Think Wink.

1 John 4:8, 16 says, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love...we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”  Here we learn one of the many deep facits of God’s character.  It is important to know that God is a loving God.  He loves all that are his own.  His love is pure and undefiled.  It is a love that is righteous and just.  Does this love extends to all of the world equally?  I say know.  Turn to Ephesians 5:25,

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

Many people do not fully take the time to read this verse in its entirety and read its full implications.  Here the text is in the part of Ephesians that speaks of how a husband and wife should interact with each other inside a Christian marriage.  Following this passage Paul speaks of how children should interact inside a family with their parents.

Now examine the command here, “Husbands, love your wifes.”  It is a command to agape your bride.  Now in what way are husbands to love their wives?  In the same way that Christ loves.  Paul says, “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”  Note what it says carefully.  Christ loved the church so much that he gave himself for her.  The Greek word that Paul uses for “gave” is used in Ephesians 5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  Paul is meaning this giving up as the sacrifice made on the cross.  He loved his bride, his church, so much that he went to the cross for them.

Notice what Paul didn’t say in this text, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the world and gave himself up for it.”  Paul said in stead “church” and “her.”  God loves the church in a way that he was moved to sacrifice the Son for her.  God does not love the world in the same way.  All husbands who read this, will you tell me that you would sacrifice for some woman you have randomly met on the street or even the closest girl to you in the same way that you would for your wife?  I would hope not.  Would she be that special to your heart?  Observing my dad, he will not let myself or anyone else speak negatively of his wife.  Not even his own children nor anyone else in or out of his family.  He does not tolerate it.  Why?  Because she is his wife!  This is the love that Paul speaks of here in this text between a husband and wife and between Christ and the church.

I plead with my brothers and sisters to not put limits on God’s love so that it has to only be an egalitarian love for the whole world and that he cannot love the church in one way and everyone else in another way.  Yes Jesus loves the world.  It is his creation.  If he did not love it, why go through all of the effort to renew it in Revelation 21-22?  But that renewal is for the bride to dwell with her Husband.  I plead that you will pray for that love that God has for his bride to fall upon you if you have never experienced that special love.

Justice and equality.

Mercy and Equality

Edwards, Mercy, Fairness, and Predestination

Last night I had a revelation. I love Greek. I have been officially learning Greek for the last three weeks. I have studied independently and haven’t countered what is in my text books so I wasn’t too far off. Last night I was reading in my Greek New Testament and realized that in only three weeks I can now translate Galatians 1:1-3. That is exciting to me. I have enough vocabulary and a basic knowledge of the articles and 2nd declension to know almost precisely what the Greek is saying.

I find myself wishing that I hadn’t taken Spanish at SBU. I seems to be becoming more and more of a waste of credit hours. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are benefits to knowing Spanish in today’s world. However, I am going to need a knowledge of the Greek if I am going to effectively preach my flock the word of God. It is like my Greek professor said, with a regular telescope, a person can see some beautiful stars. But those stars are hazy and blurred. With the Hubble Telescope, all of those stars come in clear because the atmosphere no longer hazes the image. The lens of the telescope has a clear shot at the stars. The same applies to Greek. I can study and know the word of God, but it will be hazy and almost incomplete of intimate details. Knowing the Greek language makes the text come alive and brings me into a more intimate knowledge of the word.

I wish that all would learn Greek, and even Hebrew for the Old testament, so that they can draw closer to God and share in my excitement in reading the exact meaning of what the biblical writers wrote. It is so exciting.

Pre-Pre-load Psalm

Thoughts in Light of 9/11

Pure Enjoyment