A Fallen Comrade

A good friend is with me no more on this earth. He passed away sometime during the night last night after two weeks without food or water. It was difficult to watch him decline during that time but I was also amazed at his determination for independence and his display of loyalty and love to the very end.

We never heard him complain during his last days. Instead, every time I came close to him he would respond with immediate affection and enjoy my presence. When he could summon up enough strength he would walk around to find me or follow me so he could be close to me. Even when he could hardly raise his head off the floor he would reach out to hold me and talk softly to me. Yes, it was hard to see him go.

He has been a very close friend and wonderful comrade for many years. He has been unusually devoted to me and even more so in his last few years. While never losing his unique personality he became very attached to me for whatever reason and has given me many years of loyal friendship and wonderful entertainment.

I remember when he first came to our home and joined our family. He was very frightened and insecure and immediately disappeared under our couch not to be seen again for nearly two days. After that he ventured out to explore our small house and get acquainted with his new “siblings”. It was not long before he became a classic ham, creating enough humor and entertainment with his funny, laid-back ways to keep me in stitches at times.

I particularly remember the times when he would be laying on a library table enjoying the sunshine in front of our living room window. He would become so completely relaxed that he would slowly begin to slide off the edge of the table like molasses pouring over the edge. But unlike the usual behavior for a feline he would simply allow himself to completely slide off the table and fall unceremoniously on the floor without even attempting to catch himself. I found this so funny that I could hardly quit laughing which is a very good thing for my health since I seldom get enough of that therapy.

Over the years he has made three moves with us to new houses. In the second house he shared with us he decided to go off on his own adventures for a number of days which caused me a great deal of consternation. It was at this point that I came to an intense consciousness of how much I cared for him. I could not escape my worrying about what might have become of him but there was nothing more I could think of to do. We had created signs with this picture on them and posted them around the community and I finally had to face the fact that I had to turn all of my feelings and fears over to God and release them or I would not be able to function or even hardly sleep. I began to realize that George was just a gift from God to me and that I had to allow God to be responsible for looking out for both me and for my beloved cat.

It was very shortly after I accepted that important lesson that he showed up quite nonchalantly on our front lawn after we had just combed much of the area looking for him and putting up posters. He acted as though nothing was out of the ordinary and seemed to wonder what all the fuss was about. We immediately escorted him back into the house and tried to keep a much closer eye on the outside doors from then on so he wouldn't slip past us and escape again.

The reason we could not let him out was because when he came to us he had already been de-clawed by his former owners. They had been living in some university apartments and were trying to keep him until they could finish school even though it was against the rules to have pets in the apartments. However, one day someone spotted him sitting in the front window and reported them as “violators” so they quickly brought him over to our house before he could be arrested and deported. That is how George came to become one of the most memorable “children” we have had over the years.

When he first came to us he had been called by various names which I cannot now recall. None of them seemed to fit his personality and I began to wonder what his name really was. As I watched him the name George began to present itself for a number of reasons. He was at times very curious, “curious George”. At other times he seemed rather aloof and disdainful, “King George”, I thought. And at other times he was simply a good friend, just “good ole' George”.

After that episode of losing him for several days and receiving him back, I felt compelled to sit down and capture my feelings on paper and condense the lessons I was learning into language. I kept that writing as an important reminder to me of my need to hold more loosely to the gifts that God blesses me with than I hold onto Him personally, and learn to trust the giver more than clinging to the gift.

Over the years for whatever reasons George seemed to form a special bond with me. We were able to read each other's minds and began to care more deeply for each other. Looking back over all these years with him it is now much more clear to me that God brought George into our home to share a little bit of Himself with us through one of his special friends. I have seen so many attributes in George that I would like to emulate, things that are weaknesses in my life that need to change, areas that I need to grow and strengthen in my relationships with others.

Though George had a very individual personality that baffled many people, he became very loyal to me and over the last few years exhibited more and more unconditional love toward me. This became rather obvious to many others and I realized that I too wanted to learn to love others with that kind of unfailing devotion that I was receiving from him. I came to realize that George's devotion for me was putting my own shallow care for others to shame. There have been many times over the past few months that I have been sometimes almost in awe as I saw traits of behavior that corresponded to the fresh and wonderful things I have been learning about God in my personal study and experience. I could not deny that God was often speaking to my heart through this very special cat that He had given me. And I also have no doubt that that same God will someday bring us back together to enjoy eternity celebrating life together that will never again be spoiled by disease, pain, sorrow and death.

