Offensive Grace

I don't like being told I'm helpless.  That I can't do anything to save myself.  I like feeling self-sufficient and independent.  I like feeling in control.

The thing is, I'm not.  I'm not really in control of my life.  I don't have control over my future.  And I certainly have no control over my life or how long it will last (ruling out suicide; that's an entirely different discussion).

God is in control of my life.  He gave me life, and he decides what will happen in it, and how long it will last.  And most importantly, God has guaranteed that I will not die eternally.

God has taken the responsibility for my salvation on himself.  I can do absolutely nothing about it.  No amount of good that I do has any bearing on my place in eternity.  Jesus took the punishment for MY sin on himself, and gave me his holiness and purity as a free gift.  I did not die for my sins.  I cannot claim the reward of salvation on my own because I do not deserve it.  I can only accept it because Jesus earned it for me and has given it to me freely.  He suffered an unbearable death on the cross in my place, and in the place of all other people who have ever lived.  He took the worst possible punishment--separation from God himself--on him, so that we would never have to experience it.

To many, many people, this sounds ridiculous.  "What does some Jewish teacher who lived two thousand years ago have to do with me?  How does his death guarantee my salvation?  Why do I even need salvation?  Why shouldn't I be able to earn it on my own?"

We don't like owing things to people.  We don't like to admit that we can't do everything for ourselves.

This is why the Gospel is foolishness to so many.  This is why grace is offensive.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God....Where is the scholar?  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

"Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength...God choose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

"It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: 'Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.'"  (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

Grace is a gift.  Plain and simple.  It's not something we deserve, it's something God gives to us because he loves us.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Linking with: Upward not Inward, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home,  Deep Roots at Home, We are THAT Family, Messy Marriage, Graced Simplicity

I am a sinner and a saint.

If we're all about the "I" today, I'd like to talk about what I am.

I am a sinner.  Born into sin, because of the sin of Adam and Eve that has been passed down to me through all those generations.  And I live in sin, because of the sinful choices I make every day.  We live in a sin-filled world, and that's just reality.

But I'm also a saint.  No, that doesn't mean I'm perfect.  I am a child of God.  In my baptism, the Holy Spirit came into my heart and gave me faith.

God lives in me.

That's an amazing thing.  As a result of this, my soul belongs to God and lives in harmony with him.  That's the saint-side of me.

It's hard to understand, I know.  I don't fully understand it myself.  But I know it's true.

Just as every minute of every day I am sinning--doing things in opposition to God--so also, every minute of every day, I am living a life that is obedient to God and pleasing to him.

How can that be?  How can I, just sitting here, be obeying God?

That's the same question I asked a professor a couple years ago, when we were discussing this in a class.  What he told me I will always remember.
"Well, you're sitting here in class," he said.  "In doing so, you're fulfilling your vocation of student.  You're giving attention and respect to me, as your teacher, someone in authority over you.  You're preparing yourself for whatever future vocation God has planned for you.  You're contributing to the discussion and helping others learn and grow.  So, just by having your rear in that chair right now, you're obeying and honoring God."

I had never thought of it like that before.  Even without meaning to, without doing it intentionally, my whole life is one of obedience to God.  Why?  Because the Holy Spirit lives in me and enables me to wholly serve, love and obey God.

It's not about me.  If it was up to me, I would only be sinning all the time.  It's only because of God's grace, mercy and forgiveness that I am able to be obedient to Him.

That gives me so much joy.  One of the biggest goals of my life is to give honor to my Jesus.  And because of His love for me, I do that all the time!  It's wonderful how He helps me so much in my desire to live in obedience to Him.  He knows that if it wasn't for His help, I'd never be able to do it myself! :D

You know what's wonderful?  If you're a baptized believer in Jesus, you're a sinner and saint, too.  Sure, you'll struggle with sin all the time.  But don't despair--because of Jesus, you are always a saint.  And someday, when our earthly bodies have died, our eternal souls will live forever with Jesus in heaven--in perfection!

Saved by Grace. This is what matters.

My friends, it's a blessed but weary morning.  Most days I'm ready to jump out of bed and start my Bible reading, make breakfast, write a post if I haven't already.

Today I'd love to go back to bed, but this house needs my attention, and so do you.  And you and I both need a reminder of the big picture--what life is all about, what the most important thing is.  (And I'll tell you what, it's not the fact that I have a lot of picking up to do around here.)

It's this:

Ephesians:
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[b] 4 But^[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [Emphases added] [Source]

This is what matters.  We can't expect perfection from ourselves, because we're not perfect.  We needed saving--which means at one point, we were lost.  Specifically, dead (see v. 1).  But in our baptisms, God made us one with Christ--one in his death, and one in his resurrection, so both Jesus' sacrifice and righteousness count for us, too.  God made us alive with Christ.  He has given us the promise of eternal life with Jesus, and because of his grace has given us faith (again, through our baptism and in the Word) which saves us.

Can I add a note here?  Perhaps you don't believe the truth of these things.  You might have heard about them, but not made them a part of your life.  If you don't know who Jesus is, or if you've heard of him but don't believe in him as your Lord and Savior, please, email me (jaimie dot ramsey at cune dot org) and we'll talk.  This message is for you, too, because Jesus also died for and loves YOU!


Our salvation is not contingent upon anything we do or don't do.  That would make even salvation from sin into a law.  But it's not.

Our salvation is entirely about Jesus, and what HE has done for us.

We are children of God and the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, enabling us to live obedient lives to God.  Because of Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf, God no longer looks at us and sees sinners.  He looks at us and sees Jesus.  He knows we're sinful, but he also knows Jesus has already paid the price for that sin.  He has already forgiven us for everything we have done or will ever do that is against his will for us.  There is no more price to be paid, no more punishment to be taken.  Oh, we experience the temporal consequences of bad decisions.  Sometimes those consequences are acutely painful.  But they don't affect our eternal state--our soul has been ransomed by Jesus Christ, and nothing in this world can touch it.

Ah...yes.  This is what's important.  God doesn't love me more if my house is clean.  He doesn't look at my homemaking skills or my good grades and say, "Well done, Jaimie, you've just made your salvation more sure."  That would be ridiculous.  God doesn't depend on us for our own salvation.  He just asks that we don't throw away the faith in his Son that he's graciously given us.  And I'm not about to do that.

Today, you and I can rest in the knowledge that God loves us, no matter what our house looks like, no matter how we do in our job or our studies or whatever vocation we're in.  Remember that you are saved by grace through faith, and this is NOT of your own doing.  It's a gift from God.

Linking today with Upward not Inward, Exceptionalistic, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers

Faith and Understanding

There are two different responses to what we experience in life that may be frustrating, confusing, or unexpected.
We can simply trust God,
or try to understand why He is doing (or allowing--there is a BIG difference!) certain things in our life.

Which one is more honoring to Him?

Our God is a big God.  It is simply impossible to fully understand Him.

If we spend all our energies in the quest to understand all the whys in our life, we won't have energy for doing anything else...

like putting our trust in Him.

We can't understand God.  We shouldn't expect to.  However, that doesn't negate the fact that we are required to trust Him unconditionally.


God doesn't ask us to understand everything that happens in our lives.  He doesn't ask us to understand Him.  There are things about God that are too wonderful for us to know...too big and awesome for our human minds to comprehend.

And that's okay.

"Then Job replied to the Lord: 'I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted....Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know...." -Job 42:1-2, 3b

This doesn't mean that God will not sometimes allow us to understand His purposes.
But when we do understand, it is not by our own wisdom, but by His.

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding." -Colossians 1:9

Understanding is an act of the mind.  Faith is an act of the heart, a gift God that is ours by the power of the Holy Spirit.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." -Hebrews 11:1

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." -Ephesians 2:9 

Both understanding of God and His ways, and faith in Him, are gifts that God gives us freely.
It is good to be able to understand.
It is essential that we have faith.
Faith in the grace of Jesus Christ, in His redemption for us on the cross, is what saves us.

