Is the earth young or old? 6,000 years or 4.5 billion? Whatever conclusion you come to, you’re making assumptions you can’t prove.
Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” THAT God created is more certain than WHEN.
– Frank Turek
Over and over the Bible says God shows no partiality. Yes, He elected Israel and gave them His Word first, but thankfully the door is now wide open to every nation.
Here is why: all sin and fall short.
All. Everyone. Every country. Every nation. Sin rules the Jew and the Gentile. Sin enslaves the young or old. Sin destroys the rich or poor. Sin is the great equalizer of nations. Sin is the common denominator in all our DNA. It is because of the debilitating pervasiveness of sin that God shows no partiality.
You say: “Not me! I try my best to be good. I don’t do anything bad!”
Actually, what you are (if you are without Christ Jesus) is not good or bad; but DEAD. Jesus didn’t come to condemn, but save. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good or good people better. Jesus came to bring dead people back to life.
God shows no partiality because a dead body is the same as any other dead body and He doesn’t like dead bodies; He likes living ones.
God shows no partiality because of His goodness.
God shows no partiality because the Gospel is for everyone.
The supreme ethic that God has given us is LOVE!
I read about bristlecone pines and found myself with new appreciation for our precious missionaries that take the Great Commission literally (as we all should).
Bristlecone pines are so interesting. They are highly resilient to harsh weather & bad soils.
“Bristlecone pines tend to occupy new ground. They do very well where most other plants cannot grow such as in rocky soils in areas with virtually no rainfall.” (“The Secret of the Bristlecone Pine” Homiletics, July 2002)[2]Please pray for our spiritual bristlecone pines as they occupy new ground. These men and women thrive where most of us could not. They move to places where God’s Word often falls on rocky soil & they may see very little fruit for their efforts.
Pray for their effectiveness, resilience, & safety.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristlecone_pine
Lutzer, Erwin W. The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent: an Informed Response to Islam’s War with Christianity. 37969th ed. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2013. (Chapter 6)
“The Secret of the Bristlecone Pine” July 2002, Homiletics, pp. 21-23.
We have to BEWARE what the enemy WEARS.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” – Matt. 7:15-16
It is a grave mistake to think that it will be easy to spot the enemy as he infiltrates. It will not be obvious, but his fruit will be.
The fruit of the enemy is confusion, division, and strife.
Let’s take the most notorious wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing in history: Judas Iscariot. He wore the mask of friend & follower, but proved to be fake as revealed by his fruit. Even the disciples did not know who it was Jesus was talking about when He said one of them would be tray Him (Matt. 26:21-22). They were all duped… except Jesus, who sees into the heart of man (Jer. 17:10).
Here is the devil’s clothing line: Pride, vanity, bitterness, unforgiveness, fear, pain, misery, selfishness, empathy, complaints, entitlement, rudeness, ungratefulness… any of this sounding familiar?
Ever see the knock-off version of stuff; fake Rolexes, knock-off designer purses, etc.? That’s the devil. He’s an imposter. He’s a pretender. He’s just a tourist.
We have the real thing; King Jesus. Why accept a substitute?
Beware what the enemy wears; it leads to death.
In hockey & soccer there is a penalty box. Its the area where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty for an offence. Get this: sometimes it is called the “sin bin,” or “the bad box.”
Don’t we think that when we sin we need to put ourselves in the “penalty box?” That way we can “pay for it?” Then after a little while, we get out of the penalty box, and go to God so He can forgive us? Folks, that’s the opposite of the Gospel.
Stop punishing yourself! You cannot pay for your sins & save yourself! If you could, Jesus died for nothing (Gal. 2:21).
Paul said the sin he doesn’t want to do, he keeps doing and the things that he should do, he doesn’t do: sound familiar? It should. Romans 7 is the inner-struggle each & every one of us face.
“Recognizing your weakness drives you TO GOD immediately, not AWAY FROM HIM.” – Paul Washer
Instead of thinking that God is mad at us for committing the same sin over and over, focus on His unending kindness. This is what actually leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).
The focus is not what you are doing, but rather what Jesus has already done for you! Its not about YOU, its about HIM.
If we could truly embrace this concept we could get out of our self-imposed penalty boxes and run back into the loving arms of our Heavenly Father.
