"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel, (which means, God with us)." Matthew 1:23
It has been a while. No surprise there, as when I am home I am easily distracted and don't do much good. But here is a passage that blows my mind. And it fits a nice Christmas theme. The Christmas season is one for miracles. The virgin birth seems to be the big one people talk about. That is a biggie, I will grant it, but the more I think on it, the biggest thing that blows my mind about Christmas is Immanuel, meaning God with us. That God stepped down into His creation and took human form. Christ, who is equal with the Father did not see equality with Him as something to be grasped (Phillippians 2:6) but He came down to be a servant and die for our sins. He left perfect intimate fellowship which He had enjoyed for all eternity, and came down to bear the wrath of God for my sins. He came to have the father turn His face away. God, all powerful, magnificent, he came down and was born a small crying child in the humblest of surroundings. It is amazing. God with us! GOD WITH US! Not some distant God of Mount Olympus who comes and goes as he feels. Not some removed prescence that may or may not care. But God, perfect and loving beyond all comprehension, with us, on Earth walking, living as a man. The same weaknesses. The same struggles. The pain. The death. The scorn. And He rose and ascended and sent the Spirit of God, to be with us now. God with us. Christmas is the day to celebrate Jesus' birth, when love was made manifest in flesh, human form.
This hits me right now as I am here feeling far too human lately. Feeling like I do not eveen do a very good job at that. That I don't really want to be here. Don't really want to be anywhere. Hell, don't really want to be at all. But at the very bottom of things, far down past it all, wherever in my mind or heart I feel despaired, I feel alone, I feel unloved, somewhere down there something is whispering "Immanuel." Love came down. Love for me. Jesus would deign (Deign is one of my favorite words to use talking about this, since it means "to condescend to give or grant" meaning He would come down to our level despite the fact he is far superior) to come down, leave the Father, live as a man, facing all the trials, temptations, and fears that we do, be hated, beaten, and killed, because he loved me. And He loved me for no other reason than that He loved me. I am a terrible person. I am, there is no denying that. All the time, I am a terrible, sometimes I display it more clearly, but it is always there. And that doesn't matter. God loves me. Jesus died for me. My sins are forgiven.
Some 2000+ years ago God came down. God with us. God saved me.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Papa Don't Preach
"God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!'" Galatians 4:6
"See what kind of love the father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are...Beloved, we are God's children now." 1 John 3:1-2
There are more, but these are the two that struck my mind as I thought of this one. I am starting here, with a truth that strikes me as so hard to comprehend. We are children of God. We have a close, intimate relationship with Him, to the point we call out "Abba!" which means daddy. That is not a word that is used for just anyone. It signifies a close and personal relationship. And this is what we have with God. The one true God. The great I AM. The creator of all that ever was, is, or ever shall be. He is God over all the nations. And this God, I can call Him daddy. This He tells us. We are His children, beloved.
There are so many crazy promises in scripture that I cling to even as I struggle to fully comprehend or believe them. But this one is staggering. We are nothing, deserving of nothing, with nothing to offer. And He is God. There is nothing there that would merit Him to love me. In fact, there never was nor ever will be any reason for Him to love me, other than that He loves me. That He, according to His perfect will and purpose of election loved me and chose me before the foundations of the Earth were lain. That is staggering.
So why don't we believe this all the time? I think the thing that gets me is that God is so big that I am in awe of Him to a degree I cannot comprehend Him as a fatherly figure. Fear and awe and reverence cloud my view. And while God is to be feared, marveled at, and revered, He also tells us we have this close bond with Him.
It kind of is like children who see their dad as the greatest person ever, who can do anything and easily beat up anyone else's dad. He can do no wrong. They are in awe of him. They love him. They respect him. But they also are able to run to him. When they scrape their knee or there is a monster in the closet, he is there, close and personal. Even for all their fear and reverence of him, they never forget that he is their dad and loves them like nobody else could.