The next time that something frustrating, confusing, or difficult comes our way,
how will we respond?
Will we seek to understand
or thank God for the gift of faith, that allows us to trust even those things "we do not see"?

Perhaps in His wisdom, God will allow us both faith and understanding...
but we can trust that He will do what He knows is best.

Inspired by this post by my dear friend Sara (and the discussion we had about it).

Linking up today with these lovely women:
New Life Steward; Upward Not Inward; Exceptionalistic; Deep Roots at Home; Raising Homemakers; A Wise Woman Builds Her Home; Women Living Well; The Fontenot Four

Graces from Others

Why is it so hard sometimes to accept things from others?  Is it pride?  A desire to take care of ourselves?  The yearning for independence--from parents, from employers, from anyone?  Or would we rather just give instead of receive?  That's better, after all--not taking from others but giving to them instead.  That's what Jesus did, isn't it?

If we're looking to the Savior for our example, yes, he constantly gave of himself to others.  But he had no home of his own once he left that of his father.  He had no way of earning money.  He had to rely entirely on the love, generosity and grace of other people for his food and lodging.  He had to receive gifts from those to whom he was the Gift.

If Christ accepted gifts, blessings, grace from others, than I can do no less.  After all, God chooses to bless me through other people.  That's what today's Joy Dare is about: "Three graces from people you love."  I like how Ann phrased this.  It's not just "Three graces from other people."  It's "Three graces from people you love," those with you often, those who know you best--those you desire to serve the most.  Those from whom it is sometimes hardest to accept grace.

God has blessed me, offered me grace, through people I love, and very recently:
My grandparents offering a ride to church on the morning of their commissioning (for their fourth missionary trip!).
Friends spontaneously having us for supper.
My husband reminding me that I can give it all up to God, simply trusting, not worrying, taking the control from me and helping me put it in His hands.

How has God shown his grace to you through people you love this last week?  I would love to hear how he's blessed you!  Please share in the comments. :)

The Grace of Good Friday

The greatest grace of Good Friday, I think, is not simply that Jesus died to take away our sins.  He died so that we wouldn't have to.

I realized this yesterday, at the Good Friday service led by my future father-in-law.  (Church is really a family thing when we're with my future in-laws!)

He read Isaiah 53 as part of the sermon.  "He was pierced for our transgressions..." instead of us.  "He was bruised for our iniquities..." instead of us.  "The punishment that brought us peace was upon him..." instead of us.


In a real time and place in history, Christ hung on a cross and bore every sin of every person who ever lived.  He endured the wrath of God his Father, experiencing hell so that we wouldn't have to.  He felt what it was like to be completely separated from God.  He felt the pain, the guilt, the shame of every sin ever committed.

And he did it out of love for mankind, because he wanted us to be able to spend eternity with him.  He wants me to live in heaven with him forever!  And he made it possible for that to happen.

He even, in his death, took away the sins I haven't committed yet.  When I do sin, I'm forgiven the second I repent.  My debt has already been paid.  My guilt is gone.  Because of Christ's sacrifice.

Not only did he sacrifice himself, the perfect Lamb of God, the sacrifice for all sin, in his Deity he conquered sin and death completely and was not bound by it.  The power of Satan is no power against the might of God.  Christ did not stay dead; he rose and lives and reigns in heaven, for all eternity.

This is love.  This is forgiveness.  This is grace.  This is Gospel: Jesus.

Great Sin, Greater Savior

In my writing class this morning we were given a few minutes to write a "creative non-fiction" essay with a religion prompt.  One of the suggestions was that I "Think of a time in your life when your faith reached a turning point...when life experiences brought an abstract concept such as sin, forgiveness, grace or hope of eternal life into focus."

This is what I wrote:

I've always, at least as far back as I can remember, been aware of God and his love for and forgiveness of me.  I know that at the age of five I wasn't afraid of dying because I knew I'd go to heaven.

