Tuesday, November 30, 2004
1 John 4:8c reads, "God is love."
It is good to know that He loves you out of the eternal wellspring of Who He is, not because of the character or personality qualifications you may possess!
God is love.
When John wrote, "God is love” he was communicating that God's essence is love. Now that sounds very, very deep... What in the world does that mean?
This is what I believe it means. It means that He is, at heart, a loving Person. According to His nature and essence, He loves. He loves everything He has made. That includes you and everything else.
Thankfully this is true. Yet, (please don’t laugh at this…) it does not answer questions like, “Why does God love humanity more than He loves a bug?”
Jesus said, "You are worth more than many sparrows!"
God is love, but this love is not evenly distributed, is it?
Why is that?
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It is good to know that He loves you out of the eternal wellspring of Who He is, not because of the character or personality qualifications you may possess!
God is love.
When John wrote, "God is love” he was communicating that God's essence is love. Now that sounds very, very deep... What in the world does that mean?
This is what I believe it means. It means that He is, at heart, a loving Person. According to His nature and essence, He loves. He loves everything He has made. That includes you and everything else.
Thankfully this is true. Yet, (please don’t laugh at this…) it does not answer questions like, “Why does God love humanity more than He loves a bug?”
Jesus said, "You are worth more than many sparrows!"
God is love, but this love is not evenly distributed, is it?
Why is that?
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Remember this text?
Galatians 4:6 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
Sometimes we think that a real encounter with the Spirit will be similar to Isaiah’s.
Isaiah 6:3-5 3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
However, Galatians 4:6 does not say:
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out in horror and dismay!
The text does not say:
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Holy! Holy! Holy!!”
No.
What is the Spirit crying out within us? “Abba.”
What Spirit is that?
“…the Spirit of His Son.” He’s not a second hand Spirit. This is Jesus Himself animating us with His own Spirit.
God is so holy that the whole universe must bow at the sight of Him. Yes, but that is not the foundation of our relationship with Him in the Messiah.
The foundation of our relationship with Him in the Messiah is “Abba.” If we’re not experiencing that, then it’s not just a matter of weak theology. It’s a matter of our not having an appropriate communion with the One who within us cries, “Abba.”
Father's Son's Spirit.
