Day 27

Scripture: Ps 97, 99, 100, 94, 95; Jeremiah 17:19-27; Romans 7:13-25; John 6:16-27


Scripture standout: John 6: ²⁶ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”


and...


Ps 100: "³ Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his^[a]; 
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. ⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."


Morning thoughts: This from Forward Day by Day. Another good one:

"Romans 7:13-25. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

I can be destructive. We all can be, including the author of Romans, Paul. I can’t speak for him, but I can say that the doctrine of original sin doesn’t explain it for me. I prefer another, not so widely known doctrine: “imago Dei,” roughly translated, “the image of God.”

If we are created in the image of God, then when we behave in ungodly ways, it would be convenient to have an excuse, a reason outside ourselves to account for our behavior. After all, a ton of my actions have been anything but godly.

This can lead to polarizing people between good and bad and to a simplistic doctrine of original sin that says we were good until Adam and Eve ate the apple and saw their nakedness, but now we’re bad and need someone’s help getting back to being good. This is also a convenient doctrine for folks who claim to know the path to this goodness, whether it be the purity of the Jewish law or certain beliefs about Jesus.

The God I struggle to understand is neither simple nor polarizing, but very complex—as I am coming to see that we all are, created in God’s image."