And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 2 Cor 5:18&19 (to whom has He reconciled us to? To Himself!! Let that sink in. Not an angel, not even a Seraphim (super angel) but to Himself).
To reconcile, a word used of the Divine work of redemption, insofar as God Himself is the only one who can change the course of man. From Eternal Damnation to Eternal Salvation, He Himself is the only one who can make for Himself a fitting sacrifice to save man. No one else is Holy enough, Pure enough, or loving enough to be able to suffer the wrath of a Holy God's hatred of sin without becoming damned themselves. We hear and teach that Jesus took our sin, that He died on the Cross, and that is true, but in our ignorance, we have no concept of all the moving pieces or requirements or the suffering that had to be endured that would make the Son of God our Redemption/Atonement/Savior. It could only have been Him, starting with His Virgin birth. A normal birth would have disqualified Him; he would have taken on the sin of Adam and would not have been a spotless, pure sacrifice.
Therefore, in His love for us and for His Father, He left His Throne and took upon Himself our humanness without compromising His Holiness. He came to earth in the womb of Mary and was born like all babies. It's a fantastic story, an amazing Truth, an amazing reality for all generations and times to come into Eternity. I'm saddened because we talk about this so much that this amazing truth falls on calloused hearts and deaf ears.
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:34-35
And Jesus spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:- Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up, and choked them:
But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Matt. 13 (and for this 1/4th of good ground, it makes all His suffering worth it).
People will say, "I've tried Christianity and it didn't work for me," as though Christianity is something you try, like a plate of food. But let that plate of food be your only food, and I guarantee you that you will eat it and be grateful. We have too many distractions and too much ego. These two make the Gospel unpalatable. Based on this parable, there are three hearts that reject the seed of the Gospel, and only one heart receives it. Which heart are you? Maybe the best approach is to acknowledge a defective heart and pray to the Creator of hearts to create in you a clean heart, a soft heart, a hungry heart, so that it readily wants to absorb God's Truths.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away -- the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Ezekiel 36:25-27
Such an extraordinary promise, and no one is forcing God to make this commitment to us. It is by His own volition. So pray this verse into your life, knowing that it is God's good will to do so.
Question: If I were to ask you, what do you think impresses God? Can we really do anything, some excellent work of sacrifice and charity that would impress Him? So many of us get stuck on the wheel of doing good deeds, thinking we can impress God. We should do good deeds, just as a healthy peach tree bears good peaches. It's a natural byproduct of abiding in Him. Abiding in Christ, His love, His peace, His joy in us should produce kindness, humility, love for our fellow man, etc. It is His Holy Spirit producing that which is not natural, but supernatural.
Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is -- the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest?
For -- all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man (or woman) will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my Word. Isaiah 66:1-2 (so it is not what we do that impresses God, but who we are becoming; the humility of our heart before Him).
God looks upon those who are contrite (meaning crushed, contrite, in Awe of) in spirit and tremble at my Word (Isa. 66:2). Those who tremble (not scared of but scared of disobeying) God's words are accounted as obedient (Ezra 9:4)."
There can be no greater or more critical prayer than, "God make Your way known to me and in me cause me to revere and love Your Word.
Question: When do you think God planned man's redemption? Did He watch man for several hundred years and then decide His desire to fellowship with man was failing? Did he need a plan B because plan A was failing? Was He surprised by our inability to seek Him? Seeking Him but failing, so then we forced Him to take a drastic action. None of the above, but from the earliest scriptures, we see God's intent to save man and to bring him back into fellowship with Him. Knowing this should make us feel very secure.
