Something Old for Feb - But Not: Thoughts on Love & Forgiveness

For the purposes of this walk through my head, I’m studying: Psalm 51, (King David’s open letter to God about his sin with Bathsheba - Side note observation: Did she know her husband Uriah, had returned from battle when King David sent him to her? Was she privy to King David’s plan? Methinks not), Matthew 18:21-35, (the unforgiving servant), Romans 4, (imputed righteousness/justification), Galatians 5, (living by the Spirit), and 1 Corinthians 15, (the Good News)

Some speak of February as the month of LOVE … Shouldn’t love, (an action word btw), be the thing that all people do all of the time? I suppose we all do, just in hundreds of different ways. However, we lessen the meaning of the definition of love by applying it to things we eat, wear, hear, use, see, and smell… 

Love gets lost in the translation. 

Likewise, shouldn’t we forgive because of love? Many do not - really. Holding out on forgiveness is something that we suppose is due for a wrong committed or a game played. As Christ followers, we behave as if we have the right or duty to withhold forgiveness, (and before you get your stuff twisted in a knot - I have a few “yeah but…” stories of my own)… Some people believe themselves to be so lovable - like, who would not love them? And so, they would never do anything to need forgiveness, (you know exactly who I’m talking about…). I think the issue again is the various self-definitions of the terms, (love & forgiveness), and the perception that people have of themselves. 

Father God extends Grace & Mercy…Sacrificial Love. He, being GOD is Perfect and gives and acts from this vantage point - Perfection. (Read this next part slowly)…Many bring God down to our level - human, and think we give the same love as God - but - shocker -God calls us evil, (Matthew 7:11). Rightfully so, because we are fallen and sinful - we suppose we are loving and forgiving perfectly. We are not. EVERYTHING since the fall is tainted with sin. Everything is fallen. Everything is nothing close to what was, before the fall. 

(Minor problem: The next thoughts are from my “notes” which I copied and pasted but, I can’t get the font nor size the same.)

 If I can offer some thoughts…Very little in life truly satisfies… This is life post-the-fall. While there are good created things all around us - it’s all tainted… We - sin tainted people, have corrupted EVERYTHING …. So, we seek after what was promised from the devil - having “it” all and he NEVER delivers because he can’t… he’s NOT GOD! ….So, we yearn for something this world can not give… (think about that for a minute). Other folks give messed up tainted love and/or a love that lacks sacrifice. In truth, we do get glimmers and even give love, but that’s only because of the Grace of God… God is only good.    

I think this is the way of life… Realizing this world/life, offers less, satisfies less and less each day, so that our grip on this world/life, the hold-out for something better; can be loosened for what God has in store for His children - what He had planned - pre-fall … 

…Heaven/Paradise/Perfection… Satisfaction… LOVE! And being complete in Christ Jesus because of what He did on the cross… His acceptance of our punishment - death; was THE GREATEST EXCHANGE there ever was, (Romans 4). We literally and figuratively, get to put on Christ and be the better us we were meant to be, pre-fall… but, until that transition, (by death or Rapture), we should continue to live IN purpose - Father God’s purpose, because NOTHING ELSE SATISFIES! NOTHING! We can open our hands, (loosening that grip on the world/life), to receive God’s goodness. God’s love. God’s forgiveness.

Everyday this is what compels me to rise… There is nothing for me that satisfies- even my art-ing - because I see imperfections - first and foremost in myself, and as I walk about I see many broken, selfish, crazy folks. Folks who are looking to be satisfied by any means… These folks are everywhere - churches, trains, planes, restaurants, on the streets, running, in stores, walking and talking to their dogs as they push them in strollers, in cars - trying to be satisfied and/or in some cases trying to BE the satisfy-er….      

Satisfaction vs Purpose 

This world is not our Forever Home

Just food for thought - maybe

Nina,

Soli Deo Gloria

Something New and Different for Feb

Seasons come and go… and we can tell when seasons are coming by the various signs that seem to pop up all around us…For example, we can tell it’s time for “Back-to-School” by the banners hung around stores and the school needs list posted by the school supplies that are conveniently stationed just as you walk into store - usually some time in July… You can see the fake yellow and rust colored leaves reminding everyone that summer is ending and fall is coming. Not to mention that right on the heels of autumn, out comes the costumes for Halloween smooshed in with Thanksgiving turkeys and cornucopias and pilgrims… Then of course, there’s no time to breathe, because there’s Christmas…Is Santa Claus a leftover frightful fellow from Halloween. Between clowns and old Santa Claus - I don’t know who illicit the most screams from little ones… It’s so traumatizing to have ones mother or father thrush you into the arms of a stranger dressed in red and white… for the sake of a photographic memoir. So literally, from July to February, (can’t forget Valentine’s Day), there are SIGNS of the TIMES!!! Ad nauseam! It’s no wonder that folks are like zombies as they move about and navigate the shopping and the parties and the planning for activities that they wish they weren’t attending. Many people complain and/or talk about past hurts and bad memories and disappointments… The tie that binds it all together is the anticipation of the SIGNS that  shout - IT’S COMING!!!!

Signs.

