A Present Tense God
Mark Virkler in his book “Communion with God” comments that, “A key to living with God is to live in the present tense.” (p55) This poem by Helen Mallicoat speaks to that, so I’d like to share it with you
I was regretting the past
And fearing the future.
Suddenly my Lord was speaking:
“My name is I Am.”
He paused. I waited. He continued,
“When you live in the past,
With its mistakes and regrets,
It is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I Was.
“When you live in the future,
With its problems and fears,
It is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I Will Be.
“When you live in this moment,
It is not hard. I am here.
My name is I Am.” Continue reading “A Present Tense God”
Free to live by the Spirit
Paul in the letter to the Galatians makes the statement that “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1), emphasising the point he has previously made about the nature of ‘Christian being’. His point is, we are free and not bound by law because of the freeing work of Jesus. Freedom is the nature of the Kingdom of God. We are free from the punishment we deserve because of the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. That freedom however does not give us a right to live lawlessly.
Paul in Galatians tells the reader that by submitting to one law obligates you to all the law. If you break just one law you have broken every law. This why Paul says following the law is being a slave to the law. Continue reading “Free to live by the Spirit”
Jesus committed his life to us
Through the life and ministry of Jesus, Jesus invested his life, Jesus invested his love! Rather than moving away from people who were broken and even angry he moved toward them – toward us. John 12:23-24 tells us he moved toward us willingly, and was completely and unequivocally prepared to die for those he loved. This act is an expression of the Father heart of God toward us. As I have said on this before, God’s actions in and through Jesus was a wilful act of God to deposit life, salvation, healing, strength into us.
God committed himself to us, with the hope that we might commit ourselves to him, that we might commit our lives toward one another.
The gospel tells us that Jesus was willing to take a bullet for us and now because of the covenant he established with us he asks us – are we willing to take a bullet for those we love for those with which we share this covenant? Continue reading “Jesus committed his life to us”
Jesus has paid the price and cancelled punishment
I believe we are all very clear that as a result of Jesus’ actions – his selfless sacrifice- our condition has changed by grace through faith. We have been transformed. I think we might all agree with this. One way of describing our transformed condition ‘now’ before God is that we are ‘unpunnishable’. A slightly more contentious proposition.
Let me quote Danny Silk, he says …
“Jesus satisfied the wrath of God toward sin. Jesus’ death on the cross satisfied the need for God to punish sin in man. When Jesus went to the cross and gave His life as the perfect sacrifice, He ended an insatiable condition. He also introduced an entirely different reality based on an entirely different relationship between God and mankind. He removed the need for punishment. He removed fear from our relationship with Him.” Continue reading “Jesus has paid the price and cancelled punishment”