You get hammered in life, but you get hammered into interesting shapes.
Like most, I'd prefer my blessings to come without disguises! And then Life happened.......
A son discovering the reality of God as his Father.
Words that do not become flesh in us remain "just words." They have no power to affect our lives. If someone says, "I love you," without any deep emotion, the words do more harm than good. But if these same words are spoken from the heart, they can create new life.
It is important that we keep in touch with the source of our words. Our great temptation is to become "pleasers," people who say the right words to please others but whose words have no roots in their interior lives. We have to keep making sure our words are rooted in our hearts. The best way to do that is in prayerful silence.
The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.
'Until the crisis-dis-illusionments come into our lives, the greater-higher purposes of the Father remain hidden.' (totally obscure to us)
No assembly, no church, no movement, no testimony, no fellowship, is justified in its existence from God's standpoint except insofar as Christ is expressed by it.
We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.
How do we please God, by resting in the finished work of the Son. Perhaps as He has his way with us, and of course that way is Love, unconditional love, the spirit of truth and grace will lead us into ever greater depths of all that he has accomplished for us!
In not knowing, knowing internally that is, that the Law was and remains fulfilled by love, is it any wonder that much of what is supposedly conveyed as the “good news,” is nothing more than a counterfeit gospel, (one among a plethora of others), one steeped in morality. Something that gives the appearance of rightness (righteousness) but in fact has not ever been something that lovingly flows from ones heart bringing to pass an outer change because of that which altered them first from the inside.
“Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Last night my good friend Dave sent me a link that is still resonating in my heart (a direct answer to my crying out to God as I went to sleep) and it is the one at the top of what I’m sharing here, it’s about 16 minutes long, but well worth the viewing.
I said to my wife today, If I do not really believe and I don’t mean wish or hope, but deep down where I really live, respond to the reality that God my Father actually lavishly celebrates me as a chosen delight and treasure to Himself, then why the hell would I give a rats ass of concern for anyone else around me, other than to do it with my mouth, but my heart really not engaged in it?
It says that while I was a “sinner-enemy,” He, God, chose to lay down His life FOR me, then why is it a chore to love those still seeing themselves as sinners and enemies of God, unless of course I’m projecting law onto them?
Posts
How do we please God, by resting in the finished work of the Son.
