Good For Nothing Vanity

^{Alone We Accomplish Nothing}

³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ⁷If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. -Romans 12:3-11

It's beautiful to read this scripture this morning- just after Bible Study last night. I found a fun trivia jeopardy game online. And at Bible Study we played the game together. All on the same team, we each contributed something: whether it was an answer to a certain set of questions or choosing the category or keeping track of the score. 13600! (Ok, so what if there was no other team?) Well, some of us are better at remembering names, others are better at recognizing trick questions, yet others will pick out numbers. Together we each did our part in the game.

And it was quite poignant, since we were talking about being 'death to sin' (Romans 6). We need the power of God's glory and grace for that to be true. And I'd also add that we need each other. With the encouragement gleamed from uniting with my brothers and sisters every week, I feel better prepared to keep away from sin, to do my part, and to recognize that alone I can't do anything... but only with God and with the help of His awesome multi-talented kids!

<sup>Boasting Accomplishes Nothing

29</sup> "We have heard of Moab's pride—
her overweening pride and conceit,
her pride and arrogance
and the haughtiness of her heart.

³⁰ I know her insolence but it is futile,"
declares the LORD,
"and her boasts accomplish nothing.-Jeremiah 48:29-30

It can be very tempting to believe someone who acts so certain in what they do and say. But the truth is, you can talk as much as you want, but 'accomplishes nothing.' It's not all that uncommon for the underdog to win. The favorite gets a bit to sure of him/herself. The walk into the game without practicing or taking it to seriously- and the outcome is an 'upset.' Vanity will get you nowhere.

Without Jesus We Accomplish Nothing

²³Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

²⁶Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. -Hebrews 7:23-26

These are the verses that I really love. We, even those holy appointed high preists, are weak. And our weakness makes us able to recognize our need for Christ. Yet I wonder, how does this fit in with people who talk about holiness and sanctification and being 'dead to sin'?

Some people talk about greater or lesser sins, but I don't quite buy that either. Otherwise, we'd be under the law again: classifying Christians, weighing and measuring. I believe that sin is sin... no matter how great or how large. That's the only way Christ can be the equalizer, level the playing field for people who grew up with 'the silver spoon,' those who grew up in Christian families, and those who grew up without families and without knowing Him.

To me, I think of it as more a change of heart. We are all sinners... but as Christians, we recognize our need for Him to intercede for our sins. Before that change, we didn't recognize that.