NOTE: This is a bit of early writing. Apparently this garnered an A+ in a senior year high school writing class. Now, I see the obvious deficiencies in it, and my valedictorian speech represents me a lot better. Still, please feel free to argue with my younger self! The image above has nothing to do with this, moreso Charles Stanley’s book (and sermon series) Success God’s Way.
Category: After Church
After Church articles.
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
24 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign. 25 But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26 However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.
2 Chronicles 32
Often, it is thought that the Old Testament remains the “lesser” of the two books. God sounds and acts completely different between the two narratives, one as a stern and unforgiving bookkeeper of the Law, the other a compassionate guy who wanders around telling indecipherable parables while also telling them to hug their enemies.
Granted, the Old Testament Law seems harsh from our post-Christian perspective. The whole of the legal document places taxing restrictions on human action, everything from marriage to the correct forms of sacrifices. Many of them involve the death penalty, or stoning, or perhaps even becoming a pariah from the community. God’s people lived under those rules because they set them apart as God’s people. They distinguished themselves through the worship of one God, YHWH, who wished for a holy and righteous people to emerge out of Israel. This would involve sacrifice and determination, as well as a healthy dose of grace.
Note: This was originally a speech given at my high school. As valedictorian, they allowed me to give a speech, and as a Christian school, I had free reign to say what I wanted. What else could I talk about but theology, right? Considering I wrote this when I was eighteen, this seems spookily accurate eight years later.