But the magnitude of God's love and grace, his mercy and forgiveness, has become more real to me as I've become more aware of the magnitude of my sin.  I think as we get older and lose innocence, we gain capacity for "bigger" sins, not ones any worse than those we committed as children, but sins that have far greater consequences than hitting a little brother or taking a cookie we shouldn't have.  I know that the sins I've committed in the last couple years have created strong feelings of guilt and remorse that I didn't experience as a child.

Becoming more aware of my own sinfulness has also opened my eyes to the wonder of the Gospel.  God created me, and I sin against him.  He sent his Son to die, and thereby take the punishment for my sins on himself, and I still sin!  But the mind-blowing thing is, no matter how much I sin, God still forgives me.  When Jesus died he paid the price for every sin that I've ever committed or will commit.

I don't want to sin; I want to do good and obey God.  But I end up doing what I don't want to do and not doing what I want to do.  Paul talked about this very thing in Romans 7: "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing" (Romans 7:18-19).  Paul concludes chapter seven with, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (7:24-25).  Chapter eight begins, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (8:1-2).

Despite my sinfulness, I know that God has taken away all my sins and forgives me, completely and daily.  David writes in Psalm 103, "The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.  He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever.  He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:8-12).  God does not treat us as our sins deserve.  Instead, he is compassionate and gracious, abounding in love, and removing our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

As I have become more aware of just how grievous my sin is, so I have come to realize and become awed by how great God's love is.  His love far surpasses my sin: how great is the love and mercy of God compared to my sin!  How wonderfully does he not reject me.  How amazing his grace is.

Wow, three posts in one day!

My first post of today was very "me-centered."  I'm going to leave it as an example of what I DON'T want to do with my posts.

It's not about me.  Life isn't.  It's about the One who created me, who loves me, and who holds my life in his hands.

I was talking with my friend Sara yesterday about how mind-boggling it is, what Christ has done for us.  God came down to earth to live as a human, with all the pain and frustrations and inconveniences that that entails.  He was treated poorly, and at the end of his earthly life was mocked, beaten, whipped, spit upon, jeered at, and finally nailed to a rough cross of wood.

To the Jews who witnessed that, it was the most humiliating death a person could experience: the death of a criminal.  If only they had known that He was there because He had chosen to be.  That He had chosen to experience hell, quite literally, in order that mankind wouldn't have to.  That those who believed in Him and what He had done and that He had done it for them, without any help from them, that they might live.  Eternally.  With the One who loved them so much.

Not only that, but Sara and I talked about how much we still sin against God, despite what He's done for us.  And then, most mind-blowing of all, how He DAILY forgives us from all those sins!  What Jesus suffered on the cross was one payment for all sins of all people of all time.  He already took care of it ALL!  And He forgives every sin of every day.  No matter how many there are.

THAT is grace.  THAT is love.
Well, that's God.

Love Trusts: 1 Corinthians 13

I used to consider myself a person of pretty strong faith.  I have, in the last few months and even the last couple of years, come to realize that I have a lot to learn about trust.  I am a very take-charge person and that can translate to bossiness, micromanaging, control freak...you get the picture.  I am used to taking care of myself, planning out my life, and sometimes managing (ok, butting in to) the lives of those closest to me.

This afternoon in one of my classes, a classmate quoted 1 Corinthians 13:7: "[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Here are a few other versions of the same verse:
"[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (NKJV)


"Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]." (Amplified)


"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,^(N) endures all things." (ESV)


I like how the Amplified version translates it.  That's basically how my professor explained the passage: Love is ready to believe the best of people; it trusts them on the basis of love.  It's not a blind belief or trust, but one that says "I love you and I know you love me so I'm going to trust you."


This is the kind of love we can have with God.  This is the kind of love and trust I should be striving for in my relationship with God, and in a human relationship also.


My problem, I think, is the common human misconception that I know best.  This is quite false, of course.  I don't know best.  God does.  And he is in authority over me, he has put others in authority over me, and it is hugely beneficial to me to put myself under the care of those who are in loving authority over me.

