Mother Teresa said, “At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.”

At first I loved this quote, I was all over it. But then I realized that although it is a good thought and nice encouragement to love one another as Jesus loves us, it isn’t true. We will not be judged by our good works, or even by our faith. We will be judged by whether or not we are covered in Jesus’ blood. If we are then it should show in our faith and our faith should be manifested in good works, and Jesus should be revealed to the world in our love. But we will be judged simply by whether or not our names are written in the Book of Life.

You can’t be good enough. You can’t do enough good to earn heaven. Only Jesus can give you that.

This is a small list of the one another commands in God’s word:

Love one another (John 13:34, John 13:35, John 15:12, John 15:17, 1 Peter 4:8)

Encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25)

Pray for one another (James 5:16)

Be at peace with one another (Mark 9:50 1 Peter 3:8)

Wash one another’s feet.  (John 13:14)

Be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32)

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love (Romans 12:10)

Honor one another (Romans 12:10)

Instruct one another (Romans 15:14, Colossians 3:16)

Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)

Be patient to one another (Ephesians 4:2)

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)

Forgive one another. (Colossians 3:13)

Confess your sins to one another (James 5:16)

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. (Ephesians 5:19)

We have to have others in our lives in order to fulfill the law of Christ. Christianity is not meant to be a lone-wolf experience.

By Robert Gordon

Father God in the highest of the heavens holy is your name, and holy you are here we are on this earth as daughters and sons of God. You put all things in their place, all the things you've made, were made through Christ my Savior. And all things hold together by the word of his power. 

As I reflect on your goodness, on your mercy, on your love, on your grace, I feel indebted to you for the rest of my life because of how good you are to us. For everything that you have already done for us we should be eternally grateful but you don't stop there and you continue to work and to mold us, and to bless us, and to love us, and to grow us to be more and more like your Son. You also give your Spirit without measure, you give good gifts to your children all of the time, you lavish us with your love through your Holy Spirit.

Who are we to deserve such mercy and grace from the all-powerful God and Creator of the world? Who are we to deserve such attention in our finiteness?  Who are we to deserve such a sacrifice to be made by your Son on the cross who took our shame and took our sin and paid the price for all of those who confess him as their Lord and Savior? Who are we to petition things from you who has already given everything, including his one and only son already, who are we to ask for anymore? But only a God as good as our Father who continues to hear our prayers and to take our requests.  But one thing we do is to make sure that we give you praise, and adoration, and honor, and glory that is due to your holy name Father God we lift up our hands and we close our eyes and we lift up our souls to you God because you are good. You are more than good, you are great. And you are more than great you are superbly awesome God. And we love you. Amen. 

I held the shattered pieces of my broken heart in my torn and bleeding hands. I had tried to glue them but the sharp fragments pierced my skin over and over. The jagged shards seemed too many to put together.
I threw them in the hidden drawer of broken things to fix some other time when I could better handle the tiny remnants. It was insurmountable to me and I decided to put it out of my mind for the time.


That was when I realized that the Master Artisan was there with me. He smiled His kind smile and I felt the Love in Him as He hugged me. His smile was gentle and kind but to my shame, my horror He headed straight to the secret drawer stuffed with brokenness. I was frozen in fear and my mind screamed "No!"
He looked at the contents of that drawer and in that still quiet voice, He said "This is not your heart Dear Child. I've held that for safekeeping right here in My hands.”

Sure enough He opened His Beautiful Craftsman hands and there was my heart safe inside. I was confused though, I didn't understand what the mess in the drawer could be.


"This is your pain," He said, "and you don't need to hold on to it anymore."


I was reluctant to hand to over. It was ugly, disgusting and covered with dirt, grime, and blood. 'What if the splinters cut you?" I asked. I was crying now unable to come up with any reason other than my fear not to let go of the ever growing contents of the drawer.


The Creator showed me His hands once again. I noticed then the wounds, that went all the way through them, and that somehow made them even more beautiful.
So I picked up each cutting piece and every sharp fragment and my tears fell on the monstrosity as I handed it over to The Master.


He took it all from me and worked it with those rough workman’s hands. Then He gave it back to me. I was astonished, never before had I ever seen anything like it. It was crystal and shining and beautiful. When I peered it into it the reflection looking back at me was the Glorious Countenance of the King.

