His Righteousness or Ours?

Romans 10:3 (NKJV)
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

Let's break the passage down. The first word I want to know more about is the word ignorant it is the Greek word agnoeo ag-no-eh'-o from 1 (as a negative particle) and 3539; not to know (through lack of information or intelligence); by implication, to ignore (through disinclination)

So they are ignoring God's righteousness through disinclination. What is a good working definition for disinclination? Webster's New World College Dictionary states it is a dislike or lack of desire; aversion; reluctance. WordNet states it this way, disinclination - a certain degree of unwillingness; "a reluctance to commit himself"; "his hesitancy revealed his basic indisposition"; hesitancy, hesitation, indisposition, reluctance
sloth, slothfulness - a disinclination to work or exert yourself
involuntariness, unwillingness - the trait of being unwilling;

Let's restate it now using our better understanding, For they are ignoring God's Word because they have a lack of desire and are unwilling to put forth any effort to know God's righteousness....

OK, what is righteousness? dikaiosune dik-ah-yos-oo'-nay from 1342; equity (of character or act); specially (Christian) justification:--righteousness. We could say right law, system or standard of behavior.

Now let's put it all together; For they are ignoring God's Word because they have a lack of desire and are unwilling to put forth any effort to know God's right standard of behavior and seeking to establish their own standard of right behavior, have not submitted to the standard of right behavior of God.

Contextually Paul was dealing with the Jews who were trying to establish their own standards above the standards of God and therefore missed the Messiah and eternal life. I believe we can learn from this verse how we as God's people have the same tendency the Jews did in sacrificing God's standard of righteousness for our own all the time thinking we are good and OK.

Ponder how this fits with what I shared yesterday...treating the sacred (holy) as common?

Treating The Sacred As Common

I was awakened early one day last week with a question that I know was from God. I have been struggling not with the answer but with the truth. Is Satan attempting to turn the sacred into nothing more than common? I knew the answer was, yes with no hesitation and no doubts. But why was God asking? I know this was God because I awoke very alert, I confess that is not normal for me. Also I don't usually awake with this kind of question in my mind. So again I ask, Why are you asking? As Jesus did so often in the Gospels He answered with a question, What is he making common and how is he doing it? That took some thought. What is he making common?

His name
His word (Holy Bible)
Our bodies
Marriage
Family (roles)
Sex
Work
Church (place, time of worship, body of Christ)
Worship (Rote ritual to entertainment)
The Cross
Country (America. one nation under God)
Us???????
Ministries
Pastors
Spirit of God

The list above is not exhaustive. We could probably have some good discussions on the many ways Satan is making them common and would love to hear your thoughts. The knowledge of the fact that it is God's own people who are allowing the sacred turn into that which is common is what troubled me. With each of the above listed I was called by God to ask myself, Am I treating ________ as sacred or common? And, is the Church treating ___________as sacred or common?

Let me finish with a verse that God pointed out to me in my QT the day of this experience with God.

Romans 10:3 (NKJV)
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

I will discuss the significance of this verse tomorrow. Till then praying that I treat Him and His interests with the respect they deserve and not carelessly.

Mom and Dad's 5oth

Jon and I recently traveled to Dallas for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. My sisters and I were able to give them a really fun shin-dig. It was not a surprise because my Dad doesn't do well with surprises in fact we were all afraid we would receive a whuppin' from our Dad for giving the party. Seriously we were afraid how he would handle the whole thing. My Dad isn't exactly Mr. Social. I'll share later how he handled it.

My sisters, Wendy and Marsha and our Mom, we couldn't keep my mother out of the church kitchen, made all kinds of beautiful trays of sandwiches, vegetables and fruit. The food table was set beautifully. God blessed us through Marsha having so many clear serving trays and pedestals we could use from her work (DELVE Dallas) We had a wedding cake and punch and of course being in Texas you always have to have some Ice Tea, Sweet Tea to be exact. Reminds me of the time I caught my mom putting it (Sweet Tea) in Chad's bottle. Back to the affair. We had fresh flower arrangements on all the tables, very simply done but effective. God blessed us with Wendy being at the right place at the right time. The store was getting ready to cut the flower prices by 75% so they could have room for the new truck load coming in that day. We had burned a CD of my Mom and Dad's favorite music from when they were dating. We had: "You Are My Special Angel," "Have I Told You How Much I Love You," "Earth Angel," "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," and many more. Some great dancing songs but since we were having it in the basement of the church we could not dance. I was blessed by just taking all the change we had around the house and having just enough to download all their favorites and a few more for a total of 24. It excited us for Mom to be so excited about the CD that she made sure she was the one that got to keep it and put it in Dad's truck for them to listen to it together. Jack (Wendy's husband) was blessed by putting all our pictures together for a slide show. It was so much fun for everyone to enjoy all the pictures of my parents from babies to young marrieds on the slide show that ran continuously. We (Wendy, Jack, Lil' Jack, Billy, Jon and myself) all shared about what my parents had meant to each of us. Grant and Anneen were able to send a video clip of congratulations as well as Clay, Ava, and Sarah sang "We Wish You a Happy Anniversary."

So how did my parents like it? Mom loved it she had a ball. My Dad? Harder to tell with him. Like I said were were afraid of getting a whuppin when we got home. But while Wendy and I were giving our speeches he had his head down, he couldn't look up. But when the program was over and everyone was just socializing I saw him smiling many times. When all the Church people had left he danced with my Mom. I think that was my favorite part of the whole afternoon.

Miracles do happen. My parents are overcommers! They stand as a great example to me to remember my vows and keep them no matter what and that should be celebrated. Celebrate we did