Day Three

Our Quote for the day is:

"The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?"

The one strong belief that I have, that my friends do not agree with concerns issue's of doctrine.  A popular theologian among my friends is John Piper.  John likes to say that God's ultimate purpose was to glorify His son.  I will hear preaching about how its OK that God wants all the glory because he is God.

I completely disagree with John Piper on this issue.  I believe God's ultimate purpose in creation is for his son to marry the created bride which is the church.  And by saying the church I mean, those who trust in Jesus and his incarnation, life and sacrifice in our place on the cross as the only thing that makes us worthy of being loved.  His humility in coming to earth taking on human form and then taking on our guilt and punishment on the cross, communicates God's love and passion for us as the pinnacle of creation in a manner that is devastatingly delightful in its implications.  Now most of my Christian life, I held beliefs that we had some merit in ourselves that warranted our salvation.  But I have come to the conclusion that we have no merit within our broken selves, but that God establishes that merit in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God establishes that there is merit enough in everyone of us.  All we have to do is believe that he thinks that way about us.  It is God who makes us worthy, through his son, to be loved.  And if we can humble ourselves to that thought, only through God, but completely through God, I am worthy to be loved and lovable, well that changes everything.

When I begin to believe I am lovable and begin to love the fact that I am lovable a fruit will appear in my life.  The fruit is if I can love myself, and I know more faults about myself, I can loathe myself, hate myself, but if I can receive this love and allow it to exist in me, God's love, so that I love myself too, I have compassion for myself too, I endure myself too, then the fruit is I end up loving other people more, I have more grace for other people, I have more compassion for other people.

So the belief that I have, that others do not is this.  God's purpose in all of creation was to create a bride that he would fall in love with and become one with.  That bride is me and everyone who believes that God is good and rewards those who seek Him.  Jesus Christ came to earth to make salvation possible for all who would believe in Him.  I do think that Christianity is the only religion where God pursues and provides for the salvation of his people.  Most other religions are works based programs of earning salvation, as are many of the beliefs in fundamental Christianity circles.

When we get hold of the concept that God is crazy about us, that he loves us, understands our frame, is gracious, long suffering, slow to anger, rich in mercy, the whole world can change.  I think this is best communicated with the belief that God's ultimate purpose was to create a bride and become one with her in marriage.

What a concept to become one with God!