My Fatherly Love Reveals The 'Fathers' Love

It is amazing how much it is that I love my son considering how obstinate, rebellious and sinful he can be towards me, and yet there is nothing that I would not do for him. I was wondering how much greater my love to him would be if there was no sin hindering or bringing deceit into the mix, mine or his.

Words like powerful, intimate, free, sacrificial, otherness, honor, intense and the list could go on. There would be no questioning of motives and likewise all our intentions towards one another would be undefiled and pure, putting each others interests ahead of our own. How strong and indissoluble that father-son relationship would be, it would be perfect.

Suppose some evil jerk, high on himself decided he was going to lay a beating on my two-year old son with out reason, but simply because.... I can well imagine that all 153.4 lbs of this skinny dad would start flayling until somebody was hurt. I would either kill the guy or die trying, the second being the more likely.

Well God the Father and His son do have and have always had that white hot, holy, perfect intimate relationship. If the picture is to be complete, I am the evil jerk high on himself living passionately to looking out for all 153.4 lbs of skinny. The amazing part in this perfect love story between 'The Father' and His son is that God laid all of His hurt on his perfect son and then crushed him that I might be spared by the infinite weight of His wrath.

The more I grow in loving my son and daughter, and the more intense my feelings grow for them, the more I see how amazing His grace is towards me in Christ! And the more I see how amazing is that love, that has saved my soul!!

A Glimpse of Grace

I always thought that I was one of those, slow to get angry type of people. Sure I can get a little frustrated and quickly worked up about something, but angry, that is not what I would have classified myself as and then I became a dad. Now don't get me wrong I love being a dad and would not change it even if hell could freeze over. But being a dad has scrapped off my shiny layer of niceness and revealed the ugly, it's like scrubbing off the thick makeup of a beautiful model revealing that she is nothing more than a monkey.

A few nights ago as we met as elders and deacons I asked the guys a question. 'Do you think that God gets angry with His blood bought children when they sin?' I mean I know that God has saved me by his grace, but is he really saving me by His grace. The bible is quite clear that I was dead, blind, and an object of the wrath of God. I was in the grave of sinfulness without a Godward desire to be found and it was grace that said let there be light and I saw the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). Really, God breathed life into my soul, I get that, that is something that I can wrap my prideful cranium around, but living by grace in all the details of life that is where the being saved by grace is lived out (conformed into the image of Christ). After all doesn't God bless me when I do good things and then not bless me when I screw up.

But wait a minute, if that is how I am living out my faith then I am not believing in the gospel anymore which is; I am a sinner who has offended the Holy Sovereign King of the universe, and because of this sinning, not being Godward, being ungodly, I am deserving of the eternal extinguishing wrath of God. Yet God in His gracious mercy has caused me to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:4), and He did this when I was a sinner, when I was His passionate enemy.

After all if God created me in His image, and God is like me and I get angry at my son for running his sister over with his motorcycle (radio flyer tricycle) then surely God gets angry at me when I sin or just do something that is completely stupid. After all wasn't God created in my image?

My point is that even in the most spiritual act, or the most sinful, my standing before God is not determined on anything that I do, but only on Christ. I am daily deserving of death but Jesus has not only made me guiltless before the holy God of the universe, but He has clothed me in His own righteousness. Not only has He paid for my sin, past, present and future, in the sight of God I am not just sinless, but holy and blameless because Jesus gave me His own righteous identity.

So when I get angry at my son for running his sister over with his radio flyer tricycle, God sees Jesus, now that is amazing grace.

Anger, Murder -There is no Difference

In Canada we have been rocked by the tragic news of a needless, barbaric execution on board a Greyhound bus. A young, 20 something, man, grooving to his ipod slipping in and out of sleep has his life taken. The attacker, unprovoked, out of know where, decapitated this innocent young man with a Rambo like knife. This young man minding his own business murdered, slaughtered, his life now gone. To read and hear about the details of this crime brings feelings of outrage and causes that sick feeling in the pit of the stomach as the imagination tries to recreate this horrific seen.

It is easy to see and recognize the wrongness, evil, sin in this tragedy and stand up in judgment against it. After all we all recognize that this is evil. We become indignant, and lash out wanting to see justice handed out to the perpetrator of this physical outward act of gruesome evil, but are you or I much different.

Matthew 5:21-22--"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire." It was Christ who spoke these words putting my anger towards a brother, a harsh word spoken to another on par with murder. We look at this gruesome murder and wonder how God could forgive such evil and yet my anger or harsh word is no different, each deserving of judgment.

All forgiveness for every sin under the sun finds its forgiveness and is paid for by the same blood whether it be my anger towards a brother or the grotesque slaughter of an innocent man listening to his ipod, it is paid for by the blood of Christ. Any sin against an infinite Holy God is and infinite offense and requires infinite payment. To break one law is to break them all!!

So in this tragic murder on a Greyhound bus I am reminded that I too am a murderer and it is only through Christ that I am saved, oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

How God used 'Supernanny' to teach me about love

It is amazing what God will use to teach you about himself, in this case about his love. I must confess that I am a bit of a tvaholic, but God got me thinking through 'Supernanny' of all things. The show is about a British lady who comes into a home that is in chaos to help bring about some sanity through helpful suggestions. In this particular episode Jo-Jo, 'Supernanny', asks the mother of the house if she still loved her husband. Her response was yes and she went on to say how she wanted to see her husband succeed in life but at the same time was considering a divorce. Then SN asked her if she was 'in' love with her husband and the wife's reply was, 'not anymore'.

Our culture has and does believe that love is a feeling, something that we can 'fall out of' or 'fall into' but is love really about my, yours, or our feelings. I found myself walking back to the cross of Christ, while watching 'Supernanny', where love was displayed in the vibrancy of death and then life.

As Christ was about to be taken captive and led to the cross He called out to God take this cup from me, God if it is possible take me out of this situation, the painful weight of dying anothers' (place your name here) death. Christ did not die for me because I was loveable, deserving, but Christ died out of a love for His father. 'Not my will but your will be done' could be heard as Christ submitted, as Christ lived out his love to His, to my father.

Ephesians tells husbands to love their wives like Christ loved the church, the unlovable. Christ submitted to, Christ willingly put aside what he desired, his feelings and by faith entrusted himself into the sovereign love and care of God. Love is not a feeling, but a decision to submit and be conformed into the image of Christ where we can say by faith 'not my will but your will be done'.

God in his grace and mercy has loved the unlovable, 'while we were still sinners Christ died for us'. We adulterous, rebellious, wretches were loved to life by the great gracious love of God through Christ. Now that is LOVE. Love is not a feeling, it is entrusting ourselves into the care of God and to by faith love like Christ, to love our enemies, pray for our abusers. How many marriages would be saved if we loved like Christ and not how we feel.