Friday, October 14, 2016

14 October 2016 - the installment plan

Do not be afraid.
You are worth more than many sparrows.



We are unafraid but not because we are naive. We know that the threat of Gehenna is real. We don't need to fear for our bodies precisely because we understand the reality of eternity. We know that this life is the blink of an eye in the grand scheme. But when we realize how much God loves us we don't even need to fear hell. Right now we still have darkness in our lives. We have things which would embarrass us to have spoken in broad daylight. We need to realize that God wants to bring light to our darkness. We also have the truth of Jesus and yet refuse to proclaim it from the housetops. But God wants to help us to shout it out.

Perfect love casts out fear (see First John 4:18). God's love for us is perfect. To the degree that we open ourselves to this knowledge we begin to trust God even with our process, even with our brokenness. We begin to realize that union with him isn't our project that he begrudgingly accepts. It is his idea.

In Christ we were also chosen,
destined in accord with the purpose of the One
who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will,
so that we might exist for the praise of his glory,
we who first hoped in Christ.

Because union with God is God's idea he will do it. Unless we stop him. We still have free will and he allows us to choose to resist him if we insist on it. But if we do not rebel against the word of truth he won't let our weakness prevent us from coming to our final inheritance, redemption as God's possession, to the praise of his glory.

For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.

If we experience fear about this mortal life we need to remember eternity. If we experience fear about eternity we need to remember God's love. We need to experience more of the Holy Spirit, with whom we were sealed, "which is the first installment of our inheritance". Not the first installment of our wages. Not the first installment of something earned. It is the first installment of our destiny, something gratuitous, based entirely on the perfect love of God.



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