If you were an all-knowing God,
And aware that harder and more dangerous times were ahead,
It would be an act of unkindness
To not prepare your people with progressive trials and hardship.
Kindness in Suffering
Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 2:8-10
8 And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the Lord: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar.
9 And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.
10 And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.
Here we read how part of the offering was burned unto the Lord, but then all the remainder was given to Aaron and his sons, the priest class, being their portion and reward from the Lord. Today, we do not have a specific tribe of priests separate from the rest of us, rather each worthy man may volunteer to administer in the Lord’s rituals, whatever his heritage. And even more broadly, every man, woman, and child may volunteer to assist in the work of the Lord, spreading His kingdom in many different ways. To us who take part in His labor, I can only assume that the same promise made to the Israelite priests applies to us, that we will receive a portion of the Lord’s own.
And that is not only for this life, but more importantly, for life in the eternities. Remember that Jesus promised his disciples they would be given things from their Father for both their earthly needs and for their heavenly reward. The same, I believe, is true for us. At least, it is if we first adopt the burdens and responsibilities of our Lord.
| Sacrifice | Eligible oblation | Steps | Explanation |
| Meat Offering | Flour, oil, frankincense | Giving gratitude for blessings | |
| Separate ingredients burned on altar | Body, spirit, and prayer uniting in gratitude | ||
| Ingredients baked into unleavened cakes | Devotion to God’s law, unsullied by pagan practices | ||
| Portion given to priests | God’s treasures shared with us |
The Unwanted Lord
We are all imperfect people, with imperfect conceptions of God. There are things that we want Him to be that He just isn’t, and things that we don’t want Him to be, that He just is.
Each of us must improve our conception of God, and at one point or another that will have to involve surrendering to a Lord we never knew and never wanted.
In other words, If God has never offended you, you have not yet met the true God.
Liking vs Choosing
Liking and Believing in God
Is not the same as
Choosing and Following God
Identity as God
If you insist on a God that accepts a certain part of your identity
Then you worship that identity, not God
Deeper Love- Parental Love
Could You Love Your Son if He Were Gay?)
One of the most common ways that people have expressed disbelief to me that I could both love a person and disagree with their lifestyle, is to have them say, “Well what if your son turned out to be gay?”
But I do not find this a difficult question at all. The simple truth is that if one of my children announced to me that he or she was gay, I would still be just as opposed to that lifestyle and still love them just as much. Anyone that questions a parent’s ability to love a child who chooses a different path betrays that they know very little of paternal love.
What is more, those who ask this question don’t seem to realize that they don’t even believe its implication. The question implies that you can’t love your child unless you approve and accept of all they do. To that I say, “Could you still love your son if he got a girl pregnant in High School? Would you have to prove that love by now approving of teenage pregnancy? Could you still love your son if he got arrested for driving under the influence? Would you have to prove that love by now approving of drunk driving?” Of course you would still love your child, and of course you could do so without approving of all their behavior.
Loved Even When Bad)
Another important aspect of paternal love is its dependability. Children of good parents who hold strong convictions know that their father and mother’s love is sure, a reliable foundation that can be built on. If I were to uproot my core beliefs just to make my child happy, then they wouldn’t really know who I was anymore, and my love would only provide a shallow foundation, and they couldn’t depend on it.
Children need to know that their parents’ love is rooted in something deep that can never be lost, not that the parent relates to them out of fear, constantly shifting their ground to avoid losing the relationship.
If my child did something deeply wrong, and I shifted ground to approve of that behavior, then I would be depriving my child of one of the greatest lessons of love that there is and teaching him something incredibly destructive instead. By my saying, “I will have to redefine ‘good’ so that I can keep loving you,” I am teaching that only the good can be loved. That lie causes incredible damage in children. Think how much more powerful of a lesson I could teach by holding to my principles and my love. That says to my child, “You can be loved no matter what, even when you are bad.“
If we never receive love from those that think that you are wrong, we will never understand that even the wrong can be loved. We will never have hope when we fall short. We will never believe that we can be saved after doing something damnable.
There is a reason why God has spoken to us His truth and His commandments alongside His love and His care. The scriptures show us the example of a parent who will not compromise His standard for us, but who will not stop loving us either. That is the love that can be trusted. That is the love can be built on like a rock. That is the love that saves.
Deeper Love- Unconditional Love
The Love of an Enemy)
I’ve already made a couple posts challenging the notion that I cannot love my brothers and sisters and also stand opposed to certain lifestyle choices that they engage in. I do not condemn such people, because it is not my place to condemn, and I do not seek opportunity to disparage or insult. I seek to speak with love and consideration, but if the matter of certain behaviors comes up, I will bear my honest testimony based upon the word of God. Thus, I will love my fellow man, but I will not compromise my conscience.
And as I’ve considered this conviction, I’ve realized that it is only from such a foundation that love can be unconditional and reliable. As I consider my own relationship with Christ, I must confess that for a long time I was his enemy, openly disobeying his word as a pattern of life, even though I knew he stood against it. But what does Paul teach of God’s attitude towards enemies like me?