There have been times over the past few weeks that I began to feel very sad as I watched him get weaker and weaker. But then the thought would occur to me that I needed to focus more on enjoying the fact that he was still alive and still loving me instead of spoiling the brief time we had left together mourning his loss before he was actually gone. I would then simply live in the present moment and relish the affection that he was so ready to give to me. Those were such special moments to me that I could not describe them very well with words. They were moments of the heart.

Quite sadly I was not able to be there for him in his last hours. In many ways his last days reminded me of the last days of my own Dad's life a couple of years ago. I am sometimes confused as to how my brain processes these sorts of events. It seems that I do not follow the typical patterns of grieving like most people do. I suppose that has a number of reasons and I'm not sure how to relate to that. It seems that my most intense – but very short – moments of grief come in flashes of anticipation long before the actual death occurs. But then as the real event comes near and transpires my mind seems to feel almost unaffected or disconnected a little bit. I could come up with all sorts of attempted explanations for that that may or may not be true or helpful, but it does seem to be a pattern that repeats itself in my life.

I am certainly glad, however, that I truly believe in a God of goodness, power and love whom I am confident has some very incredible plans to diffuse all the pain and sorrow that death has caused us. I am eagerly looking forward to a resurrection where I fully intend to reunite with my parents and others that have been taken away from my life. And while there may be serious reservations in the minds of others about what will happen to our pets that we have lost, I am settled in my confidence that because God is the way He is that He has some very exciting and possibly interesting plans to bring back all the important relationships that sin has ripped away from our affections including our pets. There is enough solid evidence about how God feels about all the creatures He has created, in addition to His faithfulness to care for even the little things that affect our lives that I rest in total confidence in someday enjoying spending a lot more quality time with one of the best friends I have ever had, my beloved George.

For those of you who are simply baffled by the affections that a grown man may have for a cat – well, all I can say is that I feel sorry for you. You may have other strong points that I am lacking, but you are missing a very important quality of soul that somehow I have been able to enjoy to some extent. And while I am probably lacking in far more social skills and character attributes than I am blessed with, I have been blessed to share my life with a long line of pet cats and dogs that have been an important part of living for me. I have also been blessed with a wife who, compared to me is almost an extremist in this area. If I don't restrain her we might likely be living in a very large cat-farm with little money left for ourselves. Well, that may not be very nice to say and is likely a male exaggeration to some extent, but you get the idea I suppose.

So I will miss George for the time being. But I have grown and learned from him and will always have the memories and pictures, if not in my hands, in my heart. I loved George very much. He taught me more about love and life and living, and I thank God for the years we shared together.

Good-bye, comrade. And I plan to see you again, hopefully in the not too distant future God willing.

Definition of Overcomer

Jacob was wrestling with his false concept of God while God provided the “straw man” for him to wrestle with until he overcame the lies about God in his mind.

The same will have to happen for everyone who goes through a similar “time of Jacob's trouble”.

At the end of his struggle the supernatural Messenger gave him a new name which meant “overcomer”. According to Revelation, we become overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. What does this really mean?

When we grasp the truth about God, the true revelation of His character through a correct understanding of what God was trying to convey to us by dying on the cross and and allowing us to shed His own blood, we will be transformed and empowered to see sin as repulsive and will reject it ourselves. Then as we confess what has been revealed to us about God with our mouth and give thanks for who He really is our minds and hearts become synchronized and locked into a true perception of God and we overcome our false beliefs about Him. When that takes place we will live in a vital relationship with Him and will reflect His beauty, humility, compassion and completely selfless love. That is our testimony about God. That is what an overcomer is, not one who determinedly keeps the seventh-day Sabbath and believes the truth about the state of the dead in defiance of men's laws.

Those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus is the same as speaking according to the Law and to the testimony. These are in contrast to those who are agents of evil spirits who peep and mutter and utter all sorts of false ideas about God. (see the context of this reference)

The commandments of God are the principles of God's ways of operating, the left-brain facts upon which the universe is founded. The faith of Jesus is our heart connection with God, the vital connection that links our right brain/heart to God's heart.

