21 posts tagged “the love of god”
Early in Scripture we read a seemingly disheartening command of God. None of the offspring of Aaron, the priests of Israel, who had a disability could go through the veil and approach God’s altar, ‘lest he profane God’s sanctuaries’. (Leviticus 21:23) In addition, for sacrifice, God only accepted ‘perfect’ animals, those without blemish or illness. Yet, even men in ‘perfect’ bodies sacrificing ‘perfect’ animals were not perfect enough to purify us once for all time- as was the perfect sacrifice made by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:26-28).
The animals sacrificed were a foreshadow and type of this perfect sacrifice to come. The sacrificed animals and the men entering into God’s holiest place on Earth had to be as perfect as they could be to mimic the Christ. However, neither were really perfect.
All priests had to offer sacrifices for themselves before offering sacrifices for the people, for these priests sinned. Because of this sin, their bodies wouldn’t remain perfect forever. They would with age begin to wither, fail, and die. Had they not been sacrificed the bodies of these perfect animals, also, would also have grown old and died because sin was in the world.
God considered, for the Old Testament system of sacrifice, disability ‘profane’. God always considers sin profane. Could disability be profane because it is a result of sin in the world?
Yet, God doesn’t shun the person with the disability. He still refers to Himself as their God, as the God Who sanctifies them. (Leviticus 21:21, 23) In His same grace and mercy, God doesn’t shun His sin-drenched people.
God is a God of both justice and love. God hates sin. Sin must be atoned for. However, God loves His people, and for His Holy namesake, forgives His people for their sin, sending His own Son as atonement. For we His people cannot atone for ourselves.
We are not saved by our own righteousness. Our righteousness is like filthy rags. The only righteousness we have to offer God is that which was imputed to us by Christ at His sacrifice. The only sacrifices we have to offer God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. God draws near to the humble. God knows we are weak, that we are only dust. He takes pity on the weak, and, while He demands us to do so, also, as Job found out, caring for the weak- the blind and the lame- did not even make him righteous ‘enough’. (Job 29:15)
There is hardly a greater a symbol of weakness than disability or illness, and these people to whom God seems most drawn. While they were forbidden to enter the holy of holies, God comes to them. To people like Paul who know that because God’s grace is made perfect in our weakness, when we are weak they are strong. The only strength that is to be relied upon is God’s, as the only righteousness that is to be counted is Christ’s. It is God Who opens the eyes of the blind and the deaf, makes the lame man leap, and the tongue of the mute sin for joy (Isaiah 35:5-6), and in His justice, Jesus came to open the eyes of the Spiritually blind. (John 9:39)
Interestingly, God calls people to weakness- before He calls us to stand and to run. He calls us to repentance, to a time of contriteness and humility at salvation, making us His. When we are God’s we rely on God’s strength, and, therefore, must die to our own.
In our weaknesses, God glorifies Himself. It was because of a bodily ailment that Paul first preached the Gospel to the Galatians. (Galatians 4:13) God is just as glorified by leaving Paul with his ‘thorn’ in 2 Corinthians 12, as when Jesus gives glory to Him through the healing of a man born blind in John 9.
God receives glory in His compassion for the suffering and the hurting. Jesus, for instance, Who only did the work that He saw His Father doing first, (John 5:19) ministered to and healed people with disabilities, illnesses, and sin. He was filled with compassion for the widow whose only son had passed away. After raising the son from the dead, He returned him to His mother. This most compassionate act caused the people to cry, “God has visited His people!” (Luke 7:11-18)
In the resurrection of Christ, those of us called by God unto salvation, having had our spiritual eyes opened, have hope of an end to suffering. Our physical weaknesses will have an ending. We will not always be disabled, old, and emotionally vulnerable. Most excitedly, in our new bodies we will no longer battle with sin. One day, we will be perfect (1 Corinthians 15).
