I'm not sure the future of this site. We've created a new site
that is more community oriented. So, most of my thoughts will be
posted over there. Come visit.
I got a letter from a very dear friend and sister who lives in a
small island country. I love her and her family from the bottom of my
heart. She has three young children who are among the sweetest I have
ever met in my life. She has a wonderful husband who can do pretty much
anything. They love and serve the Lord. In her letter, she describes
how they did not have food at all, and no money with which to buy it.
The stress also put a lot of strain on their marriage.
My heart
just hurts for them. Who am I that I should have life so much easier
than this wonderful sister and her family (not to mention billions
around the world in similar circumstances)?
I had naively
thought that situations like this would bring a couple together,
strengthening their marriage. But often when life is hard, it is hard
in every aspect.
Please pray for them. I'm not sure whether I
should share her name over the Internet because of certain
circumstances in her country. We will call her M.
Who
is going to take the place of Mother Teresa? Is there anyone in
the world that has the heart of God toward those who suffer? Is
there anyone who is willing to be like Jesus, owning nothing, giving
everything?
There's got to be some out there; God always has His remnant of the faithful few who are His incarnation to the world.
Looking for a city whose architect and builder is God,
Dale
I asked my class if they thought God would bring my buddy Ralph back to
life in the restoration of all things. We had been studying the
Romans 8 passage about the whole creation, under the curse, is groaning
and waiting the birth of the future kingdom of God. Randy Alcorn,
in his book, Heaven,
talks about the restoration of the animals and of our pets. Some
people believe that God loves our pets like we do, and that He will
bring them back to us on the new earth.
Ralph, who lives with C.J., our miniature horse, is a good bird.
He's always there to greet whoever visits with a curious eye and a
snap-snap of his beak, strutting about in a "look at my beautiful
figure" kind of a way. I like Ralph; I think God likes him
too. He doesn't eat too much, and he causes no problems, and he
keeps the foxes away from our chicken coup. I think he's a great
example of God's creative genius.
When the class saw Ralph's picture, there was a resounding,
"ahh!" They thought Ralph should be brought back from the dead.
Then I showed them my grand-daughter, Gwenny.
They said, "ahh!".
When I asked, "what about Gwenny?", they weren't sure.
"Why not", I asked.
"She might not choose", said an Armenian.
"She might not be chosen", said Calvin.
Something is ungodly wrong with our perspective here.
During our fellowship gathering on Sunday, we were talking about God reconciling the world to Himself from the passage in II Corinthians 5:18 - 21.
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely,that God was
in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of
reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be
sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.
A question was raised. Is it legitimate, when speaking to a not-yet Christian, to say, "Because of what Jesus did on the cross, God no longer holds your sins against you"?
We generally only apply that truth to those who have made a decision for Christ, and we would never be so bold as Paul to apply it to a whole world of people who are not yet believers. But, isn't that what verse 19 says? Isn't it true that Jesus died for the world? Was His sacrifice for sins effectual or wasn't it?
We get so hung up on the legal technicalities of the Gospel that we tend to miss the relational part of the message.
The relational part is this, that In the Garden, God walked with Adam every day until one day when Adam decided to divorce himself from God and to go into hiding. And God came seeking the man, calling his name, but something happened. The man and woman that God loved had cheated on Him. The whole thing was like a broken marriage because of adultry, and it broke God's heart. And there was a curse spoken against the earth and against mankind, mainly for the purpose of making our lives sad and miserable in our spiritually divorced state, so that we would eventually turn our hearts back toward Him who loves us. What happened there was an absolute disaster, and all of history was drastically effected by it.
But God is seeking reconciliation with His lost love. He has spared no expense or effort to do everything that needed to be done, to do everything that could be done, in order to restore mankind to Himself. "namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."
The legal-justice part is done. Jesus died for the sins of not-yet Christians. Romans 5 clearly teaches the same thing. I think we say to them, "God has taken care of the sin problem; He no longer holds your sins against you. He has turned toward you and is seeking reconciliation. He comes seeking you like he came to the garden seeking the Adam and Eve. I beg you, God is begging you, to turn your heart and your life back toward Him. Be reconciled to God."
"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
This seems to me, Gospel. This is "good news" as opposed to a "turn or burn" message to which we've all become so accustomed. It's an appeal to relationship as opposed to a mere fire-escape from hell.
There are some who would call II Corinthians 5:19 heresy. What do you think? Is our message "God loves you and no longer holds your sins against you", or, is it, "turn or burn"?
