The Mystery of the Incarnation and Humanity of Jesus

clipped from www.enjoyinggodministries.com The Word became flesh / God became human / the invisible became visible / the untouchable became touchable / eternal life experienced temporal death / the transcendent one descended and drew near / the unlimited became limited / the infinite became finite / the immutable became mutable / the unbreakable became fragile /spirit became matter / eternity entered time / the independent became dependent / the almighty became weak / the loved became the hated / the exalted was humbled / glory was subjected to shame / fame turned into obscurity / from inexpressible joy to tears of unimaginable grief / from a throne to a cross / from ruler to being ruled / from power to weakness.

Amazing Love

clipped from firstimportance.org And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. “The paradox is amazing. The Creator assumed the human frailty of his creatures. The Eternal One entered time. The all-powerful made himself vulnerable. The all-holy exposed himself to temptation. And in the end the immortal died.” - John Stott, The Incomparable Christ

Biblical worth of a woman; Worth Reafirmed

Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Ravi Zacharias Against Atheistic Feminism

One speaker I have enjoyed much these last several months is Christian Philosopher Ravi Zacharias. Here at Penn State University in a Q&A he answers a young woman's question about the Bible's approach to women. Ravi responds with a concise picture of God's view of women in the Bible and confronts atheistic feminism.

Stop and look! There is good all around you.

We need to take some time to get away from our hectic schedules and the daily stress that fills our lives. We should take time to be aware of the gift of life and all the diverse beauty that is all around us. There are those who refuse to acknowledge the love of God because there is so much evil and pain in this life. But if God is the monster that some make him out to be why did he create a world full of color? Have you ever taken time during the fall season to thank God for the trees and their changing colors? This changing kaleidoscope of colors was created for your pleasure? God could have created us to eat only because of hunger, without the ability to enjoy the diverse tastes and numerous flavors of our foods. What about the gift of sex, have you ever thanked God for the enjoyment of sex? God could have created a world where sexual intercourse was only for procreation, and where the sexual act only caused pain and not pleasure. Think of the sense of touch and the God given ability to feel differing textures, this also is a gift. Have you ever thanked God for the ability to feel the warmth of a warm shower? Think of the many times when you came in from a very cold day and were able to sit by the fireplace and enjoy its comforting warmth. Think of the joy that comes from hearing a little child’s laughter, or your own ability to laugh. What would this world be like without the ability to cry? These are all wonderful gifts lavished on us by a God who loves all of humanity. The greatest of all gifts that God has given to us is the ability to love and to be loved, and the ability to be an instrument of comfort to those who are hurting. These are all gifts of God! Yes, in this world there is a mixture of evil and good, sorrow and joy, pain and pleasure, but as you can see even though we lack the ability to explain how God can be a God of love and yet allow evil to exist in this world; there is so much good in the midst of evil, that if we will open our eyes to it, it screams out to us every day that God loves us. Have you taken time to thank God this day for all the goodness he has abundantly bestowed upon you?

Do we work for eternal life or is it a gift?

Natural life itself is a free-gift given to us by God. We did not merit, nor earn it, nor did we deserve to be born into the natural world, but we were created by God’s choice. Spiritual life is also a gift of God's grace freely given to those who believe in Jesus. Now one of the ways we can tell the difference between a corpse and an individual that is alive is through the motion and workings of the body. Where there is human life there is movement, at the very least we will detect a heartbeat. Therefore, those who are spiritually alive (born again) have received from God a new heart with new affections whose strongest inclination is to love God and ones neighbor. This new hearts motion and bent leans towards a life of good works that desires to be pleasing to the Father who has adopted us. The Christian does not do good works to obtain eternal-life, but because we already possess eternal-life we do good works. The same principle applies to natural life, people work and move not to obtain life, but they do so because they already possess the gift of life. These distinctions are important to point out when discussing the subject of good works and how they relate to us as Christians. Bing good is not the way that a Christian obtains salvation (adoption into God's family).For a Christian Works are a sign of life a confirmation that we have already received forgiveness, and new life in Christ. The major difference between Christianity and other religions is, other religions require that you have to rescue yourself through obtaining more good works in this life than bad, and then you will receive the favor of God and paradise. But Christianity declares that you and I are totally helpless to rescue ourselves through our good deeds. therefore God sent His son from heaven to earth on a rescue mission to save those who are hopelessly lost and cannot save themselves. John 6:23 For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is not out to rain on your parade

