Cryptic Portraits of God’s Love—A CONDUIT For GOD’S BLESSINGS

 

 

 

For years it had been hard for me to believe that God loved me. Besides, I couldn’t trust in a God who might not love me. Perhaps He would save me but only reluctantly. I understood His promises but doubted that they could apply to me:

·       Ephesians 3:19 …to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

However, in time, I slowly became convinced that that did apply to me as I began to see glorious portraits of God’s love for all who would come to Him. Not only would He love me, but He would watch over me as He had with Abraham:

·       Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Since He would curse those that had dishonored me, I would never seek revenge but I would trust in Him who would defend me:

·       Romans 12:19–21 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” [Romans 13:1-5] To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I became convinced that He would also make me a channel of blessing to those my life had touched. Yahweh had assured Abraham that even if there were only 10 righteous people in Sodom, He would spare it as Abraham had prayed:

·       Genesis 18:32 Then [Abraham] said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten [righteous] are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

Even though 10 righteous could not be found in Sodom, God knew Abraham’s concern for the family of Lot and saved them even though they were unworthy of Him. Perhaps also my growing sense of unworthiness wouldn’t hinder the grace of God.

I began to see the love of God for His children. He had promised Jeremiah that if he could find just one truth seeker in Jerusalem He would spare it from the Babylonian onslaught:

·       Jeremiah 5:1 “Search [Jerusalem’s] squares to see if you [Jeremiah] can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.”

Each of His children was so precious to God that He would spare that city because of that one. Similarly, if there is just one believer, God would regard as holy the entire family:

·       1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

God’s net is so broad that He even wants to include unbelievers in some mysterious way. I began to see that His net would even include me and even the unrepentant to induce them to turn from their sins. God is even merciful towards those who refuse to turn from their sins. In the two examples of those who have been dis-fellowshipped, they would only have to confess their sins and to turn from them:

·       1 Timothy 1:19–20 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

·       1 Corinthians 5:5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

In both of these cases, dis-fellowship had been a reflection of God’s love in hope of restoration. How reassuring it is to know that all who come to Him are highly loved, blessed, and a blessing to others who might be kind to God’s children:

·       Matthew 10:40-42 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

We are so beloved by our Savior Jesus that any who bless us will be blessed and any who harm us will be harmed:

·       Corinthians 3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

I am now convinced that not only am I God’s beloved temple but also that I have become a conduit of God’s blessings to those around me. As a prisoner, Paul was being shipped to Rome to stand trial. However, the boat was blindsided by a horrible storm. After a week or two of battling the storm, the sailor was ready to give up all hope of survival. However, they hadn’t counted on the blessed presence of one of their prisoners:

·       Acts 27:22-24 “Yet now I [Paul] urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’”

It all unraveled just as Paul said it would. We are blessings to those around us but are barely aware of this fact. No longer do we need to prove to the world that we are of great worth. While some will hate us for this, others will love us (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). Nor could King David hardly believe in the restorative grace of God after his sin with Bathsheba and killing her husband. Despite his prayers, the Lord took his first child with Bathsheba. The second one he named Shlomo, meaning “peace,” in what might have been seen as a vain hope that now there would be peace with God:

·       2 Samuel 12:24–25 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon [Shlomo]. And the LORD loved him and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah [“beloved of God”], because of the LORD.

God had reassured David that He was able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything that David had hoped. Our God is able to take the worse sin-stained people and relationships and convert them into something beautiful, and I was reassured that He could do that for me.
I now rejoice that God loves me and will fulfill His plan for my life (Psalm 57). Nothing is any more important than this knowledge. How precious is our Lord!

Role Confusion

 

As Christ followers, we are to love even our enemies by doing good to them. Nor are we to seek to avenge ourselves against those who have assaulted our children. Instead, we would refer the matter to the designated authorities. However, if we require our police, elected officials, and government to merely forgive, it would lead to chaos and bitterness. If my neighbor assaults me, I would be disappointed if the police took him into custody to merely show him how much they love him without warning him against assaulting me. We would be equally disappointed with a president who cared so little about the welfare of children that he granted every pedophile freedom from prison with the guarantee that they would never be arrested again.

These are examples of role confusion and the resulting breakdown of a nation that fails to fulfill its divinely designated roles. While the Christian must lead the life designated by the Scriptures, we would also require this of our elected officials who have been assigned a different role. The judge is not to tell the convicted rapist that since he is a good Christian, he will let the rapist go free. This would constitute a betrayal of their ordained role. We have courts and police so that we do not have to play these roles. This frees us up to love and provide for others:

·       Romans 12:16–21 Live in harmony with one another… Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink”… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Scripture continues with the designated complimentary roles of public officials:

·       Romans 13:1–5 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

Consequently, we do not attempt to punish our neighbors but leave this task to God’s designated authorities to exercise God’s wrath. Likewise, we should not require the government to feed and forgive our enemies. That’s our job. This is why we do not expect government to provide a host of entitlement programs. Instead, this should be the responsibility of the Church, family, and community. Besides, when government takes over these responsibilities, we encounter many unintended costs like the breakdown of families, communities, and even Church. Besides, those who are “helped” are often harmed.

