Who Is This God?
A recent Chuck Colson Breakpoint Commentary takes on The Shack for an alleged low view of Scripture and for diminishing the glory of God. As Wayne and Brad respond to his premise, and other listener email, they find themselves probing the question, "Who Is This God?" Is he the angry judge waiting for the opportunity to destroy those who won't do things his way, or is he reaching out with love and compassion for those who are lost in sin? How you view God will decisively affect not only how you live with him and but also what you pass on to others of his life and nature.
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Great podcast.
I heard someone say one time that God’s grace is the ability of Papa to perform that which we are unable. When Jesus said , “Go and sin no more.” those were words of grace to the person. They already knew they couldn’t perform well enough to be accepted by Papa. Also, that was Old Covenant and we are not under it any longer. The New Covenant is a covenant of grace: God’s ability to perform through us because He lives in us by his Spirit. “…Christ in you…” (Col. 1:27).
When our focus is on sin, we will sin. When our focus is on Jesus, He will perform the acts of righteousness through us. Unless we realize that we are loved and accepted by Papa just as we are, we will continue to try to perform on our own. When we accept Christ we participate in His death on the cross. (Gal. 2:20) And Jesus cried out “It is Finished!”. There is nothing left to do.
It is by His love and grace through the cross that we are righteous, holy and acceptable.
Well, I apologize if I sound like I’m preaching. But most people believe, I know I did, that when we get saved, God creates a new and improved version of us. No, He doesn’t!
In Christ,
Chas
In the letter that was read, the writer struggles with understanding God in the way B & W describe Him or as John MacArthur and others do. I continue to find statements like these strange given that these people supposedly have their own relationship with God.
If one has a relationship, one already has experiential knowledge of who this God is. It may not be what others describe, for such is the nature of relationships, but it is what is real for that person.
I also found it strange that B & W attempted to use logic to uphold their view of God instead of pointing the writer to God Himself to define this relationship. You can’t live someone else’s experience of God.
I have been catching up on the GJ podcasts for the last few months (started at #1 about 3 months ago) and got to this one today..
First off, can I say – this Pod and the last 3 have been so very full of good and juicy stuff! I definitely going back to listen to these again!!
It was good hearing you talking about planning (or not) – I think Dad has been showing me this lately – I watched Dan in real life last week, and one of the last lines of the film, Dan talks just about this – About not making ‘plans’ but rather ‘planning for surprise’ – which really spoke to me. I’ve started blogging things just to keep track of my own journey – and it is always good to see how Dad talks and then confirms things a little while later.
Thank you again for chatting about life the way you guys do – I just finished The Shack yesterday, and have been really blessed at how Dad has used His relationship with you to shine a light on the path that He wants us all to walk down..
Even though I haven’t met you guys, I can feel I have grown to love you (and others on the forum, like Kent and Brandon), as I’ve read and heard of how Papa is drawing your hearts toward Him, as He is and has been drawing mine (even when I’ve been willy-nilly running off in my own misconstrued independence).
In trying to explain this to others, I’ve used this – it’s as if I’ve been looking at the back of a television for the last 20-odd years, wondering if this really is all there is, and all of a sudden, the tv has been turned around, and I’m beginning to experience what I was meant to find all along..
So thank you. 🙂
together in Him,
Cam.