I love the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. It is profound and Inspired. I love these these lines found in the prayer of general confession from the Book of Common Prayer (written in 1662):
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done;
Those two sentences diagnose the truth about our condition and status. We are all repetitive sinners, guilty of sins of omission and commission.
I read a few months ago by J. C. Ryle, the famous Anglican bishop of the late 1800's. In his book called Holiness, he wrote about how all saints fall short of perfection:
"The holiest actions of the holiest saint that ever lived are all more or less full of defects and imperfections. They are either wrong in their motive or defective in their performance, and in themselves are nothing more than “splendid sins,” deserving God’s wrath and condemnation."
This is a much-needed word for a generation of Christians with an inflated sense of self-importance. Apart from God’s grace, even our best efforts are nothing more than “splendid sins.” In my better moments, which are all too few, I realize that even my best efforts fall well over into the “splendid sins” category. Ryle has told the truth about the best of us and the rest of us. This side of heaven, we’re a pretty sorry lot, but that’s where God’s grace comes in. No one will be saved by what they do. Our only hope of heaven is to run to the cross and lay hold of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we won’t even do that unless God helps us to do it, and even then He must give us the strength to hang on and to keep believing.
In the Youth Room of our church there are many posters. One of them contains the names of the flawed people in the Bible and how the Lord used them in His kingdom. The Good News is that He still uses flawed and imperfect people.
We all know that the heroes of the Bible had serious flaws. That’s all God has to work with. Somebody has said that, "All the perfect people are in heaven". The only ones on earth are the folks with serious weaknesses. The talent pool has always been pretty thin when it comes to moral perfection, so our gracious and merciful Lord works with sinners because that’s all he has to work with. In heaven we will all be vastly improved–perfected by God’s grace, but until then, He uses some pretty ornery people who fall short in many ways–and He does some amazing things through them. Our Lord has a great sense of humor as shown by the fact that He used the people like:
Noah who got drunk.
Abraham who lied about his wife.
Jacob who was a deceiver.
Moses who murdered an Egyptian.
Rahab who was a harlot.
Samson who had serious problems with lust and anger.
David who was an adulterer.
Paul who persecuted the church.
Peter who denied Christ.
If God chose only well-rounded people with no character flaws, some of the credit would inevitably go to the people and not to the Lord. By choosing flawed people with a bad past, a shaky present, and an uncertain future, God alone gets the glory when they accomplish amazing things by his power.
Blessed be His Name.
In Him,
Brown
http://youtu.be/PXsWAAhnGhc
