Beyond Mediocrity Blog

(Image courtesy of http://st-takla.org.) How could Paul be so joyful before God when he knew his sin was deserving of death? This is the man who hated Jesus, God’s anointed, with intense zeal. Why, then, after the truth was revealed to him on the road to Damascus did Paul not take part in penance or self-mutilation or self-loathing to absolve himself from his sins? Is that not what our guilt-laden nature requires of us: restitution for our wrongs? Do we not all feel that payment is necessary for our sins? Yet, there is no joy found among self-mutilation or self-loathing, for there is no absolution from sin apart from Jesus Christ.

(Image courtesy of http://www.bible.ca.) God told Abraham in the book of Genesis, "I will bless you and make you a great nation.  The number of your descendants will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore, or the stars in the heavens."  This promise was given when Abraham was 100 years old and his wife was ninety - and they had zero children.  But God is always faithful in fulfilling His promises.  Fast forward past Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph and his brothers, and the promise is fulfilled.  During Israel's captivity in the land of Egypt around the time of Moses, God blessed Abraham's descendants so that they were in the millions.