There was such a sign before plastic banners, and neon lights and faceless mannequins dressed for whatever season was coming… “The Star” the wise men followed from the east to worship the King of the Jews, (Matthew 2). Also all the way back to the beginning -Genesis 49 points to the royal lineage of Jesus. Isaiah chapters 7 and 9 offers prophecy about Jesus - “… the virgin will conceive and give birth…” . “For unto us a child is born… and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. Hosea 11 tells of Jesus being called out of Egypt, (In the book of Matthew, Joesph had been warned by an angel to “take the young child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt…”).   Daniel 9, (starting at verse21…), speaks prophetically about Jesus life and purpose. Also in Isaiah 53  -Jesus’ death…

Where are you going with this Nina, you might be wondering… Well there are a plethora of prophetic scriptures about Jesus’ coming. His birth, His life, His death, His EVERYTHING. Jesus wasn’t just a thought to fix the problem of sin from our beginning. 

Jesus existed with Father God always.

Adam and Eve’s sinning wasn’t a surprise to Father God - in that He said to Jesus, “Go fix it…” No.

Adam and Eve’s sinning was an inevitable consequence of CHOICE!!! Father God in His gracious mercy gave us the choice of loving Him or not… Follow the logic… If we did not have a choice we’d automatically love Father God which isn’t really love, but, a default; because there wasn’t a choice… As crazy as it sounds, (dare I say, paradoxical), because Father God loved us, (He, above all, surely has the choice not to…), He gave us what He had, out of love, for us - The Choice… (Read that last part slowly - again.)

Breathtaking! Really!

From our conception - He had pre-planned for us to be with Him in eternity… BUT… We have the choice to not love HIM and so our names get blotted out when we foolishly choose not to love Him. Like the devil - we suppose that we can be our own god! 

That never ends well. Never! As in eternity - never! Hell!

It’s real folks. If you believe Heaven is for real - so… hell is too!

BUT, … back to SIGNS!

While, scripture clearly states - Mark 13:32, (paraphrased) “…  no one knows the day nor hour… only the Father”. There are SIGNS people!!! Yes, that have been showcasing themselves since Jesus’ resurrection… BUT just as there are SIGNS of an upcoming season, so there are signs of the Day of Christ, (not to be confused with the Day of the Lord - that’s another positing), and the second coming of Jesus Christ and though these SIGNS are increasing - the church seems oddly silent about it and seems to satiate their sheep with that milk I’ve spoken about - no meat! Sheep are going to hell and shepherds are leading the way and so preparing their flocks - for the barbecue that has sheep on the menu. 

Why?

I could suppose they have out waited their waiting and have become -dull! Unexpectedly - like a woman who is newly pregnant and it’s - not imminent… but she’s not perpetually pregnant folks… Some day she’s going to deliver…There are signs that a baby is coming… And so will my Jesus the KING. He will surely sound the trumpet “and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive will be caught-up with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. There are numerous other scriptures that Paul wrote in his epistles- Corinthians, Philippians, Thessalonians, Timothy.  

Should we not speak boldly and confidently of our BLESSED HOPE?! That which we eagerly anticipate. To clarify, (since once upon a time, I was told that I was being too Heavenly minded to be any earthly good…so…), not at the expense of the Gospel, -let it not be said, that I shied away from sharing the Good News. This is the WHY the church is yet here. We get- to proclaim the Best News Ever! (Father uses the most unlikely folks to do this work - He seems to delight in confounding the wise with foolish stuff all of the time). There is a Way of escape and it’s Jesus. Frankly, I think it’s important explaining to non believers and undoubtedly believers what they are escaping, (hell),  and why, because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His giving of His Blood, (all of it), as an atonement/payment for our sins… There is no other way of paying for our sins debt and sadly, this is not clearly explained…. People don’t think they sin nor that they need The Savior. 

I’ve been in good churches… Churches that tell their sheep how to live in this world as if -this were home! While what they say isn’t so wrong, the message isn’t in sync with the SIGNS. If the building is on fire and you have a way of escape - you don’t present it as an option, nor down play the sure and imminent disaster. You don’t talk about the need for possible fire safety measures… It’s too late… You don’t discuss insurance that could cover the destruction afterwards…You won’t want to live in a burnt-out home. You tell them the truth… They all played with fire - and their dreams, stuff, homes, everything is going to burn. They must leave this WAY NOW! And they should tell as many others as they can… because the fire is not contained -at all! Many people have already lost their lives/their souls, and you could hear them saying, “I thought I had more time, I wasn’t that bad, I was a good person… I cared for… I didn’t see the smoke…” The enemy - satan, is a master at deception. satan twist the very words of the Bible… he has entire denominations believing that the book of Revelation is not what it is - his death sentence! People believe it’s too difficult to understand… Specifically, the last book of the Bible - Revelation… Talk about people perishing for lack of knowledge!

Signs!

The fire is all about us people! 

Wake-up and smell the smoke... See the flames… Feel the heat.

Read scripture. Research the world news from a variety of sources, connect the dots… and tell others about the Way of escape - Jesus. He gave everything - His life - His Blood so we would not have to go to hell. He wants to have you in Heaven - the HOME He has prepared for you… But it is a choice - satan wants you to think there’s no such place as hell… That a loving God wouldn’t send His creation to hell. Father God does NOT send anyone to hell. Sadly, his creation chooses to go there totally on their own by rejecting His Son’s sacrifice. Jesus extends the Gift of salvation FREELY. We can do no-thing to redeem ourselves, (save ourselves) - this is GRACE - receiving the Gift we don’t deserve. 

Signs! 

I do not know the day nor hour of my Jesus’ call for His bride the church… but, I can surely read the signs!

Can you see the big picture from all of the signs?  

Soli Deo Gloria,

Nina