ALL THINGS
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
All too often, the Christian life is seen as an aesthetic, boring monontonous task of being miserable in the here and now so that we can have a glorious eternal life; in other words, God is presented as an uptight killjoy who prefers a stick in the mud over muddy children laughing and playing. This is the one lie the father of lies has spread to God's children since the garden--before we expose that lie, we need to see that satan is one unoriginal bastard. What did he tell Eve in the garden? Basically he told her that God is withholding from her. He gets her to focus on what she did not have instead of the abundance available to her. He also told her that she is not like God and if she wants to be like God, she needs to act independently and begin to run her own life. He accused God's character to Eve and made Eve feel less than. Eve bought the lie. The truth is that Eve was already "like" God in that she was created in His image. She did not have to do anything--God made her that way. She needed to trust this was true. The truth was that God was not withholding from her since everything else in the Garden was hers except for the one thing that would produce death. In other words, God is good and has met her every need. The lie is the same today. Because of Christ, we are God's children, and the New Creation is created to be like God in Christ Jesus. The liar says "if you are a child of God, why don't you have this, or why don't you behave better, or, etc. etc. We will focus on what we do not have, believe the lie that God is withholding, and try to figure out what we can do to get God to change his mind and give us what we think we need. However, rather than a uptight killjoy, God is the source of everything good, true and beautiful in our lives and in this world. God is love. He knows what we truly need and has met our every need in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think the American culture makes it obvious that we are more than just physical creatures with only physical needs. The physical needs for air, food, water, shelter and clothing have never been more met than how they are in our culture from the beginning of time until now. If we were just physical creatures with physical needs, no one in our culture would ever bitch and complain, be unhappy or depressed. We would be jumping for joy all the time. Obviously we have other needs that must be met We all have a need to be unconditionally loved, completely accepted, and totally forgiven. If God created us with these needs and was stingy about meeting those needs, He would not be a killjoy, He would be a cruel prankster. There are two ditches we fall into when we believe the lie that our needs are not met. One is that we try to get those needs met by ourselves by doing everything and anything to make us feel good--Party until we die. The other is we deny these needs and white knuckle it and "behave" to try to get God to bless us with what we think we are missing. But the good news is that God has not witheld one thing to meet those needs. He gave us his very Being--his very Self. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? . " God fills that spiritual void in Christ and instead of being witheld from, we see that we are included in "ALL THINGS". We are loved more than we can ever imagine and God demonstrated that by giving us His Son--what more could He give? Because of our complete forgiveness, we are totally acceptable to God as a New Creation. It is not your sin cursed body and your old nature that is acceptable, it is the Spiritual You that God created in your inmost being. That is who you really are in Christ and God is very proud and happy about who HE has made you to be which is an "heir of God and c0-heir with Christ." So, you are not missing anything, you are included in "all things." The battle is in our mind; the battle is what we will focus on. The Creator of the Universe has made it His good pleasure to bring you into a robust, dynamic relationship with Himself. It is manifested in Love--nothing is more powerful than love, and we have the freedom and privilege to love others. Because we are included in "all things", we don't have to live a self-centered life trying to get what we think we need. We can take a deep breath and sigh of relief that we are ok and actually think about someone else, and this is where the joy is going to be experienced. We will live a healthy self-love which will manifest itself in loving others. So, the next time you are feeling like you are missing out, tell yourself, "I am not missing out on anything! I am included in all things! Who can I love today. I promise, it will bring satisfaction.
All too often, the Christian life is seen as an aesthetic, boring monontonous task of being miserable in the here and now so that we can have a glorious eternal life; in other words, God is presented as an uptight killjoy who prefers a stick in the mud over muddy children laughing and playing. This is the one lie the father of lies has spread to God's children since the garden--before we expose that lie, we need to see that satan is one unoriginal bastard. What did he tell Eve in the garden? Basically he told her that God is withholding from her. He gets her to focus on what she did not have instead of the abundance available to her. He also told her that she is not like God and if she wants to be like God, she needs to act independently and begin to run her own life. He accused God's character to Eve and made Eve feel less than. Eve bought the lie. The truth is that Eve was already "like" God in that she was created in His image. She did not have to do anything--God made her that way. She needed to trust this was true. The truth was that God was not withholding from her since everything else in the Garden was hers except for the one thing that would produce death. In other words, God is good and has met her every need. The lie is the same today. Because of Christ, we are God's children, and the New Creation is created to be like God in Christ Jesus. The liar says "if you are a child of God, why don't you have this, or why don't you behave better, or, etc. etc. We will focus on what we do not have, believe the lie that God is withholding, and try to figure out what we can do to get God to change his mind and give us what we think we need. However, rather than a uptight killjoy, God is the source of everything good, true and beautiful in our lives and in this world. God is love. He knows what we truly need and has met our every need in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think the American culture makes it obvious that we are more than just physical creatures with only physical needs. The physical needs for air, food, water, shelter and clothing have never been more met than how they are in our culture from the beginning of time until now. If we were just physical creatures with physical needs, no one in our culture would ever bitch and complain, be unhappy or depressed. We would be jumping for joy all the time. Obviously we have other needs that must be met We all have a need to be unconditionally loved, completely accepted, and totally forgiven. If God created us with these needs and was stingy about meeting those needs, He would not be a killjoy, He would be a cruel prankster. There are two ditches we fall into when we believe the lie that our needs are not met. One is that we try to get those needs met by ourselves by doing everything and anything to make us feel good--Party until we die. The other is we deny these needs and white knuckle it and "behave" to try to get God to bless us with what we think we are missing. But the good news is that God has not witheld one thing to meet those needs. He gave us his very Being--his very Self. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? . " God fills that spiritual void in Christ and instead of being witheld from, we see that we are included in "ALL THINGS". We are loved more than we can ever imagine and God demonstrated that by giving us His Son--what more could He give? Because of our complete forgiveness, we are totally acceptable to God as a New Creation. It is not your sin cursed body and your old nature that is acceptable, it is the Spiritual You that God created in your inmost being. That is who you really are in Christ and God is very proud and happy about who HE has made you to be which is an "heir of God and c0-heir with Christ." So, you are not missing anything, you are included in "all things." The battle is in our mind; the battle is what we will focus on. The Creator of the Universe has made it His good pleasure to bring you into a robust, dynamic relationship with Himself. It is manifested in Love--nothing is more powerful than love, and we have the freedom and privilege to love others. Because we are included in "all things", we don't have to live a self-centered life trying to get what we think we need. We can take a deep breath and sigh of relief that we are ok and actually think about someone else, and this is where the joy is going to be experienced. We will live a healthy self-love which will manifest itself in loving others. So, the next time you are feeling like you are missing out, tell yourself, "I am not missing out on anything! I am included in all things! Who can I love today. I promise, it will bring satisfaction.
Comments
-Kelly
- Motorcycle Mike