My guess!

What would Paul have written to the 'church' in Dublin?

Dear believer in Dublin,


You are dearly loved by me and more so by our Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank God for you, for each one of you and remember you in my prayers. God sees all your good deeds, your perseverance, your faithfulness to the call in Dublin, your love one for another and stewardship of your lives. Most of all you are a people who love our Lord Jesus Christ.
I urge you though to remember the manner after which you first became a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. You realised how far short you had fallen of deserving God’s grace and in many ways felt undeserving of the free gift of righteousness that has been bestowed upon you. You were undeserving, and in many ways still are, except that the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed us from all unworthiness and imputed to us a righteousness that we get for free! Now live this second chance well and stop double guessing whether you are good enough, you are not of yourself, but in every way you are now as a New Person through the Grace and righteousness of our Lord and His finished work on the cross.
Amidst all the clamour of modern life in Dublin, and the vast number of opinions that the media, society and religious culture project all around you each day, I commend to you like never before to have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit would say unto you. Abide in the true vine and bear fruit to God. He is your Shepherd, your guide, you His church and Bride. I urge you specifically in this day to be reminded of the Gospel of our Lord and that the price paid for you was not just an entrance fee to get you to the party in Heaven but is also the daily bread by which you can grow up in Him and the bread that you break for others. We are no longer our own for Christ died for us to make us His own. So don’t believe those who tell you its all about you, and all about your every want, whim or convenience. Let me let you into a secret, its not! Don’t get me wrong here, our Father really is our Father! He loves to give good gifts to us His children, He sees the details of our lives and knows our prayers and heart cries before they even leave our lips! Its just that we can so easily make the focus and point all about us, often due to fears we may have or insecurities about our lives or our future. Remember that word of counsel that recalls the Father’s love for each one of us, ‘How great the Father’s love for us that we might be called children of God, and THAT is what we are!’ As children of GOD though, lets remember how we got to be His Sons, lets remember the price He paid for our adoption, the uncountable cost and suffering so that we could be counted His very own, and that is what we are. We say we are Christ-centered but what does that look like in our daily lives? Are we ravished by the Good News of His Grace or just trying to lead a life of virtue and principle? Are we living in an overflow of amazement for the Gospel and Kingdom in which we stand or just trying to survive another day in the race? Do we tell others about our Lord and their need for salvation? If not, are we ashamed of being different, of being considered a Jesus freak? May it never be so. Come back to where you first began, and pray that I too do so, come back to your first love. The Gospel is about Christ and His Kingdom not our every whim. Reject the lowest common denominator of SELF, and in this you too will find rest and your needs will be met in Him, by your Father in Heaven. Make Christ and His Glory your crowning glory. Make Him famous, seek His Kingdom first, and as our Lord taught us, He is indeed faithful to grant us all the ‘other things’ and to add them unto us.