Author: Christine Wyrtzen

FAKE RIGHTEOUSNESS

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.  Romans 2:13

            Paul needs to make it clear to the Jews that they can not be secure about eternity just because they are, by birthright, God’s chosen people.  He was once like them; reciting pedigree, education, and his impressive generational line.  He thought himself a notch above Gentiles.  He belonged to the people who were given the Mosaic Law and he, like most Jews, spent vast amounts of time in the temple reading it, studying it, and memorizing it.  This boosted pride and a false sense of security.  It all came crashing down on the road to Damascus when Jesus revealed that Paul was actually persecuting Him, amidst such holy performances in the company of Pharisees. Continue reading “Fake Righteousness” →

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BREAK?

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.  Romans 1:9-10

I can’t communicate the impact of these verses in a way that matches the fire in my spirit.  I am watching the truth of these concepts play out in people’s lives and these realities are staggering when viewed off the written page and in the everyday lives of human beings.

Paul wants to make sure that we get the message that no one is exempt from the truth of these principles.  His “Jew and Greek” references teach that these verses target everyone.  God is no respecter of persons.  If I spurn God’s ways, there will be tribulation and distress.  If I live by the Spirit, I will know glory, honor, and peace.  The contrast between both ends of these spectrums is stark and should serve to be a wake-up call to any who live in the distress of disobedience.  Yet, most seem to persist and fight God. Continue reading “What Does It Take To Break?” →

Yesterday, I wrote about God’s wrath, one that has been accumulating over time, and was poured out on His Son so that you and I could have a Savior who bore our punishment.

I can’t leave that subject and go on.  Ever since writing this message yesterday, I can’t stop thinking about it.  I’d never thought of God’s wrath like a dam about to burst, how Jesus took on the fury of it, the accumulation of it, and how vast an amount that would be upon a man.  I don’t know how He withstood it.  And mostly, I can’t comprehend the love that was willing to even consider doing it.

I am so convicted.  I am a teacher of the Gospel.  Women make decisions to receive Christ in our conferences.  Sometimes, as many as a hundred at a time.  But am I presenting the Gospel in a way that is reflective of God’s love and His wrath?  Continue reading “Forgive Me” →

WHERE DO I STAND ON THE WRATH ISSUE?

But because of your heart and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  Romans 2:5

            Wrath is not a palatable subject.  No one likes to think of someone being angry with them.  Children who have angry parents do everything in their power to over- perform in order to fix the relationship.  When we hear that the One who is storing up wrath against us is God, that is enough to undo us.  If we ignore the issue, it is to our peril. Continue reading “Where Do I Stand On The Wrath Issue?” →

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF KINDNESS

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?  Romans 2:4

I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about kindness being a stumbling block in relationships before.  How could someone’s patient spirit trip me up?  Yet, it obviously does because Paul asks his readers whether or not they presume upon God’s kindness by their deeds of unrighteousness.  Instead of their hearts growing more tender when they consider God’s longsuffering nature toward them, they use His love as an excuse to keep sinning.  Mankind will try to get away with as much as he can if there are no negative consequences.  Repentance is usually the last thing on our minds. Continue reading “Taking Advantage Of Kindness” →

JUDGING

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.  For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.  Romans 2:1

            Passing judgment and being discerning are two different things.  Paul is addressing the first here.  He is talking to the audience he wrote to in chapter one; those who see another person exchange the value of God’s beauty for the sins they want to commit.  God has given them over to deception and the consequences of their choices.  In so doing, it would be easy for those who know the truth to feel morally superior to them, and then judge them.  Continue reading “Judging” →

“I DON’T WANT YOU, GOD!”

Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.  Romans 1:32

            There are many reasons a person can reject God.  I know some who have proclaimed themselves an atheist because they suffered a personal tragedy and couldn’t reconcile that with the presence of a loving God.  Most push God away though because His Spirit convicts them of sin.  Wanting their own way, they are too uncomfortable in God’s presence.  He gets pushed out. Continue reading ““I Don’t Want You, God!”” →

HOW POWERFUL IS THE CROSS FOR ME?

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.  Romans 1:28

Paul writes to the Christians in Rome who were in no way naïve and sheltered from their culture.  They were first century Romans.  Life was barbaric, sexually deviant, and politically cut throat.  One could see about anything in broad daylight, even in the so-called temples of the day.  The blood of people and animals ran down walls like water. Continue reading “How Powerful Is The Cross For Me?” →

PREDISPOSED TO WHAT?

For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.  For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.  Romans 1:26-27

Simplistic evangelical thinking believes that a homosexual identity is birthed environmentally.  Flawed parenting, early childhood experiences, these are some of the things we believe solely shape sexual orientation.  However, what about members of the gay community who protest that they were indeed born this way?  We are prone to dismiss that because how can we defend God’s Word if a true genetic component exists?  Does this erase guilt and provide a loophole for God’s commandments? Continue reading “Predisposed To What?” →

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Romans 1:22

            Why would I want a substitute for God?  Why would I turn my back on His incredible glory and prefer the graven images of dead things?  I can only speak for myself and offer some reasons that have caused me to run, personally, from God’s presence.

• God created me in His image.  I know right from wrong because He gave me a conscience.  I have violated it and have known what it is like to be racked with guilt. I have hated the feeling.
• God is holy.  When in prayer, I have sensed His purity and have felt the depths of my sin.  I have hated the feeling.
• God gave the Law and revealed His will.  I have realized that it was impossible to live up to it, and every time I did the opposite of what He commanded, I wanted to forget that I had ever read it.  I have hated the feeling.

            So, I can understand idolatry.  I’ve committed it so easily.  But longevity with God tells me that there is another way.  I don’t need to be a fool, put my hands over my eyes, and pretend that I don’t see Him, hear Him, or sense Him.

            God invites my worship, my focus, and my preoccupation with His glory because He loves me and invites me to receive the very thing that I overlooked for so many years.  Grace.  It was grace that caused Him to hang on the cross so that my sin could be forgiven.  Grace caused Him to justify me and declare me ‘pure’.  Grace causes His Spirit, every day, to empower my obedience.  If I have any thoughts that cause me to fear drawing closer to God, I can be sure that I believe the lies of the enemy.

            His glory stuns my soul with wonder, then joy.  All those years, I protected myself from what would have saved my life.  And that is the lie of idolatry.  “You don’t want God.  He won’t satisfy.  Come and make yourself another god.”  Never again!

I’ve been a fool and worshipped at other altars.  They had no glory. Give me the grace to walk wisely and feast on Your beauty.  Amen