Good Wednesday morning! Considerably warmer out last night and this morning. I don't mean that we'll be throwing the lawn chairs outside and having a barbecue for breakfast, but after yesterday the temp is a big relief. Sometimes a little clarity brought on by a bit of 'worse' makes us appreciate the 'better' more. About ten thousand years ago, or when I found myself chained to a desk in second grade, I gave up on my dream of becoming a fighter pilot. Yup, spectacles, glasses, four-eyes, and all the fun that goes with near-sightedness came into my life. No doubt the teacher, Mrs. Reichart if I can recall back that far, betrayed the sight of my squinting little mug to my parents. The conspiracy then brought in the eye doctor and I suffered the consequence. Those spectacles would be with me in one form or the other for many years. The other form being in several pieces from various youth 'sports'. The spectacles did provide some small advantages in my schooling though, such as the ability to read the board, consisting of slate and chalk back in prehistoric times, and avoid bumping into walls and teachers and such.
Seeing clearly is something we must do when opening God's word. While some of us need spectacles to read and others do not, all of us will find the need for something to make God's word clear to us. In the years of unbelief, I was like that squinty little kid back in the day. I could read the Word up close, but I often failed to see the application to my life. My application needed a certain negative reinforcement in those days. Steal something - get spanked. Lie to the teacher - get spanked. Break things - get spanked. You get the pattern. What God wanted from me is to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and obey out of love. We can all be trained up to avoid the rod, but we need some spiritual spectacles to read the Word clearly.
Belief in Jesus brings to us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit reminds us of the Law by making clear what it is God wants us to see in His Word. As an unbelieving child I read God's desire to punish me and I trembled. Later in my growing years I would feel the guilt of having violated pretty much everything in the law through thought or deed. Without the Spirit, I still couldn't see clearly the grace and mercy in the Word, so I ran away from the church for a time. Through some eye-opening events in my life, the lost sheep got turned around and saw... Jesus! As a believing person, bought and paid for by Jesus at Calvary, I can read of God's love for us and embrace His law as right and good for me. God did not take delight in punishing Israel. He wanted His people to return to His tender care through worship and praise. God is not waiting in Heaven for the next sinner to step over some final tally of sin so that He can punt the little reprobate over the lake of fire. God is not willing that any of us should perish in our sins. Through the Spirit, I can read of forgiveness, mercy, justice, righteousness, grace, joy, peace, and of course, God's great love for you and me.
Rejoice in God's love today! Bucky
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