RonParrs.com: Notes from My Desk...

Jesus's Wall

Virtually everyone who has walked planet earth, male or female, young or old, rich or poor, has come to a wall in their individual life.

A "wall" is that seemingly impenetrable barrier that prevents us from moving forward with our lives. The wall can be financial or relational or physical (think of your health) or professional. For some it may even be spiritual.

The wall is not easily overcome. It is too wide or big to go around; too tall to go over; too foundational to go under. You could retreat from the wall, but it's not going away. You do have to face it and come right up to it because frankly, you don't have a choice. We discussed walls last time.

We all come to a wall. Even Jesus Christ, co-Creator of the Universe, Lord of all, came to a Wall.

The Grace of Adversity

Whoever likes adversity, please raise your hand.

No takers? I thought so.

Let's face it no one in their right mind likes adversity. Each of us does want smooth sailing and 100% cooperative relationships. But the fact remains that we human beings live in an imperfect and fallen world (although that certainly wasn't the case in the beginning), with imperfect and fallen people. Not only are people the problem, but often times it's Nature in the forms of bad weather, earthquakes, pestilence, etc. We are oftentimes surrounded by and in adversity.

And then in our desire to overcome, we fight it. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don't. Adversity (in whatever its form) will remain.

I personally don't like adversity. Not only does adversity suck, but it also sucks the life out of me. Sleep is lost. Confidence is lost. Potential good relationships are lost. Sometimes even health and wealth are lost. Over the last five years, I have been pounded by wave after wave of adversity; business shortfalls, teen issues with my children, loss of property, even severe health. And yet, here I am standing. A little battered. A little bruised. But standing none the less.

The Most Silent of Days

From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, Christians around the world will celebrate the foundation of our faith.

To me, Easter or Resurrection Sunday is the most amazing holiday on the calendar. It is the one religious holiday I look forward to all year long. Easter fulfills the promise of Christmas. Easter is the believers' guarantee of life itself, even unto eternity. We must not take it for granted.

Easter week begins on Palm Sunday with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Jesus is very busy about His Father's business, whether it's cleansing the temple or teaching His disciples or teaching the crowds. Coming into Thursday (Maundy Thursday as many denominations refer to it), brings the Passover celebration and Jesus' Last Supper.

Good Friday, as awful as it is on its surface, is an incredible day. Jesus takes the earthly beating meant for each and every one of us and heals us ("by His wounds we are healed" Isaiah 53:5 ESV). Finally, Jesus is crucified thereby satisfying the Father's demand of atonement and sacrifice; it is the final and all sufficient sacrifice for all of eternity past and present to restore the relationship between God and man that had been broken so many thousands of years earlier by the simple breaking of the one command that God had given them; don't eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ponder that for a moment if you will. Adam and Eve only had ONE rule to follow, one command to not break. All that I'll add is the fact that God is pure and holy and His standard is perfection. It is a standard that none of us can come close to.

Measuring Men - God's Way

We are to be God's Image bearers. How are we measuring up?

That's what you call a loaded question. Really loaded.

Although mankind (both men and women) are created in God's Image by His own hand, we men (sorry ladies, but God created us first then saw that we would need a little help...) are called to a higher standard. Frankly that's a standard that we have been neglecting almost from the beginning.

God called us to be His direct representative, His viceroy if you will, on planet earth. He called and created us to make the earth and everything in it and on it subject to man for the purpose of bringing glory to God, the Creator of all things.

But soon enough, Adam abdicated his responsibilities, missed the mark and fell. And we've been struggling to get back up ever since.

Galatians: Going Beyond Legalism

Paul's Epistle to the Galatian church is hard hitting!

I'll just let you be teased with that comment now and you'll see why I say that in quick time.

Over the years, this book has become one of my favorites. In my opinion, Galatians comes only second to Romans when laying out a solid foundation for our Faith in Christ and for Christianity itself.

You'll hear it said that Christianity is not about a religion, but it is about a relationship.

This is going to be an interesting study... Going through the book of Galatians is not a simple verse by verse study. As you read it through, you'll find that Paul goes back and forth and criss-crosses many tenets of the Faith as he speaks to the Galatian churches of the first century.

I'm going to leave my remarks there and encourage you to get into the study.

Please read this epistle all the way through. It shouldn't take much more than about 30 minutes total. Just read it - don't think about it. Don't "study" it. Just read it through - a couple of times. A few things will become very plain. You'll see...

Week 1 - Introduction. The who, what, when, why, where of the study. Background and cultural context is necessary in understanding and then applying any book of the Bible, but may be more so with Galatians - at least in the New Testament books. Discussion notes.

Week 2 - One Gospel. There is only ONE Gospel. That's it. This is the key to unlocking not only the Book of Galatians, but also understanding the bedrock of Christianity.

