The Great Eight - Pt 9

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:8-11 ESV).

In this next section of “the Great Eight” the Apostle Paul begins with this very matter-of-fact declaration that “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (v. 8). There are many descriptors that can be applied if we stop reading at this point. We could say that we are abandoned, rejected, worthless, ashamed, used, broken, abused, and condemned; however, Paul does not stop here. Every one of those words are crossed through in favor of that one word we all deeply long to experience. We are now redeemed. In Christ Jesus you are redeemed and forgiven for all our sins. In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Here’s how the apostle writes to the Ephesians: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10 ESV). This is that mysterious process where we each become a new creation and a son of God in Christ Jesus. Most of you know how much I like to create new things in my woodshop. There is something very satisfying about taking rough cut lumber and working it until it becomes something beautiful and useful. Recently my granddaughter, Faith, had a project to do in her Social Studies class. They were studying the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The assignment was to produce a journal based on the historical reports of that exploration. Faith is quite creative. She asked me if I could help by building her a box to put her journal and a few items in to present her project. Well, making a box is really not much of a challenge; nor is it very satisfying as a creative project. So, we chose a design that would simulate an Italian Jewelry box of the 19th Century. I used some wood that would take stain and “aging” well; trimmed it with some period millwork; and put a clasp, hinges, and handles that represented that look. It was quite beautiful when done and filled with her journal and other items. The wood I used was “scrap.” The box became a treasure. Do you see it? There it is. God, in His great grace, took us, who were little more than scrap, and made us into a great treasure in Christ! Now, that’s good news!