Judas was addicted to force, as was all the other disciples. But Judas refused any alternative to his religion of force to the point of using it against Jesus in an attempt to force Him to become King through his presumed resistance to being arrested. When instead Jesus revealed His true character of humility, meekness and forgiving kindness in the face of overwhelming force and meanness, Judas saw his own selfishness exposed in the process and could no longer live with himself. He was experiencing hell and had to die to escape the inner pain and dissonance.

Peter too was very addicted to force. He too tried to employ force in his own way by using the sword to begin the revolution that Judas was trying to start. He was very close to following the same route as Judas, but he had allowed his heart to become attached enough to Jesus that he was saved from completely giving up and killing himself as well. The kindness of God led him to repentance instead of total despair and suicide, although after the resurrection Jesus had to meet with him privately to bring him out of paralyzing despondency and self-loathing fear. It not, he too may have followed the path of Judas to suicide.

These two men had both been referred to by Jesus using Satan's name. Judas was identified quietly as a devil and Jesus had openly confronted Peter with a rebuke to “Satan”. The spirit that primarily identifies the character of Satan is that of force. It is the “strange fire” that God was so adamant about in the Old Testament that His people not bring into His sanctuary. When we try to mix the use of force with God's ways we create a false religion that deceives people into believing the Lie about God created by Satan himself. It is a deadly mix for anyone attempting to create this mixture as Nadab and Abihu found out the hard way. (see Lev. 10)

Fire is the very essence of God and is the passion of His selfless love and character. God is always the same – He never changes despite our opinions to the contrary. He is humble, meek, loving, patient, kind, compassionate, forgiving, merciful and far more intense than we will ever be able to imagine. He never employs force to overcome any of His creature's freedom of will and choice to serve and love Him. He has been misunderstood by many of His representatives and has been drawn into displaying power on their behalf when He would rather have done things differently, but that does not change His inherent character. It only muddied the picture and created yet another opportunity for people to misunderstand Him even at the hands of some of His most famous servants.

But those displays of power did not accomplish what those servants had hoped – the changing of people's hearts to love and cherish their God. It only got them to pay attention and respect His great power more astutely. Are these methods of trying to win souls for God a mixing of the strange fire of human passion and force with God's fire of pure, selfless passionate love?

The penchant for displays of power and the desire to use force is the spirit of the kingdom of darkness. Whenever the devil is mentioned in the Bible it revolves around the three things that make up his spirit: fear, falsehood and force. God's kingdom is diametrically opposite of these things and we must learn to not attempt to mix any of Satan's weapons or methods in with God's ways.

Likewise we have to learn the lesson internally that we cannot become overcomers by mixing our own human passions with the passion of God in our heart to live a righteous life. We must not employ force to bring about righteousness, even in our own lives. “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, ...work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13) God's Spirit burning like a nuclear reactor inside of our hearts must be the pure and holy passion that powers our lives, our words, our actions and permeates our spirit. If we try to add a little good-looking, righteous-sounding passion of our own we will contaminate the witness of God's work in our hearts and will misrepresent Him before others. The process of sanctification means letting go of our own ideas, our addictions to power and force, our false notions about God and all of our fears and instead, growing in grace and maturity into the perfect relationship with Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, Savior and Lover.

Isa. 28:21 talks about God's “strange work” and His “strange act”. I believe there may a connection between His strange work and the strange fire that He warns us against. Whenever strange fire comes into the presence of God it causes the death of the person possessing it. Death is a strange thing to God who is the Source of all life. So for death to be the result of coming in contact with life is indeed strange – but very true.

Digging in the Mine of Free Will

“There are mines of truth to be worked that have been strangely neglected”. {SD 312}

It is easy for people to interpret statements like this to support promoting their own favorite theories and I am certainly not immune to that myself. But the fact still remains that there are blind spots in all of our experience that could be enlightened if we were more willing to be open to considering ideas outside of the familiar, outside of our comfort zone.

When I read this statement the picture comes to my mind of a tour guide taking groups of people through caves and mine shafts that were long ago explored and exploited and explaining to the people each place where important gems or mother lodes were previously extracted. One gets the feeling of a museum where you are not allowed to touch anything or do any exploring on your own but are simply to read the signs, stay on the path and follow the tour guide. It may be interesting and even convincing, but certainly not very exciting or compelling like self motivated exploration can be.

Of course, the problem comes when someone does decide to do some exploring on their own without the strict control of a tour guide, when they decide to step outside the prescribed boundaries marked out by the established “authorities” and do some digging on their own. Immediately there come outcries of fear that our long history and tradition of “truth” may be threatened and that people should only explore the caves under the careful tutelage of trained professionals who know their way around. After all, someone could get hurt down there and God forbid maybe even find something that is different from what is already written on the approved signposts.

