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Hey reMarkables, I've
always heard and still believe
that the God of the Old Testament
is the same God of the New
Testament. But, I think if
I'd just landed here from
another planet and read the
Bible, it might appear to
me that, somewhere between
the Old and New, He discovered
Prozac or something. He seems
a lot nicer in the New Testament.
My
pastor said one Sunday, in
a joking manner, that it looks
to him like God got saved
between the Old and New Testaments.
Well,
I'll tell ya what I think
caused the attitude change.
He had a Son. A kid changes
everything.
I
think that could have been
it. Then, again, maybe not.
What do I know?
There
are very few things I still
think I 'know'.
Here
are two:
1. God is good.
2. He's crazy about us.
A
friend of mine explained it
to me like this: The revelation
of God is like a crescendo.
It's been a crescendo in my
life. And it was a crescendo
in the Bible.
In
the Old Testament, it was
big news when they learned
there was one God. Not many.
Not several. Just one.
One
God.
And,
from that moment to the arrival
of Christ, they got some things
right and some things wrong.
Finally,
God shows up. Jesus is born.
'Jehovah on foot'. We see
His face. We hear His voice.
We watch how He loves. We
see Him worshipped with palm
branches and, a week later,
slaughtered like a dog by
the same people. They didn't
get Him. Even the religious
folks who should have known
Him ridiculed Him for hanging
out at the bars with sinners.
They called him 'a wine bibber'.
'Bibber'
is not a word you hear these
days. So, I'm going to go
look it up.
Hold
on.
Dictionary.com
says 'bibber' is 'a tippler,
a drinker'.
They
didn't like the fact that
Jesus hung out with the wrong
people.
We
hear Him chew out the self-righteous
(Matthew 24). Yeah, He would
rather hang out with authentic
sinners than fake saints.
And
we heard Him correct the Old
Testament. Jesus said, "You've
heard it said 'eye for an
eye', 'tooth for a tooth'
but I tell you, love each
other."
The
only way I can make sense
of the Old Testament is to
view it through the lens of
Jesus. Jesus not only loved
sinners; they felt comfortable
in His presence. They felt
loved and accepted.
The
woman at the well, the woman
caught in the 'act of adultery'.
Nicodemus. No one who ever
came to Him was ever turned
away. The more of their scars
they showed Jesus, the more
He wanted to hang with them.
Heal them. Love them.
Sinners
never felt condemned in His
presence. And, you know, I
haven't either.
Now
I have felt condemned in the
presence of some of His people.
Have you ever seen that bumper
sticker that says, "Jesus,
please save me from your followers"?
Have you ever wanted to put
one on your car?
When
I am alone with God (which
is usually in the shower)
and I'm praying and really
feel His presence, I never
feel condemned. I have felt
convicted. But, never condemned.
Never shame. I don't think
God ever makes His children
feel 'shame'. I could be wrong.
But I know I've never felt
ashamed in God's presence.
I have felt loved, covered,
encased, secure, safe, 'at
home' but never shame.
Russ
Taff said to me one time,
"If your God is a condemning
God, you need to fire Him;
you have the wrong one."
And
the Bible backs that up (John
3:16): "For God so loved
the world that He gave His
only begotten Son that whosoever
believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting
life." And the next verse
(John 3:17) says, "For
God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn
the world but that the world
through Him might be saved."
So,
if Jesus didn't condemn people,
I'm not gonna do it. He told
us to be fishers of men, He
didn't say a thing about cleaning
them.
See ya,
Mark
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