We are sinners saved through grace, praising God! (1 picture + 1 experience with the Lord) 30-day challenge

Back from the ITERO, and back to work and the busy life! Wow, after such an amazing retreat where time stands still and everything is quiet, where people take their time to chat and fellowship, and where no one hurries up... - to North London where everyone rushes to work or school, buses and cars everywhere, you need to be careful not to bump into the many people on the street, even at night you hear the police and ambulance, etc. What a difference... Now I know that when we just take time to listen to the Lord, and even take some specific time away from the busy life, He can have a way to speak unhindered!

1 Picture for today - London Tube, London Underground

There are so many pictures you can take of the popular tube stations in London... - this one, I think, is in Bank Station, where many people change between the Northern Line and the Central Line. Especially when I go to Bower House, I change at Bank (especially since Tottenham Court Road tube station is closed for repairs on the Northern Line). I put this picture on Facebook and many liked it - so here it is also on the blog! :)

1 Experience with the Lord today - We are Sinners Saved Through Grace, praising God!

This morning we started getting into Psalm 51, which is a psalm of repentance - David is repenting before the Lord, admitting his sin and confessing. What a deep and what a precious psalm! I still can't wrap my head around this whole situation - how could David, someone who warred God's battles, who had a desire to build a house for God, and who was chosen by God since he was a teenager - this one, how could he fail so miserably??? The Bible simply says that he woke up in the afternoon and he went for a walk on the roof of his house, he saw a woman bathing, and... - he took her, he arranged for her husband to be killed, and then married her! This is awful, and this is not something that is recommended as a "Bible story"...

O Lord Jesus... Even when the gospel of Matthew starts, it says that David begot Solomon "out of her who had been the wife of Uriah the Hittite"(Matt. 1:6) - even in the genealogy of Jesus, this sin is like a stain there... After such a great revelation, David - a man after God's heart - failed so miserably... A man who enjoyed God so much, who wrote psalms and was on the throne, conquering the enemies and subduing the nations - this one committed such a crime that not even people in the world would commit... This even is so inexplicable that it's a shame that it happened, really...

But I praise the Lord for the ministry of the age which interprets and brings to light the spiritual principles in this story. David is just like us - we are all sinners, and we commit sin and transgressions. That's why we all sinners love this psalm - it is composed by a sinner and it is read and sung by us sinners. Only a sinner can write such a psalm - just as the famous song, Amazing Grace, was written by a sinner saved through grace, John Newton. This guy was so rebellious and so much against God that he did a lot of terrible things (which include slave trade, etc). But one day grace came and conquered even him... only a sinner can compose such a hymn and utter such words - and this is what makes our salvation beautiful!

We are just sinners saved through grace - and we will forever remember this. We may be alright today, but we may fail again tomorrow - it is God's mercy and grace we are still here. We are NOT angels - but as sinners, we can utter praise that the angels cannot! The angels don't know the joy of being forgiven and accepted by God even after failing miserably... We are forgiven much, therefore we love much. As sinners, we are made the masterpiece of God to shine out as the New Jerusalem - and even there, while shining brightly as the sun, we will still remember that it is the grace who did it all - it's not of us! Today we can offer a sweet and precious praise to God - He receives us when we return to Him and repent! All we need to do is repent and confess, and He receives us back and gives us grace!

We are not "looking for trouble", in the sense that we don't seek to sin, but as human beings things happen and we may fail, even fail terribly - to such an extent that others may shake their heads at us... O Lord Jesus... - even then, we can return to the Lord and repent. Yes, we are sinners, but we can repent and confess our sins, and He forgives us. Out of such a deep failure with a thorough repentance, married with God's forgiveness, something comes out - something for the building up of the church! What a wisdom! What an amazing plan! It's nothing of us, not of ourselves, not of our own effort or ability - but it is of God's grace! How we praise Him! How we love Him! We, sinners saved by grace, are being made the masterpiece of God!

... and this whole week it's a week on Psalm 51 - I am looking forward to pray over this Psalm, to meditate and muse on it.... May He produce the Solomon in us, the Christ who is experienced by us even in these failures, so that His house may be built! Praise the Lord!