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The Violence of Opposite poles: Sin and Holiness

Sin is a horrible destructive element mere words can barely explain. It is drastically different than the Holiness that the Trinity contain. We barely understand the holiness, the purity, the perfect Love, the wisdom, the mercy that is contained in God. God is perfectly just, there is not one speck of injustice in Him. And He loves us, creating us in His image. I don't know how He was able to endure Adam and Eve's sinning, knowing the destruction their choices would reap. But He also knew that it was the only path that would produce a free willed choosing by some, of God's Way in the end. The pain God must endure constantly watching His most loved creation destroy itself of its own free choice, must be unbearable on human standards.

And then to heap pain upon pain, God had to do the unbelievable, and contain Himself in human flesh IN ORDER TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES of the sins brought upon humanity by Adam and Eve, and all those following who choose again and again to sin, turning from God and godly ways. By suffering the very presence of evil undeservedly, God was able to somehow make the sacrifice that would perfectly repel evil, that evil could not withstand, and then offer it to those willing to accept it. It was the first human's treacherous rebellion that brought sin into the rest of humanity and Christ’s perfect humanity that was able to repel it's consequences.

I sometimes wonder if we have the words to express what happened on the cross. Spiritually speaking it was likely something like the force of opposite magnetic poles. Evil and holiness cannot cohabit. It is not possible. They may stand near each other as they do in this world, but they cannot unite. When Christ somehow miraculously took upon Himself the heavy burdensome sin of humanity, for a moment He experienced the separation and cried out "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I cannot conceive how that whole thing is possible either physically or spiritually. God is a lot more powerful than we give Him credit for I think. But that moment must have been a violent moment spiritually when taking upon Himself the full burden of sin, holiness HAD to depart. Evil and holiness cannot unite. And then it was done. Something else was created from that action. We call it a spiritual bridge, a way back to God. By accepting Christ’s sacrifice we can come into the presence of God and God can come unite within our very being. Now that really doesn’t follow known physical or spiritual ‘rules of creation’.

Even the rest of it is difficult to fully comprehend. I know one cannot kill God, so to me it makes sense that He resurrected Himself. Yet, it is still difficult to grasp that that moment now enables us to come to God and repent of our sin which Christ has now destroyed the power of over us. But we don't have to fully understand it to believe it and act upon it.

Father forgive us.

Spiritual Growth - A Word For The Body

Here is a simple thought:  We are meant to experience God more today and tomorrow than we have in the past.

Have you ever tried to describe a beautiful sunset to a man or woman born blind?  Words don’t do justice do they? It is exceedingly difficult to describe something that we have no information to compare it to.   It is with the same difficulty that Christians try to describe God to the unbeliever.  Every human is born spiritually blind outside of the Garden of Eden where humanity first walked with God the creator of sunsets and sunrises.  It is difficult to describe spiritual life to one who is living in spiritual death.

 

Every believer by some miracle steps out of spiritual death into spiritual life.  But it is a process that only God can accomplish in our lives one veil at a time, just like the process of the removal of sin from our lives.  It doesn’t all happen at once.

 

There are four general areas that promote spiritual growth and all the healing and deliverance it brings with it:  worship, prayer, Christian community, and Bible Study

 

Worship is adoration of God and should happen not only on Sunday mornings in our singing but frequently in our daily communication with God , for God is looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth.  (John 4:23).  We should praise Him for the intricate patterns of the spider’s web , the beauty of the tiger’s eyes, the sound of the rain falling…..  as well as so much more goodness He is responsible for in our lives.

 

Prayer is our intimate communication with our Creator, Lord and friend in whose image we were created.  It should be composed of many things.  We ask for the things we think we need with humble petitions and often forget to laugh and share our wonderments, confusions, pains and joys with God.  But He is always listening, never turning a closed ear, so why NOT pray without ceasing never NOT thinking about His presence.  1 Thess. 5:17

 

Fellowship and Community with the saints is about not only getting to know the people of God with whom we will be spending eternity, but also being of some support, encouragement, assistance, direction, and benefit to them.  Getting together with God’s people allows us to use our spiritual gifts and grow into the person of God we were meant to be.  We remind one another of the greatness of God by doing so.  Hebrews 10:25

 

Studying the Scriptures daily is the means by which God can admonish us and direct us in the other 3 areas. All that we need to know about God, salvation and how to grow and mature into the fullness of the person of Christ Jesus are contained within the 66 books of the books we know as The Holy Scriptures.  We desperately need our minds transformed so that we can prove by our lives what is that good and perfect will of God for humanity.  (Rom. 12:2/ Acts 17:11)

 

Every churches leadership is committed to providing opportunity for believers to participate in all of those things in various Bible studies, meetings, social events, retreats, seminars and the Sunday morning services.  But this is scarcely enough.  Each believer must take responsibility for their own life, for their own spiritual growth, hand in hand with Jesus.  If we do not, we limp along spiritually just like someone with a physical handicap.  And if we continue to slag spiritually, we don’t grow and we miss out on so much goodness that God would have for us.

 

Please brethren, don’t limp and don't continue to be spiritually blind. Experience God. Experience Scriptures.  Please make every effort to determine to grow spiritually into the man or woman of God that God wants you to be.