The Thin Place

The earth will one day be no more along with everything in it. There will be a new creation, a new Jerusalem, a new heaven and new earth. All that we see, natural and manmade, will crumble. Yet two things remain forever: God and our souls. (For the semantic-als out there, yes our bodies will be resurrected however in only a shadow of their current form, glorified rather than flesh.)

The eternality of God both his infinite past and infinite future are difficult to comprehend. Equally is our own infinite future. In that future we will experience God in his fullness wrapped in glory, exuding holiness and burning with love. That is the future for any follower of Jesus who have put their trust in Him and been forgiven of all their sin.

Sometimes it’s difficult to grasp this glory, holiness and love. How do we experience it? How do we feel it? How can I sense it? How can I grab it? How does it hold me, push me, pull me? How can I tell my souls thirsts for something other than what I can see? How do I know I was made for eternity?

There are places on this earth, situations that arise where the things of this world, the crumbling things, meet God’s eternal presence. Here there is peace; a calm beyond anything in this world. Minutes feel like days. Joy gushes from your heart. Purity flows through you. The weight of the world is gone. This place, this place how I wish I could stay there forever.

I was climbing a large slope through the jungle mud splattered on my legs. My head was down goading my will and the will of others up the hill. The whole time we had seen the waterfall getting closer and now we were near the end. I turned the corner and saw the fall spilling 200 feet down into a pool. But it wasn’t there yet. A couple of my team members were standing on rocks taking pictures admiring the beauty of the landscape. We looked out across the rice fields through which we had just trekked. But it wasn’t there either. We gathered for a group shot when Steve slipped and fell fully clothed into the pool. We laughed. But it wasn’t in our laughter. A few of us decided that we were going in. Donning our shorts we jumped into the natural pool no larger than 20 feet by 20 feet. Water cascading down the mountain, fiercely falling on my head I ducked under and swam to the middle. It was when I came up. It was there.

I met God’s eternality in a pool, treading water in the desolate spiritual landscape of Burma. The minutes passed like days, joy filled my heart, I was pure and burdens were gone. I was engulfed in a creation that will pass away but in that moment my soul was satisfied. It was a glimpse of my infinite future. It was my thin place.

Where was yours? – Please share your story below

See my Thin Place

I Will Possess Your Heart

“How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me”

“It’s like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can’t read just yet”

“You gotta spend some time, love, you gotta spend some time with me”

“And I know that you’ll find love, I will possess your heart”

-Death Cab for Cutie, I Will Possess Your Heart

All Truth is God’s. He is the author of the things in creation. He is the author of all that resonates true, noble and good in the souls of men of various faiths, backgrounds and dispositions.

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16-17

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20

Love is one of these divine qualities. It is understood by all, desired by all but sadly not experienced by all. Yet a loving relationship is the ultimate pursuit of man. This relationship may be filled by two things: God and everything else. Which brings us back to Truth. If it is true that men seek loving relationship and God promises his love to be totally satisfactory in fulfilling that very desire, then when men describe love they describe God, even if that’s not their intention. For, “God is love.” 1 John 4:14

I have no idea whether the members of Death Cab for Cutie know Jesus or the depths of God’s love. I have no idea whether they have felt Christ’s pursuit of their souls. But they tell a story of truth in this song, intentioned or not, of God’s Truth. He owns it and is its author. See now how it looks through his Word.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Luke 19:37

“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor 2:4

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29

Through Truth and in Love, He will possess our hearts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk8JaSoXL3Y

Loving Justice

It is my assertion that we cannot comprehend the love of God for his people nor can we fathom the hatred of God toward sin. If we solely focus on the first aspect and aspire to understand his love we invariably denigrate his justice. And it can look like this: If God loves the whole world (John 3:16) then it is a contradiction for Him to willingly sentence people (his loved ones) to hell and suffer his eternal wrath. Therefore, it is the fault of the people who can but choose not to turn to him for forgiveness and avoid his wrath. Thus permits an all loving but powerless God one who does, but not willingly, sentence people to hell.

This train of thought while understandable is biblically incomplete. It does not properly represent God’s character. God is not a God of fairness but justice. Everything God does is just. Perfectly. And this perfection is represented by his Holiness, a Holiness Isaiah regrettably encountered as he described his body being torn limb from limb (“coming undone” Isaiah 6:5, Hebrew literal translation). God’s hatred of sin stems from its complete opposite, his holiness. And from his holiness comes justice, the execution of judgment against all sin, i.e. sinners. God is perfectly just in sentencing anyone who has sinned to suffer his eternal wrath because his very nature is Holy.

All mankind, since Adam, has stood under this sentence of eternal wrath. For all of us together “are without excuse…no one is righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away they have become worthless; there is no one who does good not even one.” (Romans 1:19, Romans 3:10-12) Knowing this God did TWO unbelievable acts:

1. Romans 5:8-9 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have been now justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” He placed upon his own Son the wrath that was due to all who believe in him.

2. God enabled men to come to him. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away…No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:37,44) Because of men’s sin, because of their wickedness none would choose God. All of them turned away. But God calls men out of darkness. He enables them to choose. God has the power. He conquers the sin in man. YET God is perfectly just, because of his Holiness, to judge all men who sin.

These two acts are the LOVE OF GOD. He loved you enough to die for your sin and take your wrath and was faithful to call you out of slavery to that sin. He freed you from it. He gets the glory. You and I are powerless. He is powerful.

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:22-23)

Never forget, that though it is God who enables men, it is his plan to draw those men to himself through his church. You and I are the beautiful feet who bring the good news. (Romans 10:14-15) It is our duty according to Matthew 28 to preach to everyone. So know God’s love, know his justice and proclaim his message of salvation through Christ alone to all nations in all corners of the earth.

My two favorite words

Upon hearing them I get excited.  Which is fairly ironic because I (mainly) read the NIV version of the Bible in which they are never found.  Whatever.  On a side note I have some serious quirks or what some would call contradictory tendencies.  Example: At times I’m a word-smith, wielding a critical ear/eye for a miscast word spoken or written garnering meaning, double entendres and breaking down levels of potential definitions.  But I read the NIV Bible, a phrase by phrase interpretation falling somewhere in the middle ground of literal biblical translation.  Meaning, I really can’t word-smith the NIV.  Bizarre I know but somehow it works.  So please bear with these idiosyncrasies.

Back to the two words.  Question: What did Christ accomplish on the Cross?  Well, he died for my sins you might respond.  To which I would ask “what do you mean FOR my sins?”  “He died so I might be forgiven of my sins.”  Ah, so forgiveness is part of his work.  Your sins were EXPIATED by Christ.  Your sins were forgiven.  EXPIATE is word #1.  To expiate is to forgive, to let go of, to remember no more.

Ephesians 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”

Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

“But there must be more” I plead with you.  “There is, you say.  Christ died and took my punishment, the punishment I was due.”  “Punishment? I ask.  Aren’t I forgiven, aren’t my sins EXPIATED?” “Sure, but forgiveness and punishment are not mutually exclusive.  Someone has to pay the penalty for your sin and you really earned it!”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death.”

“Ah, so the penalty of sin was PROPITIATED upon Christ?” “Yes, the punishment due us was upon him.”

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

He was a PROPITIATION, a substitution who took the punishment that we deserved, on whom the wrath of God was satisfied.  PROPITIATE is word #2.

“So what’s the scope of Christ’s work?” you ask.  “That, my friend, is for another blog post.”