And I will put enmity (speaking to Satan, being in the form of a serpent) between thee and -- the woman (the Virgin Mary), and between thy seed (the Pharisees that hated Christ) and -- her seed (women do not have a seed, so it is a direct reference to Christ). He shall bruise (literally to crush) thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15
This is when we were reconciled to the Lord, from the beginning of man's existence. God knew we would fall, and He had His means to bring us back to Him. It would cost Him everything, and He was willing to pay it to open the way for you and me to know Him. This is a big deal. Knowing this, the sacrifice that the Trinity was willing to make to save us should far exceed any need for security and sense of worth that we need.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man (not married)?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35-36
He cleared the way, "He did all the heavy lifting," and only asks us to come to Him and believe and grow in faith. As we read the Bible, we will understand more fully His atonement and redemption for us. It's a crazy, miraculous story when you really think about it.
For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy Word. And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:37&38
Catholic's call this The Immaculate Conception, which it is, and then there's Mary's willingness to conceive the Christ child, which is also noteworthy. Being pregnant and not married at that time was punishable by stoning to death. I don't think that most of us consider or ponder that the call of God on Mary had consequences, and so it does for us as well (the Pharisees accused Jesus of being a bastard, without a legitimate father, John 8:41)
Ye do the deeds of your father. Then -- said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Yet God's commitment to man is unwavering and, in my opinion, far beyond what we deserve. God didn't owe this to us; He chose to do this because of His love for us. So when we feel God is absent, or not listening, or He doesn't care, we are entirely wrong. He is using the disappointments, the painful events, or even things that we don't understand to form in us a faith that says, despite all this, God is still trustworthy. I don't have to understand it all, I have to understand that He loves me. We learn that this life is one of vanity, much of it is me-focused, and He is honing us into making Him the focus. If He were to restore that relationship, or give us our dream job, or dream house, would we stop seeking Him, stop praying? We don't want to admit it, but we would stop or lessen our pursuit of Him. The difficulties keep us humble and seeking Him.
God must be first in everything, before our spouse, before our girlfriend, before our job, before our kids, or friends, period. He must be Number One, not a close second, and the harder it is for us to do that or want to do that, the more it proves to us the degree to which we have made other things in charge of our happiness. No human being or earthly thing should ever take His place in our heart. It should be reserved for the Lord alone, and until we do, we will continue to have strife, problems, and disappointments, as people just being human let us down.
Most of you know that I had back surgery several months ago because of my scoliosis and work injury. I am still healing from that. The pain I feel now is localized in my lower back, and not shooting down my right leg as before surgery. Trials and pain are necessary to straighten out our souls as well. He is looking to the future and sees that without some corrective spiritual surgery, we would be lost, without His hope, doing our own thing. He must be first, no other gods, as in people, desires, or wants before Him. And it is the hardships and challenges in this life that reveal to us our heart and need for Him. In these times, we are faced with choices to change our course and confess our sin or continue and reap theconsequences of our sin. We need to forsake anything that stands in the way of our knowing Him. His peace and love, wisdom and joy are found in seeking and surrendering to Him and not the temporal solutions we find in this world. As men, we turn to our jobs, a hobby, or even something more destructive, such as porn( and it is destructive, it reduces women to objects, and our loneliness explodes as we start disconnecting from genuine relationships).
For women, it could be an overemphasis on our looks because of our husband doing porn, or because of our own insecurities, or we can overemphasize our job, or maybe a porn addiction as well (at times, couples do it together, thinking it will "spice" up their sexual relationship, it's a lie). We need to face our insecurities, addictions, and fears with the Lord, and if we have gone down this road to this degree, some Christ-centered counseling would be super helpful.
We need to learn about God's promises of freedom and learn how to apply them to overcome them. Getting on our knees, and finding His help and strength changes our future for the better... Way Better. He shall do the work in you as you seek Him.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have success.
Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:9-10
Father God,
Thank you for this deep dive into our soul. This proves your intention that you want a real relationship, day in and day out, and not a religious relationship where we check off the box every time we make it to church. Let your Truth permeate every part of me, show me my idols as I seek to surrender all of me to all of You willingly. I lack so much understanding of your ways. Help me to grow in your wisdom, for it is true, righteous, and without hypocrisy, as man's wisdom is. Teach me to love you and you alone. Amen
Thank you,
Your child
Written by Arthur, as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
