RIGHTEOUS AND SINFUL... Sunday

Devotional for 11/2/14  All Saints Day

There is a struggle within all of us.  It is the struggle between doing what is right and doing what is wrong.  Sometimes those choices are very clear to us.  We don't murder another human being, we don't steal what isn't ours, and we don't cheat on our spouse.  Instead, we seek to build up other people, help them in their time of need, and remain faithful to spouses and to God. But it isn't always that cut and dried as to what is the right thing to do.  Should I talk to a friend about another person or is that gossiping or slanderous?  Do I help the stranger who asks for money or turn away out of fear they are trying to take advantage or lying about their situation?  And there are even times when we know something is wrong but we somehow convince ourselves that it is OK if we just do it a little bit or just this one more time.  It is a constant battle inside between good and evil.

Martin Luther recognized this and taught that a Christian is at the same time both a saint and a sinner.  None of us can live a perfect life, and all fail daily at perfectly keeping the law, the commandments.  Yet we believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross and that we are made righteous/saints through that faith.  Though we are made holy, we continue to think or do things that are not holy either by our wrongful actions or by our inaction in times when it is needed.  Being aware of that inner struggle and being repentant by the power of the Spirit is what keeps us in that good relationship with God.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me... What a wretched [person] I am!  Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Romans 7:21, 24-25 (NIV)

So we continually die to sin and the law by dying with Christ on that cross so that we might serve God by bearing good fruit - that is, by living life to the best of our ability in order to bring him glory and witness to others to bring them to new life with God.

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.  Romans 7:6 (NIV)

Dear Father in heaven,  On this All Saint's Day we thank you for those faithful who have already departed this earth but who led the way for us as witnesses to you and your glory.  Help us to also be faithful until the very end, sharing the Gospel message of your Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of your Holy Spirit.  When we fall, please forgive us.  Help us to also be forgiving, both to others and to ourselves, because we realize that no one is perfect and we are all both saints and sinners at the same time.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

written by Jan Andersen

Song: Find Us Faithful, by Steve Green