we only receive, and suffer another to work in us, that is to say, God. This is a righteousness hidden in a mystery, which the world does not know. Indeed, Christians themselves do not thoroughly understand it, and can hardly take hold of it in their temptations. Therefore it must be diligently taught, and continually practiced. ....

When I see a man oppressed with the law, terrified with sin, and thirsting for comfort, it is time that I remove out of his sight the law and active righteousness, and set before him, by the gospel, the Christian of passive righteousness, which offers the promise made in Christ, who came for the afflicted and sinners.

We teach the difference between these two kinds of righteousness, active and passive, to the end that manners and faith, works and grace, policy and religion, should not be confounded, or taken the one for the other. Both are necessary; but each must be kept within its bounds". -Martin Luther

[Martin Luther's 1534 Bible]

The book of Galatians, many years ago, was the truth of God's Word, which was enlightened to my mind and heart by the Holy Spirit, In order to set me free from the bondage of legalism. More on that in another post some day.
If you have never sat and read through, and then studied the Apostle's letter to the church at Galatia, then you need to. I encourage you to do so. And be blessed in God's truth.

"The fear of man bringeth a snare." (Prov. 29:25)

"We read that "among the chief rulers many believed on Christ; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." (John 12:42)

These unhappy men were evidently convinced that Jesus was the true Messiah. Reason, and intellect, and mind, and conscience, obliged them secretly to admit that no none could do the miracles which He did, unless God was with Him, and that the preacher of Nazareth really was the Christ of God. But they had not the courage to confess it. They dared not face the storm of ridicule, if not of persecution, which confession would have entailed. And so, like cowards, they held their peace, and kept their conviction to themselves.

Their case, it may be feared, is a sadly common one. There are thousands of people who know far more in religion then they act up to. They know they ought to come forward as decided Christians. They know they are not living up to their light. But the fear of man keeps them back. They are afraid of being laughed at, jeered at, and despised by the world. They dread losing the good opinion of society, and the favourable judgment of men and women like themselves. And so they go on from year to year, secretly ill at ease and dissatisfied with themselves,--knowing too much of religion to be happy in the world, and clinging too much to the world to enjoy any religion.

Faith is the only cure for soul ailments like this. A believing view of an unseen God, and unseen Christ an unseen heaven, and an unseen judgment-day,--this is the grand secret of overcoming the fear of man. The expulsive power of a new principle is required to heal the disease. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (1 John 5:4) Let us pray for faith, if we would conquer that deadly enemy of souls, the fear of man and the love of man's praise. And if we have any faith, let us pray for more. Let our daily cry be, "Lord, increase our faith." We may easily have too much money, or too much worldly prosperity; but we can never have too much faith." -JC Ryle

I struggle with the fear of man. "People pleasing" can really bind one up tight. However, I at times have been able to overcome this fear, and timidity. There are times when my heart is strong, and I feel like Elijah taking on the 400 prophets! Then other times I feel like Elijah, running scared from Jezebel.
May the Lord truly increase my faith, so I can overcome more often. For His glory. Amen.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

[Joshua praying God to stop the Sun by Gustave Doré]


Joshua made this famous statement (24:15), and he kept his promise, by the grace and power of the Lord. And the people did as well.

"And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that He did for Israel.
And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, an hundred and ten years old.
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance...
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." Judges 2:7-10
This Israel was an evil Israel, which forsook the Lord, and followed other gods. The gods of the heathen. And the Lord ws angry, and yet still compassionate. The Lord sent judges to the people, but they wouldn't listen. So the Lord allowed the heathen nations to live within Israel's land, and there was much sin, and disregard for the Lord. The Lord was testing them, and they failed.
So the Lord caused Israel to become captives, and heavily burdened to these nations for 8 years.
So Israel cries out to the Lord, and the Lord comes to their aid, and they have 40 years of peace.

Did they learn from all this? Nope.

"And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eg-Lon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord." (Judges 3:12)

And so they are a captured nation once again. And this time for eighteen years. But they cried to the Lord, and the Lord came to their rescue once again.

Amazing, isn't it. Not that Israel kept forsaking the Lord, but that the Lord would hear their cries!
Nevertheless, it is sort of crazy that this people didn't simply learn that the Lord is good and gracious, and He loves to care for His own, and if they would worship Him, and love His word, and obey it, then their lives would be full.
But we'd rather have the heathen's commands, and things, and life style. I know I struggle with the pull of this world, and the tempter, and my flesh. But, I thank the Lord every day for His Spirit which abides with me, so that I can abide within the Lord's word, and love.

We sang a new version of "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing", in church yesterday, and Greg, our pastor, mentioned how the third verse always grips him the most, and I thought the same thing. I would guess all those who love Christ would experience the same gripping of the heart when we sing this great hymn's third verse:

"O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above."

May the Lord truly bind our hearts like a fetter to His abiding Spirit and presence. Amen.

'Noah Hudson Shive", could be a name we hear in the summer olympics one day, - perhaps.

Noah stayed with us,-Mom Mom & Pop-, for five days while his parents had a nice vacation in New York, New York. He is a boy who loves, really loves, the simple pleasures of life; like swimming around in a $10 pool.


He is incredible at diving under the water backwards! I've never seen a three year old dive backwards like Noah.






Thank You Lord for Noah. he was such a tremendous blessing to us: Mom Mom & Pop.

Oh yeah, Noah had to get charged up on Lucky Charms before he got going in the pool.