|
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Where is the balance between Truth and Grace?Where is the balance
between Truth and Grace?
Some churches today embrace truth but need a heavy dose of grace. Other churches talk about
grace but cry out for a heavy dose of truth. ~ Randy Alcorn
The point around which this Truth and Grace apparent dichotomy balances is the statement
from John 1:14 that says;
“The Word became a human being. He made his home with us. We have seen his glory. It
is the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father. And the Word was full of grace and truth.”
It is interesting that many people then go on
to assume the Sword of the Spirit that is referred to as the word of God in Ephesians 6, is the sword of Truth and then wield
it to inflict pain not so much on Satan’s plans but rather the communities of people within which the church works.
I think
that these same people fail to see the Sword of the Spirit is actually the Word which, as John 1:14 alludes, is actually Jesus.
We can’t go around
bashing people with truth and enable the love of Jesus to reach others.
Truth except through Jesus is mean, hard and uncompromising. I can say this for I as a person also suffer from selfish,
nasty and ignorant tendencies that cause me to have deal blows of truth that I also regret. Jesus brings his grace into play
and has enabled me to forgive myself for these indiscretions and enabled me to avoid becoming paralyzed by fear of failure.
Grace enables us to understand that Jesus loves us even in our nasty, ignorant and selfish state and only wants what is best
for us.
Herein is the
full truth of the Truth/Grace balance. Jesus our Lord and benefactor enables us to soften our interactions while not compromising
on either Truth or Grace.
Notice the central verse states the Word was full of grace and truth.
Not balancing between, optimizing, or anything else.
Fullness of truth and fullness
of grace in in Jesus.
We
cannot compromise of what we believe is God’s truth but we also cannot compromise on what is God’s grace.
Dr Victor Shepherd at a seminar
I attended yesterday made a statement that that the order of God’s blessings is grace, mercy and peace. I
suggest that truth comes after grace.
God’s grace is inherent in salvation of those of us that are evil at the point in which we are in our nasty, selfish
and ignorant state.
Truth
is our exposure at that time to our view of ourselves which results in our reaching for the grace of God extended to save
us into eternity.
Thereafter
truth keeps us safe and supports God’s righteousness in our hearts.
The turbulence of the times we live through serves to temper and draw
us out into the powerful tool God can us as both powers of grace and truth are evident in our lives through the continual
immersing of our lives under Jesus direction and the Spirits leading.
Grace or truth is not the question for the answer is Grace and Truth in fullness
is what we need.
What is your opinion?
Sat, May 2, 2015 | link
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
What is the cosmic microwave background radiation?What is the cosmic
microwave background radiation?
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have
no control. It is determined for insects as well as for the stars. Human beings, vegetables or cosmic dust, we all dance to
a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
~Albert Einstein
There is a glow in space which extends in every direction we look
and is so consistent that it is obvious it must have started at the same place. Yet everywhere we look it is there.
What is it?
This is the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
and is the thermal radiation left over from the "Big Bang".
It is old light. Left over from the beginnings of time. It occurred as those first
electrons and protons of the Big Bang plasma recombined into hydrogen atoms. A few photons decoupled from the plasma and travelled
through space.
This
has been estimated to have occurred when the Universe was a mere 378,000 years old.
Old light! First light! A glimmer of creation.
In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1
It is fantastic that God left a bit of that original creation for us to see.
This early glow is found in the microwave region of the radio
spectrum and was discovered in 1964 by radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.
Why can't we see it?
Well the Universe has stretched out and this lights wavelengths
have stretched into the microwave band and we cant see microwaves. (Look inside your microwave oven and you see food cooking
but not the microwaves cooking it. We just don’t see that stuff!)
That doesn’t mean it’s not there. It is!
This CMB is amazing because it proves one thing.
There was a beginning.
The universe has not existed forever.
That means it was created.
The complexity and specialness
of that creation points to a creator.
God says he did it.
The bible says it occurred.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1
The bible says Jesus was the one.
In the beginning, the Word was already there.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
All things were made through him. Nothing that has been made was made without him… John 1
This word was Jesus.
He came to what was his own. But his own people did
not accept him. Some people did accept him and did believe in his name. He gave them the right to become
children of God …John 1
And it says
The Word became a human being.
He made his home with us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father. And the Word
was full of grace and truth …
John 1
That leave two
important questions
a. Do you believe it?
b. What will you do about that belief?
I prefer to follow and listen to Jesus.
Tue, April 28, 2015 | link
Monday, April 27, 2015
Thermodynamics, entropy and eternityThermodynamics,
entropy and eternity
“No structure, even an artificial one, enjoys the process of entropy. It is the ultimate
fate of everything, and everything resists it.”
― Philip K. Dick,
Entropy, a tendency to go to the state of disorder. A tendency
to chaos. The searching for an energy equilibrium state.
For an isolated system entropy always increases or remains the same.
These statements are the reason our universe must have had a beginning.
In simple terms, if
this universe (a closed system) had been running for eternity, then the entropy would have reached a state where it would
be remaining the same. This would mean everything would be at the same temperature throughout the universe and we would be
blocks of ice.
Since
that is not the case, we are still in a universe that is slowly evolving, and it cannot have been here since forever.
If the universe was started,
and we have just proved it must have, then there needs to have been an originator.
Since it takes something to originate something out of nothing,
this means for an origin there had to be an originator.
Since nothing created was there before the creation we have to take the creators word about the creation.
God says he was the creator.
The Christian genesis describes the cosmic creation process very well, therefore it is highly conceivable that Jesus was who
he said he was, that God exists and that he created the universe we live in.
Now, the question that we have left is this... If the creator says there
is a best way to live within creation, do we believe him?
That’s the real question we each need to answer and act on.
How about wecheck up in the bible what God wants us to do?
Have a great day.
Mon, April 27, 2015 | link
|