However, even in our perfect bodies in our perfect Home, human beings, once being imperfect, children of wrath and enemies of God, we will always remain dependent on Christ and His perfect sacrifice. Upon Christ, who embraced weakness by putting human flesh and dying our death (Philippians 2:5-11) , to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18), to give us eternal life (John 3:16), which is knowing God (John 17:3), forever in perfect harmony with our Creator.
Spoiler Warning!
I just saw the movie Seven Pounds, and I found it disturbing. In an age where support for euthanasia and assisted suicide is on the rise, any movie that portrays suicide as a good thing raises my suspicion. But as a Christian, I found the reasoning behind main character choosing death, as denying the hope we have from the sacrificial death of Christ.
Superbly acted, Will Smith plays a man named Ben Thomas who seeks to right the terrible wrong of accidentally killing seven people. He does so by donating some of his own organs to people he judges to be 'good people' in need of transplants.
Some organs he is able to give as a 'live donor', such as a kidney, a lung, part of a liver. But in order to donate other organs, such as his heart, he must die. And so, he commits suicide, enabling him to give away those organs.
When Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13), I think He was talking about Himself, foreshadowing the redemption that would come when He would give His life at the cross.
Ben Thomas will find no redemption in his own death.
Ben Thomas was a terribly depressed man, filled with guilt and grief- one of those people he killed was his own wife. Ben was a man desperately in need of the Truth- that there is a God and He is willing to forgive (Romans 3:30, 1 John 1:9). He needed to know that by giving away his organs, sacrificing his own life so that others may live, he would NOT make up for the terrible tragedy for which he was responsible. No one can pay for his own sins. (Romans 3:23). We need a Savior. Thankfully, Jesus died for the sins of Ben Thomas'- so that Ben wouldn't have to.
There is only one sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 10:10). There is only one justification (God can justify Ben Thomas), one way of redemption (God can redeem Ben Thomas), one propitiation (the wrath of God that was on Ben was placed onto Christ)- it is the death and the resurrection of the Perfect One (Hebrews 4:15)- the only 'good man' to ever live, by the way (Romans 3:10)- the only begotten Son of God, the God Man Christ Jesus. (Roman 3:21-26).
It is He Who makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). It is the Father, in Whom "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) All things will work together for good- even a tragedy such as the one Ben faced.
Ben Thomas needed to be told of the new life found in Christ. He needed to be told of the LOVE of GOD and that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) Ben needed to be given this hope from his friends- the hope we have from Christ's death- not help in causing his own death.
Redeem: to buy or pay off; clear by payment
to buy back
to recover (something pledged or mortgaged) by payment or other satisfaction
to discharge or fulfill (a pledge, promise, etc.)
to obtain the release or restoration of, as from captivity, by paying a ransom.
Theology. to deliver from sin and its consequences by means of a sacrifice offered for the sinner
to set free; rescue or ransom
to save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences
to restore the honor, worth, or reputation of
to repurchase by right
to receive or adopt
excepted from the operation or burden of some law; released; free; clear; privileged
Meditating on the idea of redemption, I am having a hard time with the thought that it is because I am so valuable that God would seek me out and then save me. I knew what a wretched state I was in before He redeemed me, even in very midst of that state. I wasn't worthy of love- I wasn't. But God loved me anyway, right back into Himself. Still, I find no comfort in my own value, for I know that apart from God, I have no value.
I am much more comforted by the sovereignty of the One Who sought me out in my state of wretchedness, to redeem, to buy back what was always supposed to be His. That the fact that God loves me and redeemed me has nothing to do with how great I am but, rather, how Great He is.
I have been so focused these past few years on finding out who I am, and gratefully have found security in who I am in Christ.
But I now want to know more of Who He is. Who is He as Redeemer?
This is a great song... I think. It was hard to hear because of all the laughter... from me. (Seriously, the whole song, out loud laughter.)
The 80's were totally awesome!
Today at church we had the opportunity to hear some testimonies from people who had experienced healing from God this week. It was great to hear their stories of the power of God.
However, I was reminded, overwhelming so, of how much people with illnesses and disabilities are needed at my church. Yes, in part to see the glory of God revealed when He chooses to heal some of them. But also, to see the glory of God revealed when He chooses not to.
