Through many failures, unconditional love grows — Through much weakness this love slowly emerges — In our personal sins the nature of His love finds a manifestation — In our frequent besettings He showers us with love — In our embarrassments, His glory shines –in humiliations His strength empowers — In utter weakness, His enablement finds perfection in us — In disgrace we find His grace. Unconditional Love? We have heard of it. It’s absolute, unqualified, clean, complete, consummate, etc. etc His love is all-out — flat out — straight-out –love. His love is pure — perfect — profound — Love. His love is stark — clean — sheer — love. His Love is total — plumb — complete — love. Ezekiel 16:6-8 speaks of this love: “I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood…” “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time…
Healing at the Cross Posts
Memory Lane? I remember childhood fantasies; summer days, exploration and discovery. Naivete, longevity, and levity accompanied almost every day. Ducks, dogs and dandelions littered the landscape; sea-cows, blue frogs and giant turtles stayed large in the memory — we visited the zoo! — then ice cream and better yet, lime sherbet on a cone –green. It all changed, though. What happened? Girls – well first, people, then girls. Fearful, unusual, intriguing, nice. These took over where craw-fish and snails left off. They caught the devotion, overwhelmed the young mind, and became an adolescent obsession. Some early “back and forth” went this way: “Hi — hi — whats up? — nothing — me too — well, see you — see you later.” I trick-or-treated till about 13 years; chocolate kept me young-minded till facial eruptions broke-out. I was so embarrassed. Here came the “real” world. Don’t get me wrong, all…
Life can turn out a “no thanks” or a silent thankless response, or an angry disapproval. It can conjure up hate or produce joy. “Our actions affect other humans, animals, birds etc. — most times their “space” gets invaded. Yes, the fellow inhabitant’s plans explode, thoughts implode and provisions delay as faith decays. “you did them wrong!” (sarcastically speaking). Contrarily, love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, bears up; love never fails. “But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if there are languages, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be brought to an end.” “For our knowledge is imperfect, and so is our prophesying; but when the perfect state of things is come, all that is imperfect will be brought to an end.” 1Corinthians 13:9-10 For us, “imperfect” means partial, apportioned, a little at a time. Precepts (building blocks),…
“And Saul armed David with his armor, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.” 1 Samuel 17:38-39 “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.” 1 Samuel 17:45 David put off the bulky, over-weighted hindering armor of fleshly wisdom, but, put on the name (nature) of the Lord! He slew Goliath with five (grace) pebbles and a sling. Clothing often…
“…Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Romans 4:7 ” … even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32 “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 1 John 2:12 These verses and others place God’s forgiveness of us as a finalized deal which needs no asking or beckoning. But, forgiveness could rest beyond our conscious awareness, outside of our hope; Nevertheless, never beyond faith’s perceptive enablement. Romans 8:24 speaks,” For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” Proverbs teaches, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” But Abraham, “against hope believed in hope” because, “faith is the substance of things hoped for.” Delitzsch reminds us, “Better is he who begins to help than he who remains in…
We get a picture of true grace when we examine the counterfeits. Fyodor Dostoyevsky helps us see some of these in “The Grand Inquisitor,” a segment from “The Brothers Karamazov” Dostoyevsky sites “freedom of conscience” as man’s greatest seduction, and for this is offered three false graces: miracle, mystery, authority. All of these appeal to the masses of humanity who flee the responsibility which comes with true freedom — The grace offered all men through Christ. In short, our miracle could be a free food handout, a lottery hit, a long lost uncle’s death and inheritance. As men followed Jesus for the bread of a miraculous multiplication, so men seek the peace of full stomachs. Selling of one’s body for gain finds justification in a hopeless “waiting for my miracle” existence. Mystery and its mesmerizing allows folks to have purpose, though the purpose has no ultimate fulfilling, it provides enough…
“There is a ‘simplicity’ which is merely a fault, and there is a ‘simplicity’ which is a wonderful virtue.” On the one side: “a lack of discernment. “an ignorance of what is due others.” “…foolishness, ignorance, credulousness.” On the positive side: “…an uprightness of soul which prevents self-consciousness.” “…a happy medium …not overwhelmed by external things …not given up to endless introspection…” “…looks where it is going, without losing time arguing over every step…” all quotes from Fenelon, ‘The Royal Way of the Cross.” Says Trench in his book on synonyms, “A mind alien to cunning, fraud, pretense, deceit, evil and the desire to harm others”– equals simplicity. So, what’s the deal? O. Chambers educates us, “Beware of believing that the human soul is simple; look at yourself or read Psalm 139, and you will soon find the human soul is much too complex to touch.” “When an intellectualist…
The believer walks (in dependence), on the Spirit, so does not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We can grieve the Spirit through unconfessed sin. We can quench the Spirit by operating outside of His will. The power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the power of sin and death. If we be carried by the Spirit, we are not under the Law. The power of sin shall not dominate us; we are not under the Law, but under grace. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no Law. The strength of sin is in the Law, but we have victory through Jesus Christ. We live by the faith of the Son of God. Faith is the under-establishment of things expected, the convincing of things not seen. So, where does Bible language…
I flew the small way this week — 8 seater. Not bad, a beautiful day, winds were at a minimum. Three seats actually carried travelers — two others and me. A pilot and co-pilot manned the front seats. We flew not by the “seat of our pants,” but for me it was an adventure. The term (flying by the seat…) emerged in the 1930s and was first widely used in reports of Douglas Corrigan’s flight from the USA to Ireland in 1938. “Douglas Corrigan was described as an aviator ‘who flies by the seat of his pants.” “The old flying expression of ‘flies by the seat of his trousers’ was explained by Larry Conner — means going aloft without instruments, radio or other such luxuries.” phrases.org. The phrase conjures up a ton of metaphorical pictures for believers. We believers must go many times without connective guides — gauges for equilibrium, location…
And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals…” “…Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?…” “…And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Revelation 5:1-2, 9 “And when he had opened the seventh seal, (of the book), there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour…” “…Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and flung it to the earth, and there followed peals of thunder with its rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.””And the seven angels with the seven trumpets…