Yesterday I took a look at Martin Luther’s writings Heidelberg Disputation. I would paraphrase and summarize…but it is a little hard to do and Luther said it much better than I ever could.
21
A theology of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theology of the cross
calls the thing what it actually is.
This is clear: He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering. Therefore he prefers works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and, in general, good to evil. These are the people whom the apostle calls “enemies of the cross of Christ” [Phil. 3:18], for they hate the cross and suffering and love works and the glory of the works. Thus they call the good of the cross evil and the evil of a deed good. God can be found only in suffering and the cross, as has already been said. Therefore the friends of the cross works are dethroned and the old Adam, who is especially edified by works, is crucified. It is
impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his good works unless he has
first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he
is worthless and that his works are not his but God’s.
Wow, I know you must be thinking….what does this mean to me?
We need to stop looking at the theology of glory and start focusing on the theology of Christ. Take a look at the line that states “good of the cross evil and the evil of a deed good.” Do we do good deeds because it is going to get us in to heaven, make us look good, make us a better person, advance our own earthly lives….? Those are selfish reasons aka the theology of glory I was talking about. Don’t get me wrong I love to be “good” I love to help others…., but the key is I don’t do it to better myself, but because I know that Christ has saved me from my sins and that I don’t need to work for them. I do “good” things not because I have to but because I want to do them for Him and because of that Love of Christ and the love He has for us aka Theology of Christ.
When you look at success in your life do you see it? When you look at Peter’s or Paul’s life in the New Testament would you consider that a successful life? I’m taking a look at the line above that says “enemies of the cross.” What do you think that means…what is an enemy of the cross? To me that is saying that those are the people looking for earthly success. Those that say they are Christians but are because they think that God is going to give them “blessings”. When I was a child I was told I have several blessings in my life…and I would think to myself….(that is true)I have a car, a house to live in, a yard to play in and two legs to walk around on. Now that I’m older (not much wiser) I know that I do have all of my blessings…I have spiritual blessings. I don’t need to look at earthly things and consider them the blessings God promised. God promised to take care of us and to bless us. He has spiritually. These blessings are genuine, they challenge us to lead, they are sincere and real in our lives. That doesn’t mean that being a Christian is going to be easy, it means that even though I’m blessed I’m still going to be led down a bumpy path, but it means that I’m not walking it alone. When we look at earthly blessings we are looking out for number one in life (yourself) Instead we need to look at the blessings in our lives from a different perspective and pray for others who don’t see that God has blessed each of us by saving us from our sins and His death on the Cross.
Lord I pray that each of us take the time today and open our eyes to you, to see the spiritual blessings in our lives. Amen.
May you see God’s Blessing in your lives,Kris
Sorry for the typos…I have had to post this ending like three time…you would have thought I would have saved it the first time…my blog site hasn’t wanted to work for me yesterday or today.
1 comment:
I left a little something out...When I mentioned Paul and Peter and their successful lives I was looking at the fact that they had been faced with death, toils, despair, trouble, prison the works…(do you look at that and so...whoa they were successful men?)they may not have seen their own lives as being successful, but spiritually they were because they followed Christ. Some times we dwell on the earthly success and forget to look at our lives we are leading in Christ.
Lord I pray that we don’t forget that even though we have hard times in our lives that it does happen for a reason…that just because we believe in you are lives shouldn’t be a piece of cake…we are but humble servants and human beings. Lord help us all to look at our daily blessings that you place in our hearts. Amen.
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