Verse 33 starts out by saying "Those who believe Him discover that God is true. (34) For He is sent by God. He speaks God's words, for God's Spirit is upon Him without measure or limit." As I read this it dawned on me how true this is. Before we start following Jesus we always wonder if He is real. Even if you grow up in the church, that uncertainty is still there. In the public schools they teach that there is no God. So you are taught about God on Sunday and the opposite Monday through Friday. That alone is enough to make you have questions. Then when you add TV, movies, and secular music, you're little visit for that hour, maybe two, on Sunday, maybe three if you go on Sunday night, has just become way outnumbered. But, once you decide, and you call His name telling Him you want him to be in charge of your life, something happens inside of you, and you know without question God is true. It's at that moment you want to learn everything you can. One thing I wish everyone would learn first is, our eternal life starts right at that moment, and so does verse 34. God's Spirit is upon Him without measure or limit. The same applies to us since we have been adopted by the father. We have all have all the benefits granted to His Son, Jesus. (35) – The Father loves His Son (kids) and gives Him (them) authority over everything. I know this because if we jump ahead to John 14:12,13 it says we are able to do the things Jesus did, even greater things. Anything we ask in His name will be done so the Father will be glorified. (36) And all who believe in God's Son have eternal life. Those who don't obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but the wrath of God remains upon them. Let's examine the last part of verse 36. Why did He use the word obey? Why didn't He just stick with the word believe. If you check it out, the Greek word they use for the word believe means "to have a relationship with." So, not only do you have to have knowledge of Him and believe He is real you have to have that connection with Him. Now, why the word obey? Does it mean doing what you're called to do? Am I obeying now? Is this my calling? I like to teach. Adult classes, kid's classes, whatever. I write this because I like to. I don't know if anyone will stop by to read it. I do have a visitor counter so I know people do. But I do it because I enjoy it. Does God give me that enjoyment? When it's time to move on to something else will He take the joy away? Who knows. But for now I feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. If I didn't, would I be subjected to the wrath of God? Would He just continue to put the desire in me until I did? As we search, search for that desire in you. What do you feel drawn to? If you truly search for Him, He will be there. Thanks for searching with me, Paul
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2 comments:
The literal interpretation of 'wrath of God' has always been off putting to me concerning Christianity. Then again there are major opposition forces in nearly all of Earth's religions. Can't have good without the bad, it seems. Dual forces. Like nature. Needed. Necessary.
The gnostic in me says to this, "we are our own worst enemy." That is the wrath of God. Our souls are holy extensions of God and so we are certainly blessed to have the vision and insight of what is truly right and wrong! If we continue doing wrong then we will, by default, notice some truly craptastic things occurring in our life. If we are honest with ourselves then we can always backtrack and find the common thread which led up to our current bad predicament. God is love. He doesn't want us miserable. He wants us to make good choices.
And I think that is the point you were trying to convey here, Paul. You are doing a positive thing by writing about your thoughts. You are connecting with people who, may not comment, but are being touched nonetheless.
Blessings To You,
Angel
Hey good to hear from you. I do believe the world is in balance. Depending on what you were taught, God/satan, good/evil, yin/yang, carma etc. No matter what we're taught living our lives in kindness should result in a nice balance. I liked the dolphin video, the kids got a kick out of it too. Thanks for the lift. Talk to you soon, Paul
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