I soaked this post up like a sponge. I loved every single line, seeing it all in my minds eye.
Paul's focus on the aspect of simplicity is spot on. It comes down to that...after all is said and done for us all, living lives of suffering along side of you as every reader does, we will all eventually come to see things through Paul's eyes and be better for it.
Less is more and simplicity is the best of all. Peace is to be found there.
Hey Steve, I subscribed just now because of your talk concerning your struggle with faith. What your friend told you about simplicity surely is important. I often think that all God wants is for us to be is obedient children - in spite of the suffering. But you have to ask yourself, why does God want us to be obedient? For me, it's because He wants us to be like Him.
Here's my paraphrase of 1 Peter 1:14:
As children of obedience, do not conform your life as you previously did to forbidden cravings in your moral blindness and ignorance, but rather as the One who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all manner of life, behavior, and conduct; for indeed it is written, “become holy, for I am, always have been, and always will be holy”.
The verse normally reads, "Be holy, for I am holy", but then God is the eternal I am. The point here is that He is never going to change. He's never going to become like us, so we have to become like Him. Which may seem impossible, but then that is what faith to me is all about. It's believing I can change to become increasingly like Him.
Think of it this way. If we all lived more like Him, would there be such suffering?
And then, you have to ask yourself, what is God up to anyway? Why did He create us? What does He want? Why does He even care if we are obedient or not?
And here, I truly love what my favorite bible teacher (David Pawson) says. He summed up the entire bible this way: The bible is the story of a Father searching for a bride for His son.
That's it. End of story.
But how can we become the bride of Christ if we don't become like Him? Moreover, seeing ourselves as a potential bride changes how we view suffering. For the more we can love - in spite of our suffering - the more we become like Him - the more beautiful a bride we are.
Read the book of Hosea. God commanded that the prophet marry a prostitute - that would then run away from him - and that he would have to buy back. God did that so that Hosea could feel what God felt about His bride Israel. God was saying, feel My suffering. All I want is a bride who will love Me as I love her.
The amazing thing is the length God will go to get us back.
What I'm saying is that this goes way beyond theology. It gets to the heart of why we're here. To why I'm here. To why you're here.
Great post, what I small world, I just drove by his new store on Thursday, Front Royal is an incredible area, it even has a hipster vibe on Main Street, such a beautiful area
Steve
I soaked this post up like a sponge. I loved every single line, seeing it all in my minds eye.
Paul's focus on the aspect of simplicity is spot on. It comes down to that...after all is said and done for us all, living lives of suffering along side of you as every reader does, we will all eventually come to see things through Paul's eyes and be better for it.
Less is more and simplicity is the best of all. Peace is to be found there.
Hey Steve, I subscribed just now because of your talk concerning your struggle with faith. What your friend told you about simplicity surely is important. I often think that all God wants is for us to be is obedient children - in spite of the suffering. But you have to ask yourself, why does God want us to be obedient? For me, it's because He wants us to be like Him.
Here's my paraphrase of 1 Peter 1:14:
As children of obedience, do not conform your life as you previously did to forbidden cravings in your moral blindness and ignorance, but rather as the One who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all manner of life, behavior, and conduct; for indeed it is written, “become holy, for I am, always have been, and always will be holy”.
The verse normally reads, "Be holy, for I am holy", but then God is the eternal I am. The point here is that He is never going to change. He's never going to become like us, so we have to become like Him. Which may seem impossible, but then that is what faith to me is all about. It's believing I can change to become increasingly like Him.
Think of it this way. If we all lived more like Him, would there be such suffering?
And then, you have to ask yourself, what is God up to anyway? Why did He create us? What does He want? Why does He even care if we are obedient or not?
And here, I truly love what my favorite bible teacher (David Pawson) says. He summed up the entire bible this way: The bible is the story of a Father searching for a bride for His son.
That's it. End of story.
But how can we become the bride of Christ if we don't become like Him? Moreover, seeing ourselves as a potential bride changes how we view suffering. For the more we can love - in spite of our suffering - the more we become like Him - the more beautiful a bride we are.
Read the book of Hosea. God commanded that the prophet marry a prostitute - that would then run away from him - and that he would have to buy back. God did that so that Hosea could feel what God felt about His bride Israel. God was saying, feel My suffering. All I want is a bride who will love Me as I love her.
The amazing thing is the length God will go to get us back.
What I'm saying is that this goes way beyond theology. It gets to the heart of why we're here. To why I'm here. To why you're here.
Great post, what I small world, I just drove by his new store on Thursday, Front Royal is an incredible area, it even has a hipster vibe on Main Street, such a beautiful area