Driscoll told a story that ignited this line of thought. He was talking about how we are God's children and also about the fact that we sometimes, when we worship or pray do so with language that is extra magnanimous, thinking that God wants to hear that and will respond better for it. But he told a story about his son, who he woke up one night to hear shrieking. He ran to his son's room to find his son in great pain. Apparently he had gotten his first charley horse and it woke him up in terrible pain. And he said to his dad as he came to help him "Dad, make it better." No thee's or thou's. No lofty speech beseeching him and requesting his attentiveness. Just a simple "Dad, make it better."
Dad, make it better. God is our father, and He should be viewed as such. He is a loving and kind, caring father. And He deserves our respect, our love, our fear and awe and admiration. But He is always our father. To whom we can say, in a spirit of love and faith and knowing he cares, "Dad, make it better."
And that is a truth, a promise that we have; that we are children of God. That we can call Him Abba. To know that, the closeness of God. The true depth of His love. It is amazing and something that is unrivaled in all of creation.
"See what kind of love the father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are...Beloved, we are God's children now." 1 John 3:1-2
There are more, but these are the two that struck my mind as I thought of this one. I am starting here, with a truth that strikes me as so hard to comprehend. We are children of God. We have a close, intimate relationship with Him, to the point we call out "Abba!" which means daddy. That is not a word that is used for just anyone. It signifies a close and personal relationship. And this is what we have with God. The one true God. The great I AM. The creator of all that ever was, is, or ever shall be. He is God over all the nations. And this God, I can call Him daddy. This He tells us. We are His children, beloved.
There are so many crazy promises in scripture that I cling to even as I struggle to fully comprehend or believe them. But this one is staggering. We are nothing, deserving of nothing, with nothing to offer. And He is God. There is nothing there that would merit Him to love me. In fact, there never was nor ever will be any reason for Him to love me, other than that He loves me. That He, according to His perfect will and purpose of election loved me and chose me before the foundations of the Earth were lain. That is staggering.
So why don't we believe this all the time? I think the thing that gets me is that God is so big that I am in awe of Him to a degree I cannot comprehend Him as a fatherly figure. Fear and awe and reverence cloud my view. And while God is to be feared, marveled at, and revered, He also tells us we have this close bond with Him.
It kind of is like children who see their dad as the greatest person ever, who can do anything and easily beat up anyone else's dad. He can do no wrong. They are in awe of him. They love him. They respect him. But they also are able to run to him. When they scrape their knee or there is a monster in the closet, he is there, close and personal. Even for all their fear and reverence of him, they never forget that he is their dad and loves them like nobody else could.
Driscoll told a story that ignited this line of thought. He was talking about how we are God's children and also about the fact that we sometimes, when we worship or pray do so with language that is extra magnanimous, thinking that God wants to hear that and will respond better for it. But he told a story about his son, who he woke up one night to hear shrieking. He ran to his son's room to find his son in great pain. Apparently he had gotten his first charley horse and it woke him up in terrible pain. And he said to his dad as he came to help him "Dad, make it better." No thee's or thou's. No lofty speech beseeching him and requesting his attentiveness. Just a simple "Dad, make it better."
Dad, make it better. God is our father, and He should be viewed as such. He is a loving and kind, caring father. And He deserves our respect, our love, our fear and awe and admiration. But He is always our father. To whom we can say, in a spirit of love and faith and knowing he cares, "Dad, make it better."
And that is a truth, a promise that we have; that we are children of God. That we can call Him Abba. To know that, the closeness of God. The true depth of His love. It is amazing and something that is unrivaled in all of creation.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Living Just To Find Emotion
Knowing and believing are two very different and very important things. Right now I am a bit too tired to go into anything in real depth, but in the near future it is something I will write about. The Bible has some crazy promises that God makes for us who love Him, and they are so important to both know and believe, because they are promises that we need to cling to. Lately, for about a month or two, I have felt odd, like I have reached a point of stability. I almost feel like I am not learning anything new, but am only building in to the things I already know, reinforcing them and coming to know them more completely. This has been odd. I don't know. I feel like if I am not learning something new then I am missing something. But maybe I just really need to have the same stuff reinforced. These promises are one of those things that is being beaten into me to the point I am realizing the crazy importance of it. But like I said, more will come. Until again, farewell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)