This reminds me of a reading from one of my favorite books that I quote from very often.

Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that strikes you is the irrelevancy of the things you have to do, and the next thing that strikes you is the fact that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives are apt to leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary, by human effort and devotion we can reach the standard God wants. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His show-room; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He likes.

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. December 2

I believe there is a really good Tour Guide or expert Miner that happens to know where every hidden treasure is located due to the fact that He placed them there in the first place. They have become buried under centuries of misapprehensions about God's character but they are still true and waiting to be restored to us. He is also very much an adventurer and is always eager to take individuals or small groups on private expeditions together with Him on very exciting excavations in places others might never think to look. He also likes to share in the excitement and joy of discovery and is a wonderful counselor and protector to keep a person from getting too badly hurt while climbing around inside the caves. It is so much fun to explore and excavate with Him as a personal companion but it always means doing so at the risk of the disapproval of the company tour guides unfortunately.

I have been asking this Guide for some clues about what I am digging around in here in Romans 9. What appears on the surface simply does not match well with what I have learned throughout the rest of the Bible and so I want to dig down past the surface and see what is skewing my picture here. I have come across some important clues this morning and want to begin to assemble various pieces together to see what emerges over time. I may at times put pieces together incorrectly at first and have to reassemble them again, but since there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus I have the freedom to experiment and learn and grow while developing muscles in digging and learning my way around the cave or mine tunnels.

I am going back to look at the words in Greek that were used in translation for these verses. One thing I have noticed is that the identity of the persons in some of these verses is not so explicit in the original as it appears in the English. That could certainly make a huge difference in the assumptions arrived at. I want to keep in mind the context or the main point that Paul lays down in verses 6-8, that real Israelites are those who choose to live in relationship to God based on His promise instead of based on physical relationship to those God called centuries ago. We usually don't have a problem understanding that concept but then forget that this is the point that is being expanded on through the following verses.

The first supporting fact that he presents for this truth is that Isaac was a child of promise in contrast to Ishmael who was born from a human attempt to accomplish God's purposes. That is pretty easy to understand. The next one becomes quite a bit more troublesome, at least the way it is written in the English translations.

It appears on the surface that somehow God predetermined that Jacob would be His favorite and that Esau would take the rap even before they were even born. It seems like they had no choice in the matter and that they were simply forced to live out their predetermined fate. But since that view of God's character is so blatantly inconsistent with other much more clear explanations about God in the rest of Scripture I have to suspend this idea and look much closer to see what is really going on here. It is time to do some drilling and blasting to see what lies under the surface.

First of all, I have to remind myself that simply knowing something ahead of time is not at all the same and forcing it to happen. God is not living under the constraints of time sequence like we are and therefore our logic struggles to comprehend that concept. Whether God made His observations about Esau and Jacob before they were born or centuries later (which is the quote referred to in verse 13), it makes no difference in the free choices that were available to both of them. The resulting relationships that they had with God based on their own choices were a result of those choices, not of some diabolical predetermination by an arbitrary God.

“...for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls...” (Romans 9:11)

I discovered that the word “purpose” here is the same purpose used in Romans 8:28, that famous and usually misapplied text that we are all so familiar with. I unpacked what I found there some time ago and you might want to review it to get the real context for what “purpose” really means.

Secondly, I cannot find in the original any reference to the “His” word used in this verse. It may or may not be implied in the way the original language reads, but it seems to me that if it is possible that it may not be implied that that could certainly change the look of this passage quite dramatically. Along that same line, in verse 16 I also find no reference to the word “man” that appears twice in that verse which would likewise open up dramatically different potential.

In verse 11, if the choice is not necessarily imposed by God which would be inconsistent with His character, then it is possible that the choice must be made by people themselves. And in the light of the meaning of the word “purpose” as living exposed like the shewbread of the sanctuary in the presence of God, then I believe it is more sensible to view this as a choice by us to live in the constant presence of God in response to His invitation as laid out in Romans 8:28. What 9:11 is adding to that is that our choice can be reinforced and maintained, not by works but is strengthened, acknowledged and protected by Him who invited us to enter into that relationship with Him.

