Out On A Limb with: "Dad Ain't Mad"
When I was a young boy one of the things that quickly "set me off" was
to talk terrible or begrudgingly about my dad. Now I know everything
about my father wasn't perfect and some of the things said, to some
extent about him, might even be true; but I still didn't want you
"talkin' that way" about him. Being "earthly" he was as much human as
spiritual, and that human part came with flaws. But don't talk bad
about him in front of me! If you do I'm going to "take you on" about
it! You see I knew my dad, and I understood his heart and purpose in
life. What I believed and said about my dad made a difference in how
close we were and how much I put trust in him to be "my dad."
I'm using the reference to my father to begin a conversation about
hurricane Katrina and about the comments being made from many people I
meet each day. You see people are talkin' bad about Dad (the Heavenly
One). Now I recognize that believers are entitled to see the Gospel in
their unique way and sometimes the expressions used in our
conversations aren't meant the way they sound. Let me run an example by
you. "God sent judgment on those people (New Orleans)". Well, let's see
if that "washes" as they say. If I told people that, I would be saying
"My God," "Our Father," sent a "mighty wind" to kill thousands of
mothers and fathers, babies, the elderly, the rich, the poor, evil
people and good people, believers and unbelievers. Churches were
destroyed and businesses were shut down. Hospitals lost electricity;
doctors were stranded from their families. Police and soldiers risked
their lives to help the helpless. Homes, hotels, banks, warehouses,
post offices, government facilities, dentists, physicians, pastors,
children, schools, orphans, nursing homes, water facilities, sanitation
facilities, clinics, pharmacies, grocery stores, over 10 Christian
radio stations silenced, jails, courts, cars, buses, trucks, retirees,
employees, family pictures and keepsakes, all family possessions,
roads: all destroyed…. The tears, the disease and the hurt multiplied
by the thousands, perhaps millions of people. Raping, robbing and
looting! The hours, the days, the weeks, the months of relocation. And,
by hitting just east of the center of New Orleans, the "wind" took out
neighbors in Mississippi and Alabama (but left the French Quarter and
Bourbon Street pretty much in tact)! There is ninety thousand square
miles of destruction. Perhaps as much as 120 billion dollars will be
required to clean up and set up "Orleans" and the surrounding area once
again. There is an economic "ripple" where everyone in this country
will have an increase in their financial burdens and stress. Does that
sound like our Father? Is He a God who would give a stone rather than
bread?
Folks, unbelievers are listening to us! Is this the God we tell them
about? Is that the same God that asks the weary, the poor, and the
troubled to "come unto me"? I just can't talk about "Dad" that way. In
the earthly, we'd convict that kind of father of child abuse. Yet in
the Heavenly, we paint the Father with sweeping accusations of grief
and "never bat an eye." We plant his "fingerprints" all over New
Orleans and never think a thing about it.
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There's
a point in time and Scripture that something unique happened. It's
identifiable with the separation of the old and the new covenant.
There, a "wrath" was poured out and a righteous anger was displayed ON
JESUS as he hung on the cross. The entire wrath of God was pored out on
him in that one moment. Our chastisement was upon Him. A solemn oath
was given when the Father accepted the blood and death of Jesus as a
substitute for OUR deserved wrath. Jesus took it all for us! And even
though we might deserve a terrible wrath from a Holy God, that wrath
has already been spent on Jesus on our behalf! (Isaiah 54) ["…now being
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
(Romans 5:9) "…reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the Word of
Reconciliation." (2Corinthians 5:19) "…He hath not dealt with us after
our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities". (Psalm 103:10)
"…He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might
become the Righteous in Him (2Corinthians 5:21)]
By Law,
we're all guilty. Bottom line: believers are not justified by the Law.
Only through the Grace and Mercy of God can anyone stand justified. In
some sense, this whole country, any one of the states, all the cities
and each American deserve a "wrath" because of our actions. And, if
guilty of one, we're, by nature, guilty of all. We're all qualified for
wrath apart from the blood and resurrection of Jesus. It's grace we
receive not justice! Heaven forbid we receive for what we do! For each
of us, there would be a little burned up spot right where we stand if
we got what we deserved! We must remember we're reconciled by His life
not our life.
That's not to say that what we do doesn't matter! Sure it does. We
can't avoid or choose the consequences of our "sinning," and there will
always be consequences! In this earth, a rule has been written in the
Creation: you reap what you sow! That's the way the world works. It was
God's great Wisdom that "clued" us into the knowledge of that,
forewarned us of that. I'm afraid our harvest will be great. We've sown
rebellion and "self-righteousness" for many years now and I expect that
the fields are "heavy" with that crop. But, choosing to separate
ourselves from Him doesn't bring His wrath. Sin brings forth "death"
(barrenness) as a consequence for those actions. We live in "calamity"
when we choose against Him rather than for Him. Loving the Darkness
brings it's own judgment. The Father, in His Love, has tried to share
that wisdom with us from the beginning of His Creation.
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I
understand I'm not right about everything I believe concerning the
Gospel. And, if I'm wrong somewhere, then perhaps I'm wrong about this.
But, I will enter into the Father's arms declaring His great Love and
Grace and not His Wrath. He so loved that He gave, and He gave while we
were still in our sins! He gave in a time of our un-righteousness!
According to Scripture, a double-minded man should expect nothing. I've
made up my mind about the Father. He's trying to find a way to deliver
people in New Orleans rather than trying to find a way to create the
scene I listed earlier in this letter. Where's God's Glory in the
pictures we've been seeing? I can't say those things about my Dad and I
object to painting a picture of Him like that to unbelievers. God is
good and no evil dwells in Him. According to 1Corinthians 13, God is
Love and Love is defined as not thinking evil and not returning evil
for evil. If God "hurricaned" New Orleans, then we should embrace it.
We should shout for Joy about it. We should ask God to send more. We
should not build up what He has torn down. If we can't do those things,
then lets not blame Him for those things. In this world there is
trouble, but He came for this reason: that we might overcome the world!
He's delivering Hope and Love and offering deliverance. For God is
Good! Period! He is a God of Mercy not Misery.
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I
greatly benefited from my "knowing" my dad's heart. I knew how he
thought and trusted what he did for his family. My perspective of him,
how I viewed him, made a huge difference in the intimacy I experienced
with him. Because I knew he cared about me, loved me, worked hard to
provide a place for me, I "understood" him and never doubted that he
would only do the best for me. When things happened to me that were
troublesome, I never had to try and figure out if they were from him or
not; I knew they were not from him.
I'm never
suspicious of the bad things we see being from God. I won't say that
about Him because I really believe "Dad ain't mad"! He is well pleased
with Christ and I am in Christ. "Peace on Earth and Good Will toward
all men," signed The Father. |
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