I love the end of the semester. Yes, it's crazy, exhausting and challenging but you get these moments of clarity that blow your mind. Today it was a word in class, the mediation on a hymn and a passage from Romans all coming together.
Dr. Garner said . . .
' for God to stop loving us, he would have to stop loving his Son.'
Let that sink in for a moment. We know it is impossible for God to not love his Son. God is love, his Son is love. So how is it possible that we can be so connected with Christ that it is impossible for God to stop loving us because it would mean that he has stopped loving his Son? Dr. Garner went on to say . . .
' that is how organic the work of the Spirit is in uniting us with Christ.'
This means that the Holy Spirit's work in us is so interconnected to Christ that they can no longer be separated. It is no longer just me. Or just Christ. It is Christ and me so incredibly, inseparably, organically together that if God was to remove his love from me he would be doing that to Christ.
So when we come to Romans 8:38-39 and it says . .
' For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'
Surely, this is what Paul was thinking about when he wrote it. He fully grasped that nothing could ever separate us from the love of God in Christ, because nothing can ever separated God's love from his Son. Christ experienced everything on Paul's list, but God never removed his love, instead His love conquered. It just blows my mind that God's love is so total, so complete, so perfect, so inescapable and so inseparably organic. I struggle to get my head around it but then I remember the song that has been stuck in my head for the last two weeks. And slowly like the dawning light, God's love for me and you grows even larger. I become lost in God's love for me like a fish in the sea, living water over me, under me, in me, taking me onward to perfect rest and assurance.
'O the deep, deep love of Jesus' by Samuel Francis
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to They glorious rest above!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How he loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o'er His loved one, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o'er them from the throne!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
'Tis an ocean full of blessing, 'tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, 'tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!
Rest in his love, abide in him and he in your for nothing can ever ever separate you from the love of God in Christ!
22 November 2010
17 November 2010
no return ticket
So I had one of those weeks where all of a sudden you comprehend something in a totally new way. Something was articulated in my prologomena class but then a book I was reading for a my counseling class helped.
Sinclair Ferguson said in The Christian Life:
'Perhaps the most wonderful thing of all is this: God lifts us not only from what we are by nature to what Adam was in the Garden of Eden, but what he was to become in the presence of God and what he would have been in the presence of God.
The Gospel does not make us like Adam in his innocence- it makes us like Christ, in all the perfection of his reflection of God.'
I think some where I had this strange idea if Adam had never sinned then he had a perfect relationship God. That he would not need to progress, to learn discipline, or basically be sanctified. However that is a completely false notion. Whether or not Adam disobeyed or obeyed God, he was still to learn, to grow, to perfect until it was time to be united with God permanently. God's plan for us was not a perpetual Eden, in which we remained innocent and unchanged.
His purpose for us was always growth, always to have his name glorified through us, always a greater end. And some how last week, this finally broke through in a new way. Its implications for counselling are amazing because we are never trying to return, but we are constantly pressing forward. We will never return to Eden. We will never return to the state of Adam before the fall. We will never return to innocence. And neither we will ever return to the reign of sin.
Instead we are going forward, moving in grace, attaining sanctification all through Christ. Through Christ we attain this perfection, experience growth and are changed day by day so that when we stand before the throne of God we are everything we were meant to be because of Christ and in Christ.
So while I get this nostalgic idea in my head about Adam never sinning, or even worse a world without growth and progress I must called to mind that God always purposed something more for his creation. Our growth, our sanctification in Christ allows us the full benefits and joys of a relationship with God, even more than Adam had in Eden with God.
The call is not to return to innocence but to move forward in obedience.
Sinclair Ferguson said in The Christian Life:
'Perhaps the most wonderful thing of all is this: God lifts us not only from what we are by nature to what Adam was in the Garden of Eden, but what he was to become in the presence of God and what he would have been in the presence of God.
The Gospel does not make us like Adam in his innocence- it makes us like Christ, in all the perfection of his reflection of God.'
I think some where I had this strange idea if Adam had never sinned then he had a perfect relationship God. That he would not need to progress, to learn discipline, or basically be sanctified. However that is a completely false notion. Whether or not Adam disobeyed or obeyed God, he was still to learn, to grow, to perfect until it was time to be united with God permanently. God's plan for us was not a perpetual Eden, in which we remained innocent and unchanged.
His purpose for us was always growth, always to have his name glorified through us, always a greater end. And some how last week, this finally broke through in a new way. Its implications for counselling are amazing because we are never trying to return, but we are constantly pressing forward. We will never return to Eden. We will never return to the state of Adam before the fall. We will never return to innocence. And neither we will ever return to the reign of sin.
Instead we are going forward, moving in grace, attaining sanctification all through Christ. Through Christ we attain this perfection, experience growth and are changed day by day so that when we stand before the throne of God we are everything we were meant to be because of Christ and in Christ.
So while I get this nostalgic idea in my head about Adam never sinning, or even worse a world without growth and progress I must called to mind that God always purposed something more for his creation. Our growth, our sanctification in Christ allows us the full benefits and joys of a relationship with God, even more than Adam had in Eden with God.
The call is not to return to innocence but to move forward in obedience.
01 November 2010
responsible voting
I am sure I am not alone in wishing that tomorrow's vote would already be over. I am sick of the slandering propaganda. I am tired of the polarization. I am exhausted with trying to listen past the polemic rhetoric and to find the truth in there some where.
But my mistake would be to get so worn down that I don't vote. Or that I get so annoyed that I don't check the facts. Or I get swayed by those around me. Instead I must remind myself and those around me that my vote does matter. And my responsible vote matters even more.
I must not vote based on one issue. I must not believe the lies about either candidate. I must not vote for someone just to get rid of the current politician. I must not get so frustrated with a broken system that I give up. I must not get so angry with all of it that I vote rashly.
Because honestly right now that's what I want to do. However instead I need to go check my facts. I need to wade through the information and not the propaganda. I need to weigh up issues of funding, education, the environment, and jobs against taxes, moral hot buttons and healthcare. I need to remember that one issue at the cost of several other important issues must not determine my vote. I need to prayerfully consider all the options and all the implications of either candidates position. I need to vote responsibly.
And I must urge you to do the same. Go check out www.votesmart.org and type in your zip code. Check out each candidates voting record. Each one- even the one you think you disagree with - you may be surprised at what you see. The voting position link on the right is particularly helpful.
Again I reminded that voting is a privilege. I know it sounds trite but seriously -people have died for this opportunity, let's not throw it away!
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