Despite
By Donna Campbell
 

If you’ve just met her the illusion of her beauty is shattered by her flaws.

Once you get to know her, you overlook her flaws and find her pretty.

When you love her you forget her flaws and realize she is beautiful.

When you deeply love her the way He does, you love all of her, including her flaws and you know

She is exquisite.

In Philippians Chapter 3 verse 6 Paul describes himself this way “…as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” In the first chapter of 1 Timothy Paul says, “…that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (Verse 15b). How can Paul be both the foremost of sinners and blameless under the law? They seem to contradict one another, but they don’t. Following the law, even perfectly has nothing to do with salvation.

Paul was the epitome of the Jewish man. If the law could save anyone, it could save Paul. Philippians 3:4-6 reads,

“though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

He had it all down pat. He knew his lineage and could tell people his ancestry made him a member of the tribe of Benjamin. He had been circumcised exactly as the law prescribed. He was a Pharisee. And let me tell you it was tough to become a Pharisee. The Pharisees were devoted to the law. They studied it, memorized it, and methodized it. They made sure the rest of the Jews were following the law by putting rituals and rules to their lives that ensured they would not break any of the numerous laws. And Paul wasn’t just any old ordinary Pharisee, he was fervent and passionate to the point that he wanted to bring down the Christians who seemed to have no regard for the law. He was blameless under the law. He observed the Torah with absoluteness. He had every law down pat.

So how could Paul refer to himself as the foremost of sinners? If he had followed the law so perfectly how could he be the chief of sinners? Paul describes his sin in 1 Timothy 1:12-13.

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,”

Paul was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent opponent. Paul cursed God when he cursed the church, he spoke about Christ and Christians with hatred and disdain. He hounded and oppressed the church and therefore Christ.  Paul was an enemy of the church, and an enemy of Christ. We all were enemies of Christ before Jesus saved us. Romans 10:5 reads,

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

1 Timothy 1:13-14 reads,

“though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ.”

Paul was a sinner, an enemy of God, He had thought he was acting for God, when really it was for the law. His actions made him not just an enemy but an enemy who pursued and hunted Christians and Christ with the intent of wiping them out. But Jesus knew Paul. He understood and so He was merciful and He forgave Paul completely. When Jesus forgave Paul he flooded him with faith and love.

Paul followed the law to the letter, but there was no love in it. There was no love for God, and there was no love for his fellow man. Paul had passion for the law and he believed that passion for the law meant passion for God. But God doesn’t ask for us to have zeal for the law. He never asked us to have ardor for the law. He asked us to adore Him. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 reads,

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

In Leviticus Chapter 19 Moses has given a long list of laws that are somewhat reminiscent of many of the Ten Commandments and he ends it with verse 18.

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

When the Sadducees came to Jesus and asked Him what the greatest commandment was He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-39).

He said that all the commandments and the Prophets depended on those two commandments. If you love the Lord with your entire being (body, mind, and heart) and you love your neighbor, then you will by your faith keep the law.

But the Pharisees hadn’t put laws like love God into a ritual. There is no way to make actual love a ritual. 1. Pucker lips. 2. Open arms 3. Say, “mwah.” Or 1. Take your money out of the bank. 2. Donate it to the poor. There is no love in following a set of directions. They had been keen to keep the law, so keen that they forgot God in the process. In their fervor they replaced The Lord with the idol of law.

Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6 on a couple of occasions. It reads,

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

When Paul was saved he knew all his perfect following of the law meant nothing. He may have followed the letter of the law but without love it was only ritual. Without love and knowing God, his sacrifices and offerings were absurd. Whatever righteousness he had was worldly and didn’t matter when it came to knowing Jesus. Philippians 3:7-9 reads,

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—“

You just can’t be good enough to be saved. Salvation by the law is unachievable. If it were possible to be saved outside of Christ, Saul would have been saved and never become Paul. If it were doable, Jesus never would have needed to come.

Romans 3:23-24 reads,

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

Salvation can only be attained through Jesus. It is a gift. It cannot be earned. It is by grace, there is no one who can deserve it.

That is how Paul could be righteous to the world and the worst of sinners in the Kingdom of God.