Saturday, March 21, 2009

Angry with our creations?



Here's a little story about a lesson I learned from my stupid wristwatch.



So when my dad came back from his trip to see his family I was very happy to see him and even ore so because he brought me back a gift. It was a brand new watch and I valued it so much more because I was in dire need on of one. Well as it turns out, bracelet was too big for my wrist when I put it on so I had to adjust it, when I was trying to adjust it though I found it extremely difficult to pull out the extra links and it started to become a nuisance. Instead of asking for help I continued on, mostly because of my stubborn pride and the "I can do it by myself attitude" I insisted on trying to do it myself until I began to become very irritated and started hollering curses at the wristwatch(I know this is funny) you know I kept at it cuz I believed I was super skilled at this I've done it before so many times, but this time there just seemed to be no dice it was like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Well it got to the point eventually where I became so stressed and angry that I said "forget this stupid watch!" and I actually threw the wristwatch right into the garbage can. Keep in mind that this is the brand new watch that my dad just got me and that I needed( I know, just thinking about it can still kindle my anger to this day arghhh! stupid watch!)


So before I tell you the conclusion of the story lets find out and examine why I acted the way I did. In the Bible in Genesis 1:26, God says: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." and then it says in verse 27: "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." And Genesis 1:31: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good..." The Bible makes it plain that when God created man he created him perfect without blemish, and we were created in his image and likeness. So when Adam was still perfect his nature and actions would be very similar to those of God. But check this out when Adam sinned God became very upset with his creation fro not obeying him and then cursed the world and everything in it just because of one man's sin, which by the way was eating a fruit. Does this sound familiar? Just like how God became angry and upset at Adam when he disobeyed him and brought suffering and death into the world through curses, I also who am a son of Adam made in the image of God reacted the same way when the stupid watch didn't do what I wanted it to do so I threw it in the garbage can.


Ever notice how we always get angry when the computer freezes and the blue screen of death appears that people become very angry and smack their monitors? This happens especially when they've been working on an important paper all night and the computer crashes before they get a chance to save it.When the car breaks down, or the cell phone cuts off in the middle of an important call, or when the printer jams for the 50th time and the stress has been building up for a while, you feel like doing the same as the guy from Office Space. Or the most common one of these is a parent with their disobedient children. God has allowed these things to happen so that we could get just a tiny taste of what kind of predicament and dilemma hes in. Can you imagine if you crafted a chair from scratch and as you finished it you said: "Ah what a beautiful chair this my creation is" and as you went to sit down on it it came to life and moved out of the way so you fell on the floor. What would happen? Wouldn't you become very frustrated? The thing that you created is not doing what you made it to do!


So check this out. Right after I threw the watch in the garbage, in my anger I layed down in my bed and was just thinking about these things and why I did what I just did, and I got the revelation of us being made in the image of God and was thinking about all the things I just talked about above. And it just hit me like a brick in the head... wow just like the Bible teaches God is perfect and he has every right to hate and be angry with those creations that don't do what he commands them to and we have disobeyed God so many times and made him so angry, why hasn't he thrown us in the garbage can yet(which is hell) It's because God is Love, and he has provided a way for us to be forgiven and cleansed of our sins and our crimes by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ is beloved Son so we can become his children again. If I was able to get that angry with an inanimate object, imagine how much worse it is with God when he disobey him. This just triggered the question, How God? how are you able to be so forgiving and have so much mercy, I threw that watch in teh garbage right away and yet you are so long suffering. It is because God is love, even though He's perfect and His justice is perfect God is the epitome of love. This entire experience just took away more of the veil that was blinding me from the true nature of God. As soon as I realized how much mercy was bestowed upon me I was filled with compassion and went to grab the watch out of the garbage and just dropped it off on my dad's desk to fix. It's funny because this was an inanimate object yet I learned so much from it, now lets just replace the watch in this story with the people which we havn't forgiven yet and do the same. Let's take them out of the garbage cans of unforgiveness that we have thrown them into and forgive them from the bottom of out hearts because we have received so much forgiveness.

Bible Passage:
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. So his fellow servant fell down at his feet 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

No one knows how to make a man better than God

no one knows how to make a man into a man better then God, for he himself is the perfect God man

God is love

Sometimes when Bible believing Christians begin to seek after knowledge and doctrinal truths(which is good), the devil can play a trick on us where we just focus on the justice, holiness and perfectness of God and we completely forget that God is also love.

Don't get me wrong, meditating on the holiness and perfect justice of God is not wrong, but when you focus only on this then when you stumble in your walk and you sin, then you will fall into a big trap hole that is hard to get out of. I have experienced this myself so I know, and I'm pretty sure every Christian has gone through this at some point as well. When you forget that God is love then its a continuous perpetual cycle of guilt and an unhealthy type of fear towards God.

With enough time of doing this then gap between you and Christ begins to widen and the separation begins to cause you anger and you now begin to blame God for everything that is happening, without ever realizing that the devil has got you right where he wants you. Just because God is sovereign does not mean that every bad thing that happens is his fault, if you read the book of Job you can see that its was the devil doing the damage and the harm, and God allowed him to do it because of his accusations against Job.

Why would God allow the devil to do it? There are many different answers to this, a really popular one is purification that comes because of grace, God is sanctifying us and molding us into the image of His Son, (which by the way suffered more than any man) and through struggles we learn the greatest lessons. The bottom line is that we are sinners and we deserve so much more, theologically we deserve hell for our crimes against God but because He loved us so much he came down and lived a perfect life resisting every temptation and willingly went to the cross and endured the wrath of God so we wouldn't have to. If that doesn't describe the love of God then I don't know what does.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1John 4-8 NKJV

If we only knew the fierce and vigorous love that God has towards his saints. We are His bride and if a godly man loves his wife then imagine how much more the SON of God will love His bride. If a godly man loves His son then imagine how much more God the Father will love His son. The shepherd holds his lambs in his arms and caresses them and He loves them, for they are his own.


Pray this prayer: Father God who is in heaven, grant me a greater revelation of your love and your grace, open the way for me to see the fierce love that you have for me and all your saints, and help me to share it with others.