 

God's Love, Part 4: Unfinished Business

A couple of things are still bothering me and I feel the need to try and wrap them up with this whole love discussion.

And so we have some unfinished business to attend to.

To say that love is "complicated" is an understatement whether in God's terms and economy or according to ours. Love may be "a many splendid thing" but as we have already talked about in the preceeding parts, love is composed of many parts or attributes or facets. Love is made up of ideas and emotions and perhaps most importantly, actions. Love just doesn't sit out there waiting for something to happen, it is a verb; love is active.

If you want to describe love, the best analogy I can think of is the wind. You can't see the wind itself, but you can feel it (whether it is warm or cold), it touches you. The wind also causes other things like leaves or sail boats to move. In other words, you can see and feel the effects of the wind. Love is similar in that you can't directly see it, but you can experience its effects on yourself and other people.

God's Love, Part 3: Sovereignty, Surrender & Submission

"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done."

Everyday tens of millions of people around the world recite those words as part of their prayer time. Those words are prayed in public and in private. For some, those words are part of a rote exercise, but for others that phrase is a heartfelt plea to the Almighty.

I'm going to go out on a limb and make the statement that some people understand those words while most do not. It's not so much that people don't understand the words, but they don't understand what they're truly asking God and the implications that will come from or through those words.

Unfortunately, we may pray "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done" but in reality our hearts are praying "Thy Kingdom come, MY will be done." We want God's Kingdom to be fully present and operational here on earth, here in our lives. We want God making a difference in our lives and in the lives of our families, friends, loved ones, our businesses, our investments, our giving to the poor, our philanthropies. But the crux of the problem is that we want His will to be done according to our (my) needs and from our (my) perspective.

God's Love, Part 2: Freewill & Forgiveness

"If God is Love, then why is the world in such a mess? Why doesn't He do something about it? I guess God either doesn't care or can't do anything about it..."

The harsh reality is that we live in a fallen world that is rife with sinning sinful people and at least on the surface, appears to be careening out of control into a nuclear oblivion. That picture is a picture of the furthest thing from God's Love. Remember, until we understand how God loves, and then put it into practice, we won't be able to love freely or fully. We won't even be able to love and live as abundantly as He has created us all to be, and therefore, this stressed out world will never be the paradise we believe it should be. That's the problem: we want the world to look a certain way, our way and not necessarily God's way or design - that idea was lost or corrupted a long time ago.

The fact remains that God still has his remnant living in the world and almost more importantly, God still loves ALL of mankind because we are created in His image for the purpose of reflecting His glory. In the end, God's Will will be done; He will not be thwarted. But right now, it just doesn't seem that way.

Plus, we still haven't answered our unbelieving friends' questions of: If God is love, then how could He allow this mess? Why is there poverty? Why does God allow death and destruction? Why does God allow murder and rape? And so on.

After that they make statements such as: God just doesn't care. God must be totally impotent. God is mean (especially in the context of the death of a loved one or a miscarriage or miscarriage of justice). You know the phrases of condemnation.

A Human Picture of God's Plan of Adoption

What picture comes to your mind when I say the word "adoption"?

Some of you will think of a childless couple lovingly taking into their arms a precious infant or toddler for the first time. Others of you will think of abandoned and unkept young children (toddlers) left to almost fend for themselves in the disasterous orphanages of Romania, and how many were taken by Americans and Europeans and given better lives in loving homes.

Both of those pictures are true and truly lovely. Adoption is a wonderful thing. Adoption is a life-changing thing for both child and parents. Since we celebrate Adoption Month in the month of November, I wanted to put out a few of my thoughts on this very important topic.

A Christian Response to God's Love, Part 1

John 3:16, says: "For God so loved the world..."

That Bible address is quite ubiquitous. We see it virtually everywhere. All kinds of sports stadiums and events. It's written on placards and even on peoples faces or bodies.

We Christians - forgive me for saying this - almost bandy this wonderful verse of hope and truth about. We read it and repeat it; we even love and cling to this verse, but do we understand it and its implications and can we properly explain it to our friends, relatives, co-workers, fellow students or strangers?

Jesus speaking to Nicodemus (a learned man and leader in his own right) told him specifically what He was about and what God the Father had always wanted to communicate to His creation. Nicodemus realized that there was something miraculous about Jesus and as a devout Jew desired to see and experience God's Kingdom first hand, but like many of that time, Nicodemus misunderstood this first coming of Messiah. Nearly everyone expected a conquering hero and very few realized that Messiah would be a suffering servant. I would go futher to say that they lacked this understanding because they didn't understand, or better yet apprehend, the true essence of Who God is and what He's really all about.