a purer conversation...

"Why me?!?!?"

I was doing my nightly checking of Facebook (something I don't have time for mind you) and saw that a friend of ours got a ticket. It was one of the pesky "Red Light Tickets." For those of you who don't know,
TEXANS DO NOT KNOW HOW TO STOP AT RED LIGHTS!
The city has placed still-shot cameras at various locations around town to attempt to force people to stop running red lights. Basically, if you run the light, then your license plate is photographed and a ticket is neatly tucked into a City of Fort Worth envelope and mailed to the addy that matches the license plate.

So . . . my friend ran a red light, got a ticket for it, and THEN asks "Why me?" I assume the question is grounded in, "Why did something like this happen to me? I'm not a bad person, I don't deserve this!" The assumption is that she is not a criminal, she pays taxes, leads a good, quiet life, tends to her family (Which by the way, these things are true). Why, then, did she get the ticket and not someone else? Simply put, she broke the law.

If the above paragraph is accurate, and it is (pardon my arrogance for the moment), then the situation provides the foundation of all lies which mankind comes up with so frequently when we do something wrong.

The bottom line, we are all smitten with sin. It is rooted very, very deep. So deep that we think we are not infected with it. Otherwise, my friend wouldn't have assuemd she was "above" getting a ticket for a crime she committed. Granted, running a red light is no match to murder or rape or something of the like. But its the attitude behind her words that make the difference.

BUT, It's not just her . . . it's me too, its also my beautiful, kind, forgiving, and loving wife, its you, its your best friend, your mother and father, siblings, its all of us. That is, all of us are steeped in sin, yet think we are generally good people.

For you theology buffs out there, you should know that I'm no Calvinist, but I do believe in the typically ascribed Reformed/Calvinistic idea of TOTAL DEPRAVITY. (though I hate ascribing a biblical teaching to a man compiled system of theology)Scripture says,

- "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
- "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned" Romans 5"12

We are all guilty; and we have all been guilty sense the day we were born. We were born into this world, this world is sin-filled, and we can't escape it. Some might think, then, that because we couldn't avoid being born into a sin-filled world that we are not guilty for it, by no means! "All have sinned and fall short of God's glory" and "Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered." Proverbs 11:21

Interesting how we automatically assume when we break the law that we somehow ARE NOT to blame. Reminds me of Genesis 3 when God calls upon Adam to confess his sins of eating the forbidden fruit. He didn't confess, no he blamed God first, then he blamed Eve. Adam's finger never got around to himself.

THANKFULLY we have an "out" of our sin nature, Jesus Christ came to this world and became the perfect sacrifice for sin. He accepted the punishment for my sins and for yours, and "he is in the business of saving souls" as my Pastoral Ministries prof likes to say.

If you believe in him, confess your sins, and live faithfully in Christ, he is just and will forgive you of your life's sin.

Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father desire to be in relationship with us all. That relationship comes through by grace through faith in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection from the dead.

"For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him." Romans 10:12

"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12


"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 2 Corinthians 3:14

posted by Bryan Laramore @ 9:10 PM 2 addendums

Death and All His Friends

REALITY
I am reminded this week of a certain reality which cannot be escaped: DEATH. I, and I believe many others, seem to function on a day to day basis as if tomorrow is guaranteed. It is somewhat cliché in Christendom nowadays to make such claim because we hear preachers say it all the time, “Do ya know where you’d go if you died today, sinner?!?! Don’t you know that every day is gift from God; today just may be your last, you are not guaranteed another day!!!” Something like this is preached in many pulpits every weekend and while it gets old to hear it over and over, there is a great measure of truth to it.

DEATH
As I am diligently working on a paper for my Hebrew class on Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (“The end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring everything into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil”), I receive word that a classmate of mine was killed Tuesday in a motorcycle accident. Death, and all his friends, came over me like a chicken on a June bug.

It hits me every time this happens. Life is commonplace to us, but death is the ultimate reality. We know its coming, for we all have an appointment with Mr. Death. But it smacks me in the face when it happens “close to home.” Sadness, guilt, pity, doubt, wondering . . . these feelings flood over me as a sea billow over a helpless sea shell.

WISDOM FROM A WISE OLD MAN
The wise old man King Solomon had much to say. Hear this, “What does a man gain by all the toil which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.” What wisdom he had!

We are comfortable with life, until trajedy befalls us, and all his friends, enter into our lives. A brother dies, a mother has cancer, a sister is abused, a father is sent to prison, a son is murdered, a daughter is raped, and an unborn child is slaughtered.

Sin has caused a gaping whole in all of our lives. Sin causes death, and all his friends, to emasculate our lives. We can’t always stop it, we can’t always prevent it, rarely can we control it, for it is “’just life.”

In the Wisdom of Solomon, we see these words, “When all has been heard, fear God and keep his commands, for this is mankind’s all. Everything we do will be brought into judgment upon our deaths, every secret thing, and everything good or bad.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.

THE GOOD NEWS
While the reality of death is always lurking near, for every last one of us, and even though sin has permeated all of our lives, we have a high priest who has gone before us to make right the things that have gone wrong. 1 John 2:1-2.

CONSIDER THESE WORDS:
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

“But the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“And if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Romans 10:9-10

“For everyone who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

“We know that everyone who has been born of God (saved in Christ) does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God (saved in Christ) protects him, and Satan does not touch him.” 1 John 5:18

COME ONE AND ALL, receive the Living Water which is ETERNAL LIFE. Fear God, live by his teachings, and escape the sting of death, and all his friends.
SALVATION IS FOR ALL WHO BELIEVE, I beg of the Holy Spirit to work in your life to wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, the Risen Lord. And I pray this happens before death comes.

posted by Bryan Laramore @ 9:13 AM 0 addendums