You're Killing Me, Paul

Hey y’all.

Today, I just wanted to share some things with you.  I have been working back through the Bible, trying to read enough each day that I will finish the whole Bible before I go back to school in the fall, so within the past few days, I have (re)read almost all of the Pauline epistles.  Reading them one after another have shown their consistency and repetition of an important word: faith. 

There is one point I wanted to discuss that came up in 1 Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23-24.  In the Methodist faith, we talk a lot about free will.  God gave us the gift free choice, as we believe, and not as a robotic or a predetermined fate-following people.  (This belief is different throughout some of the different denominations, but this point is fitting all Christians).   

These verses say, “I am allowed to do anything.” Many believers I know use this same kind of mentality: “Well, God is going to save me anyway, so it really doesn’t matter what I do.”  As Paul says, you can do anything, but not everything is good for you, and not everything is beneficial.  Paul then says, “Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others” (1 Corinthians 10:24). 

The Pauline epistles discuss faith a ton.  I’m pretty sure I read the word “faith” on just about every page of these books of the Bible.  It’s important.  So, what does faith really mean?  In Paul’s letters, he writes about faith being more important than the laws.  He also writes about being living sacrifices to God.  In Romans 12, Paul writes about this.  In Romans 12:1, he says that “. . .giving your bodies to God. . .be a living and holy sacrifice. . .this is truly the way to worship Him.” Living out our belief in Jesus’s sacrifice is faith.  Paul defines faith in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

Through faith, we are supposed to love.  Love is foundation of a relationship with God.  This is another important consistency throughout these letters.  If you want a reference, check out 1 Corinthians 13, one of my favorite passages in the Bible (I actually love verses 1-3 and 13, while the typical wedding passage is verse 4 through about 7.) 

These letters also consistently urge us to live by the Spirit, and encourage and support one another without dividing.  Constantly Paul writes about how we together are the body of Christ.  We aren’t meant to live out our belief alone. In Philippians 2:3-4, Paul writes (NLT), “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.  Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.  Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” 

Our sins are what separate us from the love and Kingdom of God.  YES, His grace is freely given to us and will save us if we believe that Jesus came into the world to be the sacrifice for our sins.  But fully believing means CHANGING YOUR LIVES FOR HIM.  Believing in Jesus’s sacrifice isn’t just like, going to church on holidays and maybe wearing a cross necklace.  It’s not just going to church on Sunday or even just trying to suppress your sinful nature.  It’s learning how to be a living sacrifice for Christ.  Throughout these letters, we are given a pretty good list of “what-not-to-do-s,” and even some “to-do-s,” but in Galatians 5, we are given some pretty specific instructions on what we are meant to be doing with the fruits of the spirit.  These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.  “Against these things there is no law!” 

I just wanted to share these reminders with you.  So many of us believe.  We were either raised in a church or ended up going to a youth group event at some point and thought “hey this Jesus thing is pretty neat.”  But after a week of finals, problems at work, car trouble, family illnesses, and the other stressful things in our lives, it can be easy to throw in the towel and say “Why me?  No God would make me go through all of this.”  But living for God as a sacrifice and true believer will transform your mind (Colossians 3:1).  That’s right, believing is a transformation.  It’s life-changing.  It’s not living in the ways of this world, but focusing on God.  (If you really want to talk about suffering, look at so many of the characters in the Bible.  Look at Paul in jail, look at Jesus on the cross.  God never promised to relieve us of suffering.  Paul even urges us to suffer for Christ!)  However, Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord consistently, too.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, in Philippians 4:4, and in many other places in his letters, Paul says to rejoice in the Lord through all of our circumstances. 

I’m not writing this to say I am perfect in these things.  I am a human.  I sin.  I fall short of the standards we are supposed to meet in the old covenant.  But I am saved by God’s grace.  However, believing in God has changed my life.  This has never been a really drastic change, since I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was 3 years old.  However, this has been a lifestyle for me, and the older I get, the more spiritually mature I get.  This basically means I realize more and more how much I fall short of Jesus’s perfection.  Instead of making me cry like it used to, I rejoice because God saves me, even though I don’t deserve it.  But to try to live my life in any way other than for Him doesn’t work for me.  I’m all in.  This means growing.  Praying.  Diving into the Scriptures and learning more and more about the God who knows me and calls me by name.  And it also means telling people.  Not just telling you that God loves you, or that Jesus saved you.  This means telling you how God is working in my life, and that He can work in yours, too.  Rejoice, give thanks – Jesus has saved us, God’s grace frees us from the limits of our sins!  The only way to begin to try to repay Him is to be faithful, and be all in for Him. 

So why did I title this "You're Killing Me, Paul?"  First, because I was trying to be funny.  This either stuck or it didn't, and if you don't get it, it's from the Sandlot, but really I know it from Dr. A - "You're killing me, smalls."   But reading these letters have been tough.  Paul writes with conviction. Each and every sin he points out is tough to read. In each letter, there is a point where I have wanted to cry because I fall so short of where I should be.  I've messed up. I feel like Paul is getting me to dig deep, something many of us are none too fond of (C'mon Paul, don't tell me to work harder, I just want to take a nap.) His letters sting in places. 

But in each letter, then Paul reminds me (and all of us) that God uses us broken people to do His work, and if we believe, we are saved through His grace.  There's no need to worry about my salvation as long as I believe with my whole self that Jesus died for me.  There is nothing I can do to "earn" grace.  And that's a message I want everyone to hear! 

Thanks for reading this unusually long post.  I'd love to have conversations about this or as always, anything! Never hesitate to contact me.  God bless.