[Jesus’] parables showed how God is in charge. A mustard seed that could be eaten by birds becomes a tree in which birds take shelter. Astounding. God works His way quietly, sometimes when we’re not even noticing, like leaven. God redeems, God revives, God rescues, God restores.
…is a broken place, but God is the Great Healer.
There are signs of this brokenness and this healing all around us. They cannot be ignored.
“The Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power but also wonderful foretastes of what he is going to do with that power. Jesus’ miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want is coming.” (p 99)
Continuing the thought in this post, what is your “Theology of Death”?
Death is something we were never designed to deal with. It was not in God’s original plan and is the result of the curse brought about by sin. The entire earth is affected by it and it permeates every layer of life, including the non-physical.
As Christians, our theology needs to be proactive, prepared ahead of time, not reactionary. We must think ahead of time what our reaction to trouble and death will be, what God will expect from us, and what God has promised us.
Some thoughts on this:
That word trust is key here. Trust that He knows what He is doing in every layer of our lives and the lives of everyone around us. Trust that His timing is perfect and purposeful. Trust that He is redeeming all the ugliness in this broken world.
Since death is and will be a stark reality in all of our lives, we must think ahead of time what our theology of death is. Let us wrestle with it now so that when we face it in our lives or the lives of those around us, we can stand on the foundation of our theology and trust in God.
Suggested resource: Beauty Will Rise CD by Steven Curtis Chapman
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time,
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait.
till hearts were pure. In joy he came
to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
~ Madeleine L’Engle
You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea; but, my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of the earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature – You Who are God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths, there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at – My God, search me out.
The best place is wherever He puts us, and any other would be undesirable, all the worse because it would please our fancy, and would be of our own choice. Do not think about distant events. This uneasiness about the future is unwholesome for you. We must leave to God all that depends on Him, and think only of being faithful in all that depends upon ourselves. When God takes away that which He has given you, He knows well how to replace it, either through other means or by Himself.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. II Corinthians 5:21
This is the what and the why of our lives.
He became sin — so that we might become His righteousness.
He took on death — so that we might have life.
He took our place — so that our lives would take on glory and holiness and action that brings forth God’s Kingdom.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)
finalite 