Friday, December 30th, 2005
What is the Father Like? – Edition #5
The three things:
- Is there a fact to believe here?
- Is there a promise to trust?
- Is there a command to obey?
OK, well just 2 days remaining on the year. And that is counting today! I am not at all sure why it is that I am getting all excited about 2006. I normally don’t care about New Years and all the whop la that goes with it. I have always looked at the end of the year much like the end of the month… the next month is the start of a new month… we don’t get excited about the countdown to the end of February and the start of March… so what’s the big deal about the end of December and the start of January? Lost in translation, I guess. But anyway, I continue on with my studies and maybe with the start of the New Year, I have new goals and new personal challenges. And with the new challenges, my wife actually challenged me last night… she spotted something in my character and low and behold, I became prideful… and you know you become prideful with the proverbial “but” is said. When the word “but” comes out, normally there is justification that follows. And that is exactly what I did… and being an addict, I had a juicy “but.” I made it sound great! I mean: goodness gracious, I am a “super-Christian” so, whatever I say is right, right? (And I laugh as I type this, because I am ridiculous for thinking I am without any sin – it’s just been a while since anyone has called me out on it.) Well, I am grateful for my wife to be humble enough to point it out. And she is right… I was prideful and I don’t like people bossing me around, which is what she pointed out. And I need to repent on that and gladly do so. I feel that I have grown a ton in 2005 and pray that I continue in my growth in 2006.
Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 6:4-6
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Matthew 23:37-39
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Colossians 1:16-17
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Exodus 34:6-9
6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of he fathers to the third and fourth generation."
8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 "O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes," he said, "then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance."
James 1:16-21
16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.
19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Nehemiah 9:16-33
16 "But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands. 17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, 18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, 'This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,' or when they committed awful blasphemies.
19 "Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. 21 For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.
22 "You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan. 23 You made their sons as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 Their sons went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you handed the Canaanites over to them, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. 25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.
26 "But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they put your law behind their backs. They killed your prophets, who had admonished them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies. 27 So you handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.
28 "But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.
29 "You warned them to return to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, by which a man will live if he obeys them. Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. 30 For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you admonished them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples. 31 But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
32 "Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. 33 In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong.
John 3:13-21
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
Luke 19:10
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
There is a God, who was tempted in every way, and yet withstood it all. I like cookies. I simply love them. Chocolate is my friend. If it were possible to add chocolate to everything and it taste great… then I would strongly consider it. However, I don’t think chocolate and liver would work… tomatoes and chocolate? Chocolate covered onions… well… as great as chocolate is… it doesn’t go with everything. And there was a point to all this and I lost it… I guess when a thought gets lonely, it goes somewhere else. OK, so my point is, if I was to be surrounded by chocolate, a room filled with cookies, cake, fudge, chocolate covered almonds, chocolate coffee, chocolate milk, that cake that my wife makes for me on my birthday, and of course, me being hungry, would I be able to withstand it all? Well, considering Jesus likes chocolate and not being able to have any in his time of need, he withstood the chocolate test. And Jesus went through the chocolate test for a really long time. I don’t think I would be able to withstand the chocolate test for even a whole day! (And in case your wondering, I am making the equivalent of chocolate to sin – chocolate is not a sin in my book.) But because Jesus went through all that temptation, he has before him the gift of mercy. He knows what it is like to be in the chocolate room and the hunger and wanting the chocolate and through out the whole ordeal saying “No, I will not have it” and not give into it.
Mercy (noun):
- Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one's power; clemency.
- A disposition to be kind and forgiving.
- Something for which to be thankful; a blessing.
- Alleviation of distress; relief.
All these qualities of God, the Father, show me just how much mercy he bestows upon me. I have been given relief. I have been blessed. If my QOL is low to the point that it is un-seeable, then I am still blessed because of the mercy God has given me. Today has been a trying day… I started this QT very early in the morning and now it is 3 PM, and I am now finishing it up. My son has his upper teeth coming in and he doesn’t like the idea and concept of pain. I can’t blame him. Pain, well, it just hurts. But with pain comes learning. I am not sure what you can learn from teething, but I guess you have to have something to compare it to later on in life. Anyway, I still have much the day ahead of me. I love you all and hope your New Years weekend is an eventful one and that you all stay safe and ever so watchful over the others who choose not to. Johnny Out.
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