This is what I want to say. This is what I want to convey to the world. Let us give thanks to God for what we have. We may not have much. Some of us actually have little. But there is one thing we will always have, and that is God. Though some of us feel that we have little, though some of us feel that we don’t have as much as someone else has, let us be thankful for what we have. Today I’m thankful for the health that I am still able to enjoy. And I have this to say to God, “Thank you for giving me life. Thank you for letting me live. Today I will not count what is missing in my life. But I will count my blessings."
Let us not say, "Let's sing songs of praise to God" on a day such as Easter, without behaving well with our fellow beings. When we cannot behave politely with others we cannot really worship God.
Evil seemed to have had its day on Good Friday. To spiritually unobservant people, Good Friday appeared to be the triumph of the forces against Jesus Christ. But this was not the case. When Easter arrived, it became clear to all that Good Friday was also a day of triumph. It was the day when God made payment for the sins of his people. It was the day when God’s love was wonderfully manifested in the sacrificial death of his Son Jesus Christ. After the apparent darkness of Good Friday and the dismal Saturday that followed, a stunning reversal of fortune came about on Sunday. Jesus returned, and it was a brilliant return. He returned never to die again. He returned to reign forever. He returned so that we too may reign forever with him. He returned to give us a new, everlasting life with him.
On Good Friday it seemed that Jesus and his message came to an end. It seemed that Jesus did not matter anymore. It seemed that all hope was lost. His apostles surely thought so. They escaped from the scene. They were in hiding. Even the women who came to embalm his body on Sunday morning came to see a dead body. They came to embalm a dead body, but they found no such thing that morning. The tomb was empty, and the stone was rolled away. And then Jesus appeared. He appeared victoriously in a new resurrected boy. He met his disciples, who were overjoyed to see him again. He appeared to them many times, reassuring them of his reality. He gave them specific directions to bring salvation to the world, before he ascended into heaven. Thus, Easter represents the triumph of God over the forces of evil.
Death came as a consequence of sin. Sin came from the heart of man under the influence of the devil. The devil came from an angel made by God. These are the biblical facts. To say that God was not responsible for either sin or death, is to say that God is like man, who creates something without being able to forestall the consequences that emerge from the intricate working of what he creates. However, the human cannot create a sentient being. So his responsibility as a creator is considerably less. God as the one and only divine Creator is far more responsible, and if he should maintain that he is not responsible for either sin or death that emerged from the malfunctioning of what he created, then that will indeed be a surprising conclusion. But the death of God on the cross does suggest that God did take the responsibility for the problem of sin, and did what he alone could do to eradicate it. This comes across as the capable act of a responsible creator.
It appeared to some people that Jesus and his movement were crushed on Good Friday. It appeared that Jesus and all that he represented came to an end on Good Friday. His disciples dispersed in many directions. They ran away to save their lives when Jesus was arrested. All were in hiding. The work of Jesus Christ seemed to have come to an end on Good Friday. Many people thought that that was the end of the Jesus movement. Those, who considered Jesus a heretical teacher, were glad that his false teaching had come to an end. There were others who thought that Jesus was utterly defeated on Good Friday. But Jesus shocked all of them by coming back into this world. Easter represents the coming back of the Lord Jesus Christ. Easter represents the triumphant return of a God. Easter represents a stunning victory after a terrible defeat.
Easter represents God’s triumph over death. It is God who commanded death to enter this world. It is God who cursed human beings to die. It is God who subjected all creations on earth to death. And it is also God who triumphed over death. And he did this many years ago one Sunday morning. And that is what we celebrate as Easter.
Good Friday is the day on which human beings killed their God. It ought to be the worst Friday of all. Still it is good from a divine point of view. It achieved the result God wanted. God wanted the perfect, once-for-all atonement for human sins. And Jesus Christ offered the ultimate sacrifice for human sins.
Rejoicing in God is really rejoicing in life, and all that one is able to do.
We all need prayers. So let us not fail to pray for one another. Let us pray for the saints of God, battling the forces of evil. These people are everywhere, and they all need help. God's help. And they need it as much as we do. So let us pray.
I don't care who my enemies are, as long as God is my friend.
It is when something appears impossible that it becomes possible for the one who believes in God. I cling to this hope. But let God be god. And let me be a man who will always hope in Him.
If God fails to help me this time, it will not change how I essentially regard him. What I have learned from him has enhanced me decidedly. From God I have learned to distinguish between black and white. I have seen my original darkness and his intrusive brightness. I long for the gifts of God and will wait for them even indefinitely. I cannot turn from this path. If I should turn away, where will I turn? There is no alternate path worthy of pursuing, as far as I am concerned.
Don't believe in God before you consider disbelieving in him. Don't trust in God before you consider distrusting him. Otherwise belief and trust may be wispy things that cannot stand the test of time and the storm of affliction. And belief and trust should not be only theoretical constructs. They should be empirical truths governing our lives. Our daring to believe in God should bring forth the desired results. Our risk in trusting him should be validated by divine acts of rescue. And though it will not be easy for us to experience these results, it is surely the road to a secure faith.
Wear God in you heart, not on your sleeve. What you wear on your sleeve matters less, as long as God reigns in your heart.
A man wavers in faith only because he doesn't know God very well. Anyone who knows that God is faithful and able will not waver in his faith. If God denies a man's prayer, because that man's faith does nor rise to his expectations, then such an act cannot reflect the understanding and compassion we attribute to God. God may well not use the quality of faith as a measure for approving or denying a prayer request. He may even grant the secret wish of a person who does not even pray, because that could be the only way God can reach such a person.
Some things may not be possible even for God. Not all human beings can be led to the point of accepting God. There are some who will never accept God or bow down to him in this life time. If God indeed granted free will to humans, he probably relinquished control over the way humans decide. So God cannot control human beings, while he lets humans make their own decisions. However, the control that God exercises in the human heart takes place only as human beings allow God to influence them. Thus several constraints are placed on God's intervention in human affairs, and as a result, this world seems to be outside the effective control of God.
Who are the children of God? And where are the children of God? Do the children of God necessarily carry a label, such as Jew and Christian? Are they located geographically in certain pockets of the world? A child of God is any human being who is going through a process of regeneration, which began when his spirit was transformed into divine likeness by the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. Such a transformed person cannot carry any other label than the child of God, and any man-made label such as Christian or Jew or anything else is secondary in nature. He may be found anywhere in the world, and groups of people like him may also be found anywhere in the world, not necessarily in a politically defined geographical area. In essence the children of God are transformed humans existing everywhere and anywhere in this world.
I welcome all of you to my home. And home is where God is. And God is love. And when you come to stay with me, may you find God's love, and experience it without fear.
Humans in their natural state are consumed with lust for what God made. And they have no love for God at all.
Some of us just want to play with God's toys. We want nothing to do with him at all.
What the world needs is not criticism. What the world needs is love. Can we love without criticising? That is the question.
Worse than hypocrisy is the unseemly pride of the
former sinner who flaunts his sanctification as though it were an
accomplishment in his own strength. But then again, is that former
sinner, truly former in nature? Is any sanctified human being in a
perfectly sinless state while on earth? If he is let him cast his many
biblically sculpted stones. Otherwise let him shut up and examine his
own proud and foolish heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment