Advantages Don't Create Value

Romans 3. What is the advantage of the Jew?

Of the Christian?

Paul says it is because they have been trusted by God, entrusted with knowing the truth about Him.

God's faithfulness is God being full of faith. He has faith in those He entrusts with truth to accept the truth into their hearts and be transformed by Him.

Does God only trust those who are worthy of being trusted?

Obviously not.

What criteria does He use for who He selects to trust?

I'm not sure.

Do some people fail His trust and make Him look bad, like He made a mistake in trusting them?

Yes.

Have I trusted people been taken advantage of and made out to be a fool?

Yes.

Apparently God will be judged on this very issue. We along with the whole universe will hold Him accountable for all of His decisions and look to see if the outcome of those decisions to have faith in sinful people was a good choice or not. God will not tamper with the evidence or try to intimidate the jury. He has nothing to hide. And He continues to invest faith, lots of it, into the lives of unworthy people.

Paul follows the line of thought that through this choice it becomes evident that both those who have been entrusted by God and those who have not are all exposed to be sinners and all fall short of His glory, of being worthy of His trust and faith. He declares that the advantages He has given them do not make some people better than others.

This goes back to the issue of value and challenging the world's value system. Value or worth in the thinking of humans in general is based on performance, external impressions, and usefulness. If a person contributes more for the benefit of others or manages to leverage the world's system for their own enrichment then they are often considered more valuable than those around them. If they appear weak and unsure of themselves or less productive they are considered less valuable. There are all sorts of criteria for determining value depending on the culture and time, but there is always the underlying assumption of differences of value. This is the kingship model the world has developed and operates fully within a system of hierarchy that is imposed on everyone where some are always considered better than others, more valuable and more important.

One of the most important criteria is ancestry. Look at the blood-line mentality that has been around nearly since creation. People assume that blood relationship to famous ancestors somehow imparts intrinsic value to all the descendants. This is what the Jewish thinking is to this day and is also seen in the royalty mentality of the kings of Europe (blue-blooded) and other places in the world.

In Romans 3 Paul is debunking that belief by taking us higher in perspective to the big picture of the Great Controversy. He declares that even though the Jews were indeed chosen by God as a special group of people all from one family and entrusted with more explicit revelations about God in the Law than were other peoples, that did not make them any better or more valuable than others (3:9), contrary to their assumptions. In fact, the very thing entrusted to them – the Law – was the very thing designed to show the whole world that everyone was equally caught in the trap of sin (v. 9,19). Trying to achieve righteousness by trying to be righteous and keeping the law will not justify anyone, Jew, Christian or unbeliever alike (v. 20). It is almost like the Jews were handed a hot potato and didn't realize that it would burn them if they tried to hoard it to themselves. The law simply exposes how out of sync all of us are with God but it cannot help us do anything about that problem. It simply sets us up to be more hungry for the real gospel.

One question I have this morning is, Why is it OK for God to trust people who are not trustworthy but it is not right for us to do that? If we are to become more God-like and reflect His image and character why is it so dangerous to trust anyone but God when God seems to be trusting all sorts of untrustable characters? The Bible teaches that we should not trust anyone, not even ourselves, but God alone. That somewhat makes sense to me, though I have not learned that lesson very well in my practical life. But the Bible also teaches that God has faith, or trust, in sinners and believes in them to respond to His faith in them and His love for them. This is an area I am not very familiar with and is a new field of thought for me. I suspect it probably has a lot to do both with a better understanding of what the word trust means and also the possibility that there are several different original concepts that have gotten translated into only one or two words in English. This is a subject I have a lot of exploring to do yet but I feel is very important.

I am beginning to realize though, that the faith of Jesus referred tam seeing more clearly that we are really not much more than mirrors with a power of choice to determine what direction to face and focus on which in turn determines what we see and reflect in our lives. As we fill our mirrors with the amazing love, grace and faith of God by seeking His face we more and more begin to reflect and look like what we fill our imagination with.

I realized this a little more last night when I sat down and began to read about the life of Oswald Chambers. I did not get too far into the book but I found myself inspired and encouraged by all sorts of truths about how God uses people and how important family influences are in our life. I very quickly began to see that his mother was probably one of the most shaping influences in his life making him very open to God with a strong, positive child-like faith that become the trademark of his whole life. I am eager to read more and be influenced by the story of his life.

But I also realized that I could have just as easily sat down and filled my mind with shallow TV viewing and never realized what I was missing by not investing in better mind-food. All too often I do that very thing and do not give myself the advantages of choosing something better. That is one reason my own experience is still so shallow, because I too often take the easier path to satisfy an empty feeling inside of me instead of investing in more substantial and life-producing activities and relationships that will bring deeper satisfaction than the momentary pleasures offered by shallow activities.

God, give me more understanding of Your Word that I am pondering here. I want to not just understand the truth about You but I want to reflect much more of Your beauty and grace. But to do that I need to see You more clearly myself, especially with my heart and emotions and feel the inward transformation of Your presence and sweetness and peace. I am Your problem, God – I can't fix myself. I give You unlimited permission to do whatever it takes to capture my heart, my affections, and my loyalty for Your heart. Thank-you for having so much faith in me, for being full of faith – that just boggles my mind. I give myself to You today to be shaped and molded more into the person You created me to be in Your image and likeness.

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