When my brother got out of school this afternoon, I took him to Wei wei's house in Woodland, where we baked lemon squares for a baking contest we're doing amongst friends tonight. Anna and her brother were there, since Wei-wei, anna, and I were assigned as one of the three groups. The lemon squares went well.

In the evening after compass fellowship was over (anna, lynn, and wei visited it today), we all gathered at joseph's house, where we watched a little GLive and then ate our creations. The two desserts were really good. Lynn's group (Todd and Joseph) made these... things. I forget what they're called. Anyhow, they were good. I think our group got second place tonight.

Second place sounds so much better than last place.

Tomorrow my family is planning on going to the Sacramento Zoo.

Devotion time notes:

Romans 9

What Paul says in the beginning of this chapter is quite shocking. He truthfully desires the salvation of Israel so much that he would choose to be cursed and cut off from Christ personally in order to bring this about. I pray that I might have a heart like Paul's for unsaved people, and earnestly desire to see them reconciled with God. What Paul is saying obviously isn't possible, but it really shows us how deeply he cared for others.

This is sacrificial love, and as Christ demonstrated for us on the cross, there is no love greater than one laying down their life for another.

In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
Romans 9:8-9

In previous chapters, Paul emphasised the fact that it was not obedience to the law that brings justification. Here, he addresses the issue of whether it is the Jews, or the children of Abraham, who are God's children. Matthew Henry points out that if being a descendant of Abraham was enough to be called a child of God, then Ishmael would be just as much a child of God as the Jews.

Rather than being qualified by the flesh, what qualifies the children of God as such is faith. It is faith that both justifies you before God and allows you to be counted as his.

Ishmael was a child of Abraham, born of the flesh through Hagar, and not a child of God. Isaac, on the other hand, was a child of Abraham born to Sarah through faith, and was counted as a child of God. Therefore, it is not the relationship to Abraham that Isaac possessed (for Ishmael possessed it as well), but faith.

Now, having shown that it is faith that saves and brings a person into the fold of God's people, Paul moves on to discuss the source of this faith. It is not by our own power, wisdom, or righteousness that we acquire this faith, but instead it is God's sovereign election.

The case of Jacob and Esau establishes the truth of God's election. Though they were conceived by the same mother, it was said that "the older will serve the younger" before they were even born. Before they had the opportunity to please or displease God, God had already chosen Jacob and rejected Esau. Jacob became the father of Israel, and Esau became the father of Edom.

Paul anticipates our train of thought perfectly, and immediately addresses the question that probably arises in most people's minds at this point: "How can God be just in doing this?".

We are all sinful people in a fallen world, and have all fallen short of God's glory with our sinful nature. Why should we think that God is unjust if he saves some but does not save others? It is not as if we are all perfectly righteous and God chooses some to sin and lose their salvation, but rather God chooses some to be righteous from a fallen world that has rejected him. Though we do not know God's reasoning in choosing and rejecting, we can be assured that he is fully just in whatever he chooses to do.

Thank you God for the mercy you have shown me, though I am completely undeserving of your grace.

Here is a scenario that came to my mind just now. I'm not sure how fitting it is though:

Imagine there is a ship with a captain and hundreds of passengers. For some reason, every one of the passengers decides to jump off the ship and swim as far away from it as possible. The captain knows that the water is teeming with sharks, and that every one of the passengers will surely die if not rescued. He can throw live preservers to every one of the passengers overboard, but before he does so the passengers completely reject his plan to rescue them and is unable to convince any of them to return.

Now, in such a situation, would it be unfair of him to throw life preservers to some of the overboard passengers but not others, if all had already rejected him? In such a situation, he would be hailed as a hero for the passengers he saved, for it was the passengers themselves that willingly jumped from the safety of the ship and consciously rejected the help of the captain.

One might say that the Captain is obligated to save all the passengers and that it is his responsibility, but now if we consider the God of the universe who does not owe his creation anything, I think it is impossible to say that he is unjust in saving some but not others.

It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
Romans 9:16

If it is only through God's sovereign election that man may be saved, then why does God still condemn those who he has not called? Aren't they simply acting in obedience to his will? Paul's answer is simple. Who are we to question God? He compares this to clay questioning the potter. Why should we, the created, question God, the creator? Does he not have the right to do whatever he wishes with his creation? We must recognize our rightful place and role in this grand creation of Gods, behaving and thinking accordingly.

God is a God of mercy, and Israel was his chosen seed that he preserved from destruction in order that he might bring salvation to all mankind. Isaiah notes that if God had not preserved a seed by which he would deliver salvation, we would all be like Sodom and Gomorrah. Praise God for his boundless mercy!

Righteousness is by faith and not by works. This is something that caused the nation of Israel to stumble, for they put their faith in their deeds rather than God's deeds.