As the men and women told their stories of healing as quickly as possible with only so much time alloted them, focus and attention seemed to be only on the physical symptoms of their illness or emotional pain, with a quick declaration that God delivered them. As if they were saying, on the external, God healed my body or delivered me from this sinful outward behavior.
I know there was much more to their healings than just the external, and, again they only had so much time to speak. But what I need to see, as a member of my church, is what is happening with their hearts. Where is their heart as God is healing them? Where are they spiritually? What is God doing in their sanctifying process of making them holy? Is this physical healing a reflection of that transformation or is it something that God has given them for the sole reason of blessing them? Will this physical healing press them into deeper relationship and trust with God?
In addition to those who have had physical healing in their lives, I also need to hear from people who still struggle with a physical or mental illness or a physical or mental disability, yet are being transformed into the likeness of God for the glory of God, in faith and trust that the grace of God is sufficient in their weakness.
Yes, God does heal people sometimes of physical disability, of the chemical imbalances of mental illness, etc., and for that we thank Him and praise Him! But, He is not only concerned with the physical! He looks upon the heart! He may or may not choose to heal the leper, make the lame man walk, or give sight to the blind woman. He does not promise physical healing.
But He does promise life and life abundantly, which is found in the graceful relationship with His one and only Son. He promises new identity, freedom from sin, and transformed spirits.
Savation is for everyone!
He goes even further and uses those He chooses not to heal for His glory in making the church better! With the suffering around us, God gives us the gift of compassion and love- if we will take it. With those who struggle with their physical bodies or mental disabilities who trust in the sufficiency of God's grace, we learn to rely on that same sufficiency in our own weaknesses or when our time for suffering comes. And God gets all the glory!
Isaiah 57:15
For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
It's so hard for me to comprehend, a God so holy, high, and lofty bending down and residing with the humble and the sorrowful, regretful sinner. I guess there wouldn't be made room for Him in the arrogant or self-righteous heart. Still, why bother with us at all? As the Psalmist says, "What is man that Thou art mindful of him?" Why does He forgive, choosing to revive our hearts and spirits?
Oh, I know He does reside with us in our humbleness and repentance. I've experienced it, causing me to feel even more humble and revived and behave more repentantly, so I know that Isaiah 57:15 is not just a pretty verse. Still, I don't know why He bothers. Another mystery, perhaps? Another way God is Love? Proof that He really does desire us to be forever in relationship with Him?
My brain hurts.
Where is another God like you,
who pardons the guilt of the remnant,
overlooking the sins of his special people?
You will not stay angry with your people forever,
because you delight in showing unfailing love.
Once again you will have compassion on us.
You will trample our sins under your feet
and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love
as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob
long ago.
Micah 7:18-20
Another thought on suffering.
"My grace is sufficient. My power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
It's so painful to watch my mother suffer. She is constant physical pain. Her mobility is limited, and she has lost some of her independence. In addition, her husband of 34 years past away a year ago. Her grief is great. Sometimes I wonder why God continues to allow her to be beaten down again and again.
Not often, but sometimes, I also look at my own sufferings and wonder why and how much longer I have to struggle with all of the addictions and temptations and 'issues' in my life.
John, in this first video, makes this statement, "He determines what time we would be born, what age, what year, what geographical location, and works all things together in order for us to have a circumstance which we might cry out to Him." I am not saying this is the answer to all suffering. But it's an answer that makes sense to me.
This past year I have been living in the sufficiency of God's grace. Before this year I didn't really understand what God meant by the idea of His grace being sufficient. But I've learned that, for me, it's crying out to God in my weakest moments of addiction and temptation and, in turn, God walking with me through them. He grants me power to get through each moment of struggle. And in spending so much time with Him in vulnerable honesty, I'm beginning to know Him intimately, to recognize His voice, His Truth, His Character, and His presence. So, maybe, that a reason He lets me suffer.
Maybe something like this is happening with my mother and God, too. Either way, I have to learn to trust in the grace of God.