Verses 15 and 16 seem to repeat the same difficulty but again it is my presuppositions that I begin to see as the real problem here more than the text itself. If I choose to put on new glasses and see this from a perspective of an enlightened view of the character of God as found in the life of Jesus, I begin to notice that what God said to Moses was emphasizing only the mercy and compassion of God. Even the words in verse 17 do not really imply that God deliberately caused Pharaoh to rebel or resist Him although that is often what we assume. He simply states that through Pharaoh's actions the reputation of God's power would be spread throughout the whole earth.

What I am looking for here is God's protection of people's power of choice without any forcible interference. That insinuation of interference is a big part of the Great Lie that Satan has foisted onto the whole universe and especially on us humans. He has led us to believe that God is arbitrary and selective based on His own whims as to who will be saved and who will not. The way that the translators used English words to express the ideas from the Greek words was of course affected by their bias in this matter. We cannot ignore that fact and simply believe that the English translation, even the KJV, is 100% accurate and reflective of the unaffected, original intent of Paul's statements. I have found many, many times that going back to examine the original words has brought a great deal of light to a passage that was seriously obscured by the words used in the English translations.

But it actually gets much more complicated as I read on in this chapter. It appears in the following verses that everything I have just said may be simply a wresting of the Scriptures to fit what I want to believe. Yes, I have heard that argument many times in my life and I do not want to fall into that trap. But at the same time it may just as well be equally true that those who want to believe in an arbitrary, vengeful angry God may conveniently do the same with much of Scripture. Once again, the nature of the filters or glasses that we use to view a passage has everything to do with what we see in it.

I will continue to explore this cave and dig in this mine for some time to come. I believe that truth is consistent and that in the end what I read here will be in harmony with the more clear revelation about the character of God that is found in the life and teachings of Jesus. I welcome your company on this adventure.

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Paradigm Examination Time

Trying to understand Romans 9.

He seems to be saying that God picks and chooses who will be save or lost, who will get mercy and who will get anger. That is the usual take on this passage.

We all come to new information with preconceived filters in place, paradigms about what is true and what makes up reality. Since all of us are born in sin we will have at least a certain amount of Satan's lies in place in our filters from the get-go. So it should be no surprise that the majority of people upon reading this passage would assume that God is arbitrary and selective. This is likely one of the writings of Paul that Peter was talking about when he said there were some things he had written that were difficult to understand.

God created everyone with the power to choose and the freedom to change. He fiercely defends that freedom all throughout the War which is precisely why the War has gone on so long the way it has. But it will be seen in the end that His choice to preserve freedom over forcing us to believe truth was the most effective one to restore the universe to unity and joy and peace,

In this context we have the freedom to misunderstand God when reading this passage because of our false preconceptions about Him inherent in our sinful nature and perpetrated by most religion. But we also have the freedom to challenge our own assumptions when we begin to see that our conclusions conflict with other more clear fundamental truths revealed to us about what God is like. What we will take away from this passage will reflect what previous picture of God that we have chosen to endorse. We can either reinforce the lies about God by using this passage to declare that it underscores His arbitrary, punitive tendencies or we can choose to bring in a more updated filter and examine this passage in the clearer light from other places throughout the Bible.

It is usually the case that the most troubling verses we run into in the Bible often are a cover for some of the most exciting and thrilling gems of beauty for the ones willing to dig and ask and wrestle and listen to the Spirit of God. Given that history I believe the same may be true of this passage as well.

So there are basically two paradigms or filters that we might bring with us to use in unpacking this passage. The first I mentioned above, assuming a God who arbitrarily decides who to use to display his wrath (read human-like anger) and who to selectively show mercy to for contrast. But to use this filter to interpret these verses is to reveal an underlying belief about God that is in harmony with the lies perpetrated by Satan since before the earth was created. Not a very safe position to work from I would say.

The other option is to question our own paradigm before jumping to conclusions about this passage and correcting our lies about God based on the most reliable testimony about Him, namely the life and words of Jesus who claimed to be the perfect expression of God. If we make the revelation of Jesus Christ the basis for interpreting this section of writing we will be enabled to see things not obvious to the unenlightened mind using the wrong magnifying glass. This is a place where we need the Holy fire of God's light to allow us to see things correctly. If we bring the light of strange fire to our study, i.e. our human emotions and false assumptions about God, we will never be able to discover truth in this passage but will only end up reinforcing Satan's misrepresentations about our loving Creator.