It's really quite silly, when I stop to think about it, for me to try to do everything on my own and control every aspect of my life.  It might seem scary to let God manage our lives- I mean, it's our lives, after all, right?  But a whole life is a pretty huge thing to manage alone.  God is a pretty huge God, and he can handle our lives even when they're too much for us.  Not only that, but he's put people in our lives to help us along the way: spouses, parents, friends.

As I strive to love the way God loves, I am going to trust as love trusts.

White as Snow

I was busy yesterday, all day- no time to post.  (But it was Sunday, so I went to church and Bible study!)

I will read Scripture and post this afternoon.  But this morning, it is so incredibly beautiful outside with all the SNOW!  (I will post some pictures this afternoon.)  Forty-eight hours ago, the Nebraska landscape was beautiful, but sad and dead-looking at the same time.  Now all the gray and brown outside is clean, pure, crisp white- and it's still snowing!

It's a lovely reminder of what Christ has done for us through his death and resurrection.  I was created by God, but in my sinfulness I would be sad and dead--but because Christ has lived, died and risen for me, and thus granted me his forgiveness, I am washed clean!  He has covered me with his pure and righteous blood, and God no longer looks on my sinfulness, but Christ's righteousness.  The most wonderful part is that the forgiveness keeps coming, not like the snow which will end in a few days or less, but I am daily forgiven and renewed by the love of Jesus.

Praise be to God for his mercy, grace and forgiveness!

Epiphany: A Light to the Gentiles

I haven't blogged since before Christmas, which means I haven't been doing regular Scripture reading since then, earlier.

That changes today.  With the help and by the grace of God, I'm going to start reading Scripture daily, using the pericopes: an assigned series of readings for each week of the church year, covering the Old Testament, Psalms, Gospels and Epistles.

Today, January 6, is Epiphany: the day we celebrate when the Magi, or the Wise Men, went to visit Jesus.  The star they followed was visible in the sky beginning the night of Jesus' birth, and because they were from probably either Persia or southern Arabia, it would have been several months to a couple of years after Jesus' birth that they arrived at the place where Jesus was.  Joseph, Mary and Jesus were evidently still in Bethlehem (see Matthew 2:8), for King Herod sent the Magi there to search for Jesus.  And the boy Jesus would have been under the age of two, by Herod's calculations, because to try to eliminate Jesus he ordered the murder of every boy in Bethlehem two years old or younger (2:16).

The Magi (not necessarily three of them) were probably astronomers, because they noticed a new star appearing in the night sky on the night of Jesus' birth.  Not many ordinary people are familiar enough with the stars to notice when a new one would appear.  These men were also Gentiles (which means they weren't Jewish), but they had heard enough about the Jewish faith to know that a new King was to be born (2:1-2).  Not only that, but they realized that this newborn King was important enough for them to travel far to worship him.

That's why Epiphany is also sometimes known as the Gentiles' Christmas.  Simeon was a man that Joseph and Mary met in the temple at Jesus' circumcision.  He sang a prophetic song (Luke 2:29-32), part of which reads, "For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel" (emphasis mine).

The word epiphany means a revelation, a mystery made known.  In the assigned Epistle reading for Epiphany, Paul writes to the Ephesians, "Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation... This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2-6).  This was a huge deal for the Israelites back then, who up until this time had believed that the Messiah, or the Christ (Jesus) was only for the children of Abraham: those direct descendants of Jacob, or Israel.  But God revealed to his prophets and apostles the astonishing fact that Jesus had come to save all people, Jews and Gentiles alike.  It must have amazed Mary and Joseph when the Magi arrived: strangers from a strange land, who realized that their son was the Son of God and the King of Israel.

This is why Epiphany is so special for Christians who don't have a Jewish background.  We are like those Magi: not of Jewish blood, not direct descendants of Abraham, but through the gospel we are heirs of God just as the Israelites are.  We are sharers in the saving grace of God, and through that grace we have faith, redemption and forgiveness.

Today, I'm going to remember and thank God for those brave men who traveled to see the baby Jesus, and I'm going to thank him that through his grace I am counted as one of his children.