I'm working on the book of Romans for my morning devotions. Look at Paul's definition of the Gospel (Romans 1:16)
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation"...(italics supplied)
Wait a minute! I always thought "God is love" = gospel.
Suppose you are clinging to a cliff, about to fall off. An experienced rock climber comes running to the foot of the cliff. "Hey! I love you with all my heart" he shouts. He continues to tell you about his undying affection as your grip fades away and you crash to the bottom. At the bottom, you're a bleeding pile of pulp, and the loving rock climber says "it doesn't matter what you've done, I still love you no matter what".
That's not the gospel.
Instead, God scales the cliff, leaping from hold to hold, taking extraordinary risks with each death-defying move. He reaches your side in record time. "I love you with all my heart" he whispers, "will you let me take you down?".
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2 comments:
Barry,
Thanks for the new post. It's really thought provoking. Love is and active verb where God is concerned, not just an emotion. I found the "Cliffhanger" illustration particularly apt.
I just had to add another comment...
Rereading your post, I got this tremendous mental picture of God leaping to our rescue. In this illustration, compared to our efforts, his ability to reach us on the cliff would be analogous to the difference between an elephant and a mountain sheep.
We try to help others, and we do; but if we are doing it alone, without God, we are just as likely to find ourselves clinging to the precipitous problems ourselves, or worse yet causing both to fall. Our reaching is a struggle, and clumsy, at best.
God, on the other hand, is so perfect, so all encompassingly agile and effortless in his reaching, that he never falls, slips, or in any way fails us, or breaks His promises. To the Creator who is able to speak universes into existence, reaching down to help one small human is certainly well within His grasp.
When God reaches through us to another helpless soul, the result is so beyond our imaginings, we can step back and say with the Psalmist;
By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea. Psalm 65:5. What a picture! “Terrible things in righteousness!” His power IS terrible, awesome.
Paul, in Ephesians says something similar: And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power. Ephesians 1:19 We can’t conceive of the limitlessness His power, but we can see the results when he raises up another soul from the pit of despair, or as you said brings us down from the pinnacle of our own mountainous problems.
In another place David said: Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Psalm 40:5.
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