These are the things that have come to my mind this morning after reading this section and feeling confused and baffled. I asked God out loud to explain what is going on here to me. I told Him that He has some explaining to do and told Him what my initial reactions were upon reading this passage. It stirs up all sorts of triggers and doubts and even anger that God might override people's freedom just to justify Himself and His favorite people. That is not the truth about God that I have been learning lately but is very much a part of the false teachings about Him that have kept my heart at a great distance from Him for most of my life.

If God is arbitrary and selective and only extends mercy to just the ones He feels like while using others as playthings for His “wrath”, then I could never feel safe around a God like that and I can certainly never love Him. But that is emphatically not true, and I reject this filter as being sourced from the depths of hell as it comes from the father of all lies. I am going to seek the Spirit's guidance to listen for a more accurate paradigm through which to read this passage and wait to see what exciting things will be revealed to my heart. I want to use the light of the truth about God to shine into this chapter and I want to look through the magnifying glass of the life of Jesus to read these words until they reveal perfect harmony and I see the glowing gems of real truth that I know are buried below the surface of this chapter. I must be careful to see how this fits into the context of the surrounding passages so that I better understand the real points that Paul is trying to get across. I am looking forward to growing and deepening my understanding and appreciation of the beauty of God and His perfect consistency in love.

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Darkness-dispelling Light

I want to flush out some more threads that I see running through Romans 8. I will not refer to each verse from which I get the phrases because it can be a bit distracting, but I am looking at the area from around 28 to the end of the chapter.

What I see here is the anchoring down of truths that have long been buried under lies about God. Paul is bringing the truth to light to dispel many of the religious mis-notions that have distorted our view of God.

In the old way of thinking we believed that God caused both good and evil to come into our lives.	God is actually at work constantly behind the scenes working for the good of everyone who gives Him permission by opening themselves to His presence and work in their hearts.
We have usually assumed that as sinners we are headed for hell and wrathful judgments of God unless we can figure out how to get Him to save us.	We have been predestined to become just like Himself as revealed in the life of Jesus. This is the purpose of the invitation He has given to us. He has justified us and is sanctifying everyone who does not determinedly resist it. The result is being glorified which means we take on the character attributes of God Himself.
We have thought that God was against us, that somehow we had to placate His anger and appease Him enough to be saved. We even thought that Jesus came and died for our sins so that He could get His Father to calm down and allow us into heaven through some sort of legal maneuver.	God is not against us but is all for us. Jesus did not come to placate an angry, vengeful Father but to reveal the compassionate heart of the Father to us. God did not send us Son to appease Himself but to change our mind about Him. They both allowed us to torture and kill Him to get us to see the true nature of the wickedness of the sin that is so deeply rooted in every one of our hearts and realize our desperate need to be healed.
We thought that God had to be bribed and manipulated to give us the things we need or want. We thought we had to earn His favor and His blessings with more and more perfect obedience to His rules.	God not only gave up His most valuable possession – His only Son – but is so outrageously generous that He is putting everything in the universe at the service of anyone willing to believe in His love for them.
We thought that the judgment was all about arraigning us before a stern judging God and recounting all of our sins and mistakes to shame us and remind us how worthy we are of condemnation.	Far from ever wanting us to feel condemned, Jesus came to reveal to us that it is not God but our own hearts and minds that cause us to feel condemned. Because we have a strained relationship with the Source of life we are feeling suffocated and think that it is the Source itself that is depriving us of life. But Jesus came to lay down His own life so that He could guarantee our eternal life if we will allow Him to live in our heart.
We thought that Jesus intercedes for us before God to change God's opinion about us.	God, who already knows everything about us does not need changing. It is us who needs our minds changed about Him and it is our minds and hearts that Jesus is wanting to change by His intercession.
We think that when bad things happen to us that God must be unhappy with us and when things are going well we must be doing something right.	Irregardless of any circumstances whatsoever, we can know that God's love is unwavering and unquestionable. No matter how we may feel or think we cannot change the impassioned heart of God from loving any one of His created children no matter how messed up or rebellious they may be. When we choose to allow this love to fill us we will find ourselves to be overwhelming conquerors.
In conclusion, it needs to become clear in our minds and hearts that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all in complete agreement and harmony in their passionate love and pursuit of us. Nothing but nothing, not even death itself, can keep us away from the immense, love-filled heart of the great Ruler of the whole universe.

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