From the past - but still for today

Sharing thoughts
Today, I came across a piece of free verse that has blessed me more than once over the years. It is called:
Redemption and Creation...
Is man sorry first,
and then forgiven,
or forgiven first
and then sorry?

If he is sorry first,
then God forgives His friends,
but if he is forgiven first,
then God forgives His enemies.
We don't need a God
who forgives His friends.

Did Christ die before
or after Adam fell?
In time, after Adam fell,
but in eternity, before Adam fell.
In the mind of God
Adam was forgiven first
and then created.

This is what the"good news"of man's redemption is all about.
He was redeemed first
and then created!...
I am not forgiven becauseI repent.
I repent because I am all all ready forgiven!
2 Cor. 5:19 Amen
Tuesday, March 14, 2006 (as with the following, an entry from a former blog).

Sharing thoughts: March 2006
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." --Henry David Thoreau
Familiar, of course, but a reminder that the crowd is often wrong. Jesus never listened to the majority, and so...besides, a crowd can so easily turn into a mob!
This speaks to me, for I do seem to "hear a different drummer" - for example, when it comes to what is important to me, especially in matters of faith (have been called a heretic because I believe that Jesus Christ is indeed the Savoiour of ALL men). There are other areas as well, but that (for me) is the primary focus.
I believe abortion is wrong - that people are more important than animals.
Also, forgiveness - for the believer, it is not an option, it is a must. It does not depend on feelings; it does not mean the one forgiven is right. It is, simply, something that I am constrained to do by the love of Christ in me. He forgave me, He forgave ALL. We are to do the same. I realize that for one who is not a believer, a Christian, forgiveness is probably not possible - it is He in us that enables us to do so.
Amen.

A few questions

Here are a few questions (from 250 in all) that will help to clarify God's plan of salvation as set forth in the Holy Bible, so that when questions are asked, correct answers can be given. To those holding a limited view of God's plan of salvation, they are truly Questions Without Answers, but, to those who rely on God's Word, the answers become apparent as His truth is revealed to them. The questions were written by A. C. Thomas and appeared in a book by E. H. Lake, entitled "The Key to Truth".

Now the Questions:

1. As we are required to love our enemies, may we not safely infer that God loves His enemies? (Matt. 5:44)
2. If God loves His enemies, will He punish them more than will be for their good?
3. Would endless punishment be for the good of any being?
4. As God loves His friends, if He loves His enemies also, are not all mankind the objects of His love?
5. If God loves those only who love Him, what better is He than the sinner? (Luke 6:32-33)
6. As "love thinketh no evil," can God design the ultimate evil of a single soul? (1 Cor. 13:5)
7. As "love worketh no ill," can God inflict, or cause, or allow to be inflicted, an endless ill? (Rom. 13:10)
8. As we are forbidden to be overcome by evil, can we safely suppose that God will be overcome by evil? (Rom. 12:21)
9. Would not the infliction of endless punishment prove that God HAD been overcome by evil?
10. If man does wrong in returning evil for evil, would not God do wrong if He was to do the same?
11. Would not endless punishment be the return of evil for evil?
12. As we are commanded "to overcome evil with good," may we not safely infer that God will do the same? (Rom. 12:21)
13. Would the infliction of endless punishment be overcoming evil with good?
14. If God hates the sinner, does the sinner do wrong in hating Him?
15. Is God a changeable being? (James 1:17)
16. If God loves His enemies now, will he not always love them?
17. Is it just for God to be "kind to the evil and unthankful," in their present life? (Luke 6:35)
18. Would it be unjust for God to be kind to all men in a future state?
19. If all men justly deserve endless punishment, will not those who are saved, be saved unjustly?
20. If God "will by no means clear the guilty," by what means can just punishment be evaded? (Ex. 34:7)

These are truly provocative questions...and the author of the above is exactly right; when we do not see God's "ultimate intention," then they are unanswerable.

But when we do see Him who is Lord of all, Lover of all, Saviour of all, Blesser of all, then the answer to each question is...obvious. PTL that the day is coming, in HIS time, when all shall see Him as what He has declared Himself to be - Saviour of the world, and All in all. Amen.