It's a shame, but religious Christians like to feel that they somehow will have earned entrance into Heaven. The really "holy" ones hate the notion that there will be undeserving people there. What a shock their systems will have when they realize that being undeserving was the prerequisite to receiving entrance. These are the poor in spirit to whom pertains the Kingdom.
Self-righteous people see "hell" as the answer to their cries for justice. Thankfully, God is Love, not justice. He uses Himself to balance the scales in our favor. The pound of flesh He does require is His own in the form of Jesus. Religious Christians hate the reality of that. They want "sinners" to pay for their own sins. If they could, why would they need Christ?!
There will, however, be correction for each person who has denied Christ. But the loving purpose of the correction is to remove all obstacles from our consciousness that obstruct our knowing the reality of God's love. This is the perfect love that casts out the fear and torment; this is the love that the religious dare not preach.
How blinded we have become in our own self-righteousness, to deny the truth, power, and beauty of the Gospel. We believe that the good news is that we have accepted God. That's nice , but it's not Gospel! The Gospel is that God has accepted us!
Our work, then, is to declare that Gospel. And though we may suffer for it, ultimately, we will have participated in the recovery of all people and even the sum of creation. It's still a fight, but the incentive is that it's fixed.
Much Love.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
What's Love Got To Do With It?...Everything
God is love, not a god of love. His very constitution is purely and only love. That which issues from Him then, can only be essentially love, regardless of outward appearance.
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (I John 4:16)
It is imperative that we come into a consciousness regarding God’s expression of Himself towards us as love. As love, God is pre-existent to our believing or knowing of Him. He does not ask our permission to dispense of Himself to us. Why would we, who were in darkness, ask for God to send His love in the form of Jesus Christ? The truth is that we did not, but He sent Christ anyway!
Thanks be to God who, as love, has ever been for me, though I neither knew nor desired Him. He is always love towards man in spite of our ignorance and aloofness toward Him.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
I need not do anything to cause God to both love and rescue me. He has already done it for me and every other person. You see the good news that Jesus personified and published was not that we had to accept God, but that God had accepted us.
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. " (I John 4:10)
"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. " (I John 2:2)
I believe God will save His entire creation, including every person and the sum of all things. He loved us first. That is what the Bible calls the "first love." Our love is only second, at best. His love is universal, but the second love discriminates and excludes. Does this mean that anything goes? No. In His love, there is correction. What kind of love would find you a mess and then leave you that way? Not His. His love will ultimately right all wrongs, reward suffering, and overcome evil with good and not torment.
Abraham Lincoln once said,"I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends." Though the wording was novel, the sentiment was not. God's been doing this all along.
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (I John 4:16)
It is imperative that we come into a consciousness regarding God’s expression of Himself towards us as love. As love, God is pre-existent to our believing or knowing of Him. He does not ask our permission to dispense of Himself to us. Why would we, who were in darkness, ask for God to send His love in the form of Jesus Christ? The truth is that we did not, but He sent Christ anyway!
Thanks be to God who, as love, has ever been for me, though I neither knew nor desired Him. He is always love towards man in spite of our ignorance and aloofness toward Him.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
I need not do anything to cause God to both love and rescue me. He has already done it for me and every other person. You see the good news that Jesus personified and published was not that we had to accept God, but that God had accepted us.
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. " (I John 4:10)
"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. " (I John 2:2)
I believe God will save His entire creation, including every person and the sum of all things. He loved us first. That is what the Bible calls the "first love." Our love is only second, at best. His love is universal, but the second love discriminates and excludes. Does this mean that anything goes? No. In His love, there is correction. What kind of love would find you a mess and then leave you that way? Not His. His love will ultimately right all wrongs, reward suffering, and overcome evil with good and not torment.
Abraham Lincoln once said,"I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends." Though the wording was novel, the sentiment was not. God's been doing this all along.
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