Because of Who God is. I've argued for the right to life based on who we are and on that we are. My arguments are based on a twisting of legal views and man-centered theological views. However, taking away my man-centered view on such issues, I want God's view and God at the center.
Considering the life of a woman or a man or a child who is not cognitively aware of his/her surroundings or with limited awareness. A person so dependent on others for the most basic of care- toileting, bathing, feeding, etc. Save perhaps for a tiny fetus in the womb or a newborn baby, truly the most helpless and weakest of lives among us.
Based on the character of God do such individuals have a right to life?
Based on the character of God do I have a right to live? No! For the wages of my sin is death! I have no right to life, eternal or otherwise. God is good. I am evil.
However, because of God's unfailing love and gracious mercy, I live and am given through the work of Jesus on the cross eternal life.
Even so, even having been created in the image of God, because I am a daughter of Adam, I am so weak! Apart from God I have no good thing. I am dust. Yet, God picks up my weak, rag doll of a body and walks me through this life every day! Provididng my every need!
I get up at 7:16 every morning, and I cannot get out of bed. I have no energy in the mornings. I just want to sleep. Yet, as I begin to make my choice of whether or not to rise, God enters in. He gives me the grace every morning to choose to get up and go and do the work He's called me to do in this season of my life. It's His strength- not mine.
All day at work, I find it more than difficult to keep a servant's heart for the woman I care for. When she calls for me after she's been resting, for instance, I find it so difficult to pull myself away from the television show that has caught my attention or my reading material. I want to serve this woman. My spirit is willing. But my flesh is weak! I resent her intrusion on my pleasure with her needs, and in that moment, God, again, enters. I know He's there. I ask for forgiveness and ask for strength to walk into this woman's room and serve her in whatever way she needs- because I can't do it on my own.
I am selfish, and I am weak!
Many, many times during the day I am faced with temptations to sin. And I really, really struggle. When I am tempted, GOD ENTERS IN, and He either provides a way out of the temptation or in His glorious mercy invites me to walk through this temptation with Him into His throne room of grace where He teaches me about Him and provides whatever need I am trying to meet myself in my tempted area of sin. And if I do sin, He is quick to forgive and to admonish me for my sin, to teach me of its ugliness and His holiness. Surely He disciplines the ones He loves!
And He loves me! Oh, what a God Who would love someone like me. His love for me only demonstrates how great He is.
How dare I then, in turn, look at someone weaker than I, physically or otherwise, and refuse to be merciful and loving and not care for him or her? How dare I say that this person is too miserable and too weak, too sick, to unable? How dare I not show this person the same mercy God shows me?
Many times in the Bible people have begged God for death. Job for instance:
20 “Oh, why give light to those in misery,
and life to those who are bitter?
21 They long for death, and it won’t come.
They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure.
22 They’re filled with joy when they finally die,
and rejoice when they find the grave.
23 Why is life given to those with no future,
those God has surrounded with difficulties?
Job 3
God does not comply. Instead, He later admonishes Job for all the ways Job questioned God's wisdom.
God shows mercy and grace for the weak. "He remembered us in our weakness. His faithful love endures forever." (Ps 136: 23)
7 He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
Psalm 103
How dare I say one weaker than I is worthy of death? Using, terms such as 'mercy killing', of all things?
Suffering is horrible. It is no light thing. We are better off dead and at peace with our Maker than alive on this dead earth. But what of the weak ones God has not called home yet? How dare I quesiton God's wisdom in allowing them to suffer so?
How dare I deny one the opportunity to learn how to allow God into the midst his or her suffering? To wrestle with God for him or herself in the why of his or her suffering? And learning more about Him and His character in the process?
Instead of taking the life as a distorted act of mercy of one weak and suffering, is it not better to extend a hand of God's version of mercy, love, inclusion, medical treatment, tenderloving care, compassion, and encouragement to make his or her life better? To show them the love of God? Whether the person is cognitively aware of my mercy or not?
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry
and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and
show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see
you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least
of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'
Matthew 25: 37-40