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8).
God loved me, and sent His son to die for me, while I was still a sinner, still an enemy to everything that He stood for. And if He loved me when I was His enemy, what more could I do to lose His love? He was already diametrically opposed to me, so it didn’t matter what I did, His love was always still there. It was the surest, most unconditional thing that I have ever had.
A Sure Foundation)
And I truly believe that this is true for sincere disciples of Christ also. We are able to be opposed to sin yet still love the sinner. I would not consider myself to be your enemy, but perhaps you consider me such. Fine, so be it. Then I am at least an enemy that loves you. And even as you continue to do enemy things, and work against me, I will still love you.
Isn’t it obvious that the love that says, “Even though I disagree, even though I will never support your cause…I still love you as a brother or sister” is more powerful than the love that would say, “I will compromise all of my convictions to make you happy?”
Speaking for myself, I would far rather have 100 enemies who still had the basic love of humanity for me, than one “friend” who abandoned his convictions to be by my side. I could always trust in the love that came from the person rooted in his convictions. The “love” of the friend who has abandoned his core is far more unpredictable and conditional.
Coming to God Through Others
The Order of Love)
1 John 4:20 states: If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
This is an interesting claim. It doesn’t just seem to be saying that hate of a brother gets in the way of our love for God, it seems to be setting an order of progression, where love of brother comes before love of God. It says that we have to learn what we can see, before we can have any hope of loving what we cannot.
And at first this seemed backwards when compared to my personal experience. I would have said that I always loved God, and growing closer to Him was fundamental to increasing my love for others. But as I thought more about it, I wouldn’t say that I always loved God, I would say that I always loved my idea of Him.
But God is not just an idea, He is an actual being, who has to be known as He really is before you can love Him as He really is. And coming to know and love the real Him, in my personal life, did come only after getting to know and love a group of brothers. It occurred as I attended 12-step groups for the first time. There, I started to have real conversations with other men and developed a real appreciation for each one of them. Then, and only then, I started to see the reflection of the real God in their eyes and started to love Him, too.
And yes, loving God did increase my ability to love my fellow man, so there is a positive feedback loop here, but it all started with coming to know and love those around me first.
Avatars of the Almighty)
Unfortunately, many of our interactions with our fellow man are shallow. Too many of them are neutral at best, with many of them being downright negative. We all-too-rarely get close enough to see the spark of the divine in another person and fall in love with that inner soul. We see too many of God’s children as an obstacle in our lives, not as the avatar for the Almighty. But that’s what they really are.
We are told in the very first chapter of the Bible, “So God created man in his own image,” (Genesis 1:27). Mankind, flawed as it might be, are the closest any of us will ever come in this life to seeing the face of God. The best representation of God is not our ideas of Him, not His commandments and principles, and not the churches that profess His name. The best representation of God is the people who hold His light aloft. All the other things are good, and point us part of the way, but it is in people that we actually start to meet Him.
So, let us ask ourselves, do I know and love Godly people in that personal and intimate way? Do I look for the spark of the divine, even in those who are flawed and oppose me? If our answer is no, then we’ve never really known and loved the real God either. If our answer is yes, then we have already had glimpses of God, and can continue to pursue Him further in all the rest of our brothers and sisters.
A Loving Relationship with Christ- Reciprocated Love
The Need to Know)
In the last post we made clear that all of us are loved by Jesus, all of us are offered salvation in his name, but not all of us who call upon that name will actually be saved. What, then, still remains? What must be paired with the love of Jesus for us to be redeemed?
Well, continuing with the scripture from yesterday, what explanation did Jesus give to those that would be rejected from his kingdom. He said, “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
Contrast that with Jesus’s description of eternal life was: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3).
Both of these passages use the very “know.” Clearly, “knowing” has something to do with those that are saved and those that are not. But let’s look at two more verses to expand this further.
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment,” (Matthew 22:37-38).
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love,” (1 John 4:8).
Here, the verb “know” is joined by “love.” Thus, we need to know Christ, and be known by him, and also part of that knowing is loving the Almighty, which is the greatest commandment that we are called to do.
Divine Relationship)
So yes, being loved by Jesus is an essential part of our salvation but so is loving him back. We need to be known by him, but also, we need to know him. In a word, we need “relationship.” This is the part that we were missing in yesterday’s post, this is why salvation is a two-way street. Being loved without reciprocation is not a relationship, and it isn’t enough for a man to be redeemed by.
We started this study by considering those who openly defy the commandments of God, but justify it by saying, “Jesus loves me just the way I am,” suggesting that their salvation was made sure by the fact that Jesus cared for them. They are correct that Jesus loves them, but that was only ever half the requirement for salvation.
To these people the correct response is, “Yes, Jesus does love you, but how do you love him back?”
Christian Submission
In what way have you given up your own will
And submitted to God’s instead?
And if you haven’t
And if you won’t
Then can you call yourself a Christian?
Matthew 7:21; Matthew 16:24
Spiritual Wanderings 