God did not give His law to us in order to rain on our parade, or for the purpose of taking all the joy out of our lives. God’s law was given to deter us from the self-worship that results in broken relationships, shattered families, as well as dysfunctional communities. When Jesus was asked to explain what commandment was the greatest,
Jesus replied: 37" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matt 22: 37- 40).

As you can see the commandments were given for the purpose of creating healthy loving relationships first with God and then with our neighbors’. Can you imagine with me what this world would be like if everyone everywhere throughout the world kept these two commands perfectly; earth would be a utopia, love would reign supreme, and the earth would be at peace? God did not give his commands to us to take the joy out of our lives, but to show us the way to a world without evil, a world of peace and genuine love. Now none of us loves perfectly in this world therefore we will continue to live at odds with our Creator if we reject Jesus the only Saviour. Neighbors will continue to fight neighbors, and nations will continue to be at war with nations. Therefore none of us can point the finger at others as if they are the problem for we have all been unloving and have added to the sin problem. Humanity will never come to a place where we will love again perfectly in this present fallen world because our relationship with the God of love has been broken through our self-centered obsession. Therefore if God were to allow one unloving self- worshipping person into His coming Kingdom of love, that one individual would carry within them the seed of rebellion that would infect the world once again with evil, war, and fractured relationships. God would not be a God of love and righteousness if he allowed those into His kingdom who would once again pollute His perfect world. So we need to stop accusing God of being unloving for banishing all rebels to hell, for if He were to allow one rebel in heaven, heaven would no longer be heaven. None of us would like to enter a world after we die and then live again that is ruled by selfishness and greed again, such as this one! We have already infected this planet with our unloving self-centered way therefore humanity will never be able to bring about a world were peace and love reign. But one of the titles given to Jesus is the title of “prince of peace”. He will return to this earth and establish a world at peace, a world where there is nothing that ever dies or ever grows old, a world vibrant with life and no decay or rust. This is the world that all peoples have been invited to be a part of, is a community of perfect love. We have been commanded by God to reject our unloving self-centered ways and to receive the pardon for our sin’s that God through the cross of Christ has won for us. If we do so, we will be forgiven all of our selfishness and will be reconciled back into a right relationship with God. This world community of love is the heritage of all the adopted sons and daughters of God their loving Father. Believe!

It does not matter who you think God is! Does it?

Since the rebellion of Adam and Eve, humanity has belittled and demeaned our creator by worshiping and loving god’s who are not God at all but are figments of our evil imagination. We proclaim to be worshiping God when in reality we have fashioned gods that look allot like us. These are gods we can live with because they are under our control and power. This is why there are so many conflicting views about who God is. There are multitudes of peddlers on every street corner who will sell you the god who best conforms to your ideas of him or her. Humanity perceives God to be like a wet lump of clay that we can form and mold into whatever image suits our fancy. Of course it is obvious that if God is whatever you or I perceive him or her to be then there is no God, and he is just a figment of mans ingenuity and imagination. Many people speak of god as if he is a magic potion or panacea. We often here this said, if your idea of god makes you happy and a better person then your religion is good for you, or my view of god may differ from yours but they both lead to the same end by making us happier and better people.

If the above logic is true then God is not a person that has attributes of love, hate, likes and dislikes, he is just a collection of diverse ideas that supposedly makes people feel and act better. There is another possibility to consider though, and that is that God does truly exist (He is not just an idea) and demands to be loved and served as He truly is, and that He is angry every day to be misrepresented and slandered by the people He created and whose hearts He keeps beating.

• (NLT) Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.