However, the “Christian” Left are often disdainful of these common-sense role distinctions. For instance, one had written:

·       “There are Christians who are preaching and practicing the ministry of Jesus, the son of God, who himself was unhoused and undocumented and sided with the poor, the sick, the indebted, the incarcerated and the immigrant, while decrying the idolatry of tyrants.”

If Jesus was unhoused and undocumented, this doesn’t require us to tell the government to allow all undocumented aliens. Yes, Jesus’ ministry had been concerned for the poor and the sick. However, these were the ones who had cried out for His help, who were receptive to His message rather than the religious leadership. However, these observations have nothing to do with the question at hand: “What is the role of the government?” Is it, and not the family, community, and Church, to fulfill all of our needs? Are entitlement programs able to produce gratitude and the desire to live Godly lives? Yet the Left and their cancel culture will do almost anything to fulfill their oft-discredited ideal of a Marxist world, even to denigrate those who are trying to follow Jesus:

·       And then there are Christian nationalists, whose religion of empire is more akin to the worship of Caesar than the Jesus of the scriptures. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/inside-the-christian-left-s-battle-for-the-bible-and-the-country-opinion/ar-AA1J3RUl?ocid=socialshare

Have you ever met a Christian nationalist? I do not even know what they are. However, this term is a convenient fear tactic to malign Biblical Christianity. Instead, there is nothing in the New Testament about the use of violence or foul play to disable those who oppose us. Instead, Jesus simply warned us about the oppression we will have to endure:

·       John 16:1–4 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.”

Nothing has changed. Instead, now, if not murdered, we had been largely excluded.  However, we know that this world isn’t our treasure, but an eternal heaven with our Savior.

I respect a government that maintains order by protecting all, irrespective of color and origin, by punishing evil-doers: 

1 Peter 2:13–15 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Jesus required no less (Matthew 23:2).

How to Know We are Saved

 

Why do we struggle with this question? For one thing our conscience continues to accuse us that we are unworthy and that a sinful fleshly nature still resides within! Jesus commented:

·       Luke 17:10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

 

Consequently, any thoughts that we are worthy of God are pure self-delusion (Phil. 3:7-9). Therefore, we can only find peace in the truth that God loves us beyond anything we can imagine (Ephesians 3:19).

 

The more  God worked in my life, the more my unworthiness tormented me. However, I now have a firm understanding that these painful self-revelations serve to remind me that He alone is worthy, and this makes me grateful!

 

How  then do we know we are saved especially as the accuser comes knocking and covers us with his accusations? Here are some tests that we can apply. For the unbeliever, the things of God are foolishness:

·       1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 

·       1 John 2:22–23 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

 

·       Romans 1:19–20 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

 

Our Assurance Depends on the Scriptural promises of God. The unbeliever doesn’t care about something in which he doesn’t trust:

·       Romans 10:12–13 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 

This means that if we are saved, we have come to believe in the Jesus of the Bible. We can also assure ourselves that believers want the truth and not the darkness of the lie as does the unbeliever:

·       John 3:19–20 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

 

The believer wants to believe in the truth of God and not the darkness of self-deception:

·       Matthew 7:7–8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

 

If we care about the truth, we will abide in His Word and not what feels good to us:

·       1 John 4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us [apostles]; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

 

·       2 John 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

 

If we are saved, we will mine the Bible in order to know God. The unbeliever doesn’t care about abiding in the Word of God but what comforts us. However, we might feel that “It’s so hard for me to spend time in the Word.” However, Christ reaches down to where we are and is willing to accept our commitment to seek God to enable us to spend quality time in His Word:

·       2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything [of spiritual value] as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.

 

·       Psalm 37:5–7 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him…

 

Believers Care about Obedient:

·       1 John 2:3–6 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

 

Our “walk” will inevitably fall far short. However, we can be sure that forgiveness is always available (1 John 1:8-9):

·       2 Corinthians 8:12 (NLT) Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly.[intentionally] And give according to what you have [your limited ability], not what you don’t have.

 

The unbeliever has hardened himself to the truth and is spiritually blind, but the believer has discernment:

·       1 Corinthians 2:14–15 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

 

·       2 Corinthians 3:14–18 But their [Israel’s] minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory [How?] of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

 

Unbelievers love sin. The believers may be attracted to sin, but they flee from it:

·       1 John 2:15–16 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (Is sin a temptation to the believer?)

 

·       1 John 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. (Gradual growth?)

 

·       1 John 5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

 

The unbeliever refuses to regard Christ as #1:

·       Matthew 10:37–38 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Step by Step? Supernatural Gifts?)

 

Believers are Repentant:

·        Luke 24:46–47 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

 

Where there is no repentance, there is no faith, since faith and repentance are inseparable. While a repentance is a turning away from the old life, faith is a turning to the new in Christ.

 

·       2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

 

Unbelievers love the darkness of Self-Deception and self-exaltation, while believers are humbled to face their sins:

·       1 Peter 5:5–6 …Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

 

Knowing the Love of God is Key to Assurance:

·       Romans 5:8–10 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

 

·       Isaiah 43:1–2,4 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you…

 It's about our inmost decisions and commitments: Believers are committed to following Jesus: Romans 8:5–6 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

As we grow in the knowledge of God, the assurance that we are saved also grows. Interestingly, Scripture never mentions the practice of supernatural gifts as a way to know that we are saved, perhaps because they would fade away in time.