[Membersandfriends] Saturday, December 18, 2004

Fri Dec 17 22:02:28 PST 2004

The Upper Room Daily Devotional -- E-mail Edition
Brought to You by Upper Room Ministries
Saturday, December 18, 2004

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The Gift that Lasts All Year

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SALVATION BY BOOKKEEPING?
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Romans 3:9-24 (NRSV)

What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written:

"There is no one who is righteous, not even one;  
     there is no one who has understanding,  
         there is no one who seeks God. 

All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; 
     there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one." 

"Their throats are opened graves; 
    they use their tongues to deceive."

"The venom of vipers is under their lips."  
    "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 

"Their feet are swift to shed blood;  
    ruin and misery are in their paths, 
and the way of peace they have not known."  
    "There is no fear of God before their eyes." 

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

But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

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For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-- Romans 6:23 (NRSV)
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IN all of the trappings of the Christmas holidays, it is easy to miss the true "good news" of this season.  The words of a popular Christmas song say that Santa is "making a list and checking it twice" to find out who's been "naughty" and who's been "nice."  Sadly, some of us believe that relationship with God is something like that, about a list of who is naughty or nice.  We might call this salvation by bookkeeping.  Don't smile.  Many of us believe that we earn heavenly points for doing good things.  But that is not the message of Jesus.

Contrast this idea of salvation with the message that Jesus proclaimed - the true good news of Christmas.  Jesus' message was that we are all sinners in God's sight.  God is not keeping a record of our every act.  The New Testament tells us that none of our debts, none of our sins, none of our errors will ever be an obstacle to the grace that will take us to heaven at the end of our lives.  Heaven will be filled with people who are failures.  In heaven there will be only forgiven sinners.

The good news of Christmas is that we have a savior, Jesus Christ, who said, "Follow me!"  Nothing counts except our faith.  God's unconditional grace is the true gift of Christmas.

Prayer:   O God, thank you for your most wonderful gift to humankind, your son Christ Jesus.  Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Nothing we could ever do can outweigh God's grace.

-- Jim Baum (Illinois, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Bookkeepers

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RELATED READING ...

LIVING THE PSALMS by popular author, Maxie Dunnam, is a seven-session study book exploring the psalms. These stories of God's presence with us during times of turmoil and peace can give us "a confidence for all seasons."  Dunnam uses personal stories and his interpretation of psalms to show how they relate to the ordinary and the extraordinary life experiences.
http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/desc.asp?ep_id=30&item_id=12520

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The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright (c) 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.