Dear Precious A-G
Am deeply humbled by your kind words on your several replies.
I used to wonder about Christ's sharp retorts and some Old Testament satire as well. They didn't jive with Jesus meek and mild. And then what about "What's the most loving thing to do" focus I've TRIED to have since Jr high. How did that jive with such Scriptures.
Many horrific long dark nights of the soul later . . . I've discovered that what's loving may not always be warm and fuzzy.
I think God prefers warm and fuzzy. But He prefers whatever's Love most. It's His most abiding and thorough-going trait. And His perspective is not always--not usually, ours.
I think Oswald Chambers comes closest to Godly Love of any author I know . . . except maybe Amy Carmichal in her IF volume. I don't know that I can handle long stretches of either one! LOL. Though it has gotten better as the fiery furnaces have done their work.
Amy's IF book would also make a good devotional or maybe tagline source. Each paragraph is a sentence long, as I recall. I wonder if it's a free E book online now.
Anyway . . .
God plays for keeps. He is touched by the feelings of our infirmities, flaws, struggles . . . but He is not deterred by them. He will persist in His task of being the author and finisher of our faith because He Loves us and most of us have asked Him to.
What loving parent would resist, neglect to pull a child's hand out of a black raspberry bush infested with a rattlesnake--and that very quickly--though it would scratch and pain the child to do so. There may be better analogies but I think the point is made.
God's FIERCE Love is not like our pablum notions of such.
Yes, imho, the bottom line is MORE warm and fuzzy than we could ever imagine. But the route there is not a bed of roses . . . unless one counts the thorns! LOL.
I've often wondered . . . Therre are Scriptures which indicate that--well--that really do indicate as Kenneth Hagin put so well--that if we pray according to God's will in faith--we shall have it. Doesn't make God a vending machine but those verses are solid Scripture.
And, many, if not most of us have prayed for God to cure, heal, deliver this or that flawed aspect of ourselves 100's if not thousands of times over the years.
Isn't it God's will that we prosper and be in health as our souls prosper? That's solid Scripture. So, what could be more important than our souls prospering spiritually?
It must be His will that we be conformed to the image of His Son. That's clearly a Scriptural priority. So, when we pray and ask for such at a faster clip than a snail's pace . . . what's the glitch? Why the slow to never delivery on answers to those prayers??? Bugged me for a lot of years.
The only sense I've been able to make of it so far, is that GOD'S PERSPECTIVE IS ETERNAL. HE'S AIMING TO HAVE US RULE AND REIGN WITH CHRIST WITH
AS GREAT A WEIGHT OF GLORY AS HE CAN SQUEEZE OUT OF US AND POUR INTO US.
[aside--PRAISE GOD--the NTLDR MISSING error may be solved . . . my computer is evidently working again! THANKS, LORD! Using another FREEPER'S]
There's just something extremely outrageously critical to our future ruling and reigning that seems to require 'getting there the long way around.'
Yes, God could snap His fingers and heal, deliver, provision, . . . in a list of ways we couldn't even fantasize well about. But Love requires the long way around. And our perspective doesn't process that well, I think.
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Nevertheless, God Alone is pure and has sufficient Godly perspective to manage such things.
I think it's wise for our focus to USUALLY be attempting to be as warm and fuzzy to one another as we can manage. But on occasion, something else is called for and I BEG OF ANYONE HEREON--SOCK IT TO ME whenever Holy Spirit nudges you to. If the exhortation is too fierce for forum rules, send it FREEPMAIL. I'll at least prayerfully consider all such even if I think it's 99.9% off the wall and meanly motivated.
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In terms of the religion forum . . . theology is too often, imho,
a convoluted, hyperbolic, puffed-up, array of purported tidy little boxes
--that somehow are too often a chaotic bag of worms but obviously so only to the other perspective;
--full of intense emotions and not always a great deal of light;
--chronically prone to arrogance, self-righteousness, sanctimoniousness, phariseeism, pride . . .
--insular, parochial, narrow, rigid, biased,
. . .
. . .
And that's true, at least in temptation, for all intidividuals on all sides of all the standard theological issues. All of US.
The human relations project I worked at the last 2 years of my time in the US Navy had a somewhat wise Chaplain heading it. All of us on the staff were well aware that our great success with our workshops and weekly programs could easily be our undoing. We NEEDED outsiders to occasionally come in and throw some grenades at our ivory towers of smugness and self-confidence.
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I've often whined to The Lord that He must have some better roles around I could have than to be one of His favorite grenades. He finally got tired of my whining about that and insisted I shut up and get on down the road with the program. That He made me the way He did; conditioned me the ways He has . . . FOR HIS PLEASURE AND HIS PURPOSES and that my whining was beginning to get in the way and He wouldn't tolerate it on that score any more.
So, I slowly developed some sense of humor about it. Now, others sometimes get "blessed" with that acquired sense of humor. LOL. At least they can be sure, that I've been on the receiving end of my own and others such satire countless times to eventually great benefit. And, no, I know it's not fun when one is on the hot seat.
On the other hand, one, BY HIS GRACE AND SPIRIT . . . CAN . . . learn to have a sense of humor EVEN ON THE RACK, ON THE HOT SEAT, IN THE FIERY FURNACE.
And that when one can . . . it's extremely liberating.
Anyway--this is well beyond the 3 point limit and then some! LOL.
Love you dearly A-G . . . and all the rest of us characters hereon, as well. . . . even those who think my hugs are much more full of prickly pears than warm fuzzies.
Probably more to say but I'll just stop! And some will certainly say AMEN to that!