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
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