Wednesday, August 20, 2008

God is Knocking

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}
  • S: From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy! This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him. If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin. If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we've never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. 1 John 1 [MSG]
  • O: "The infinite life of God Himself took shape before us."
  • A: Different denominations of the Christian faith will sometimes engage in a dangerous debate. Was Jesus Christ a prophet? The Son of God? Or God Himself in the form of man? This question is answered several places in the Bible, though the answer often goes overlooked. Jesus Christ was God made man. Not "God-made man" (that would be Adam and all the rest of us), but God, made man. God made into a man. God in the flesh -- in the form of man. Emmanuel: God with us. Some stumble with the fact that Jesus referred to "the Father," meaning God -- even prayed to Him -- during His time on Earth. Does this mean that He prayed to Himself, or that He was not actually God in the flesh? If you are a believer of God and follower of Jesus, then you likely know that God is everywhere. Meaning that He was here, on Earth, as Jesus, and at the same time in Heaven, as the Father. If we believe that God has the power needed to have spoken the world into existence, why must we think that He might be limited by things of His own creation -- such as time, space, and the physical realm? Such a powerful God certainly isn't limited by the things of Earth. God is everywhere, all the time. Looking over my shoulder as I write this. Looking over yours as you read it. Hopefully living in your heart. Or certainly, at the very least, knocking and asking you to invite Him in. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20 [KJV] Will you open the door and invite Him in?
  • P: Father God, You are truly an awesome God, Creator of all things, in all places at all times. By Your awesome power You existed as both God and man at the same time. You died for us and live today, so that we might live forever with You. Knock, Lord. Knock loudly, so that others might hear, answer, and invite You in, to experience the awesome power of Your endless love.
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Joe


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Three Persons in one God. Amen, Joe.

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