 What's depicted in the picture above is NOT THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS!
Here's how I see it: God Loved us so much that He became one of us to show us what humanity was created to look like (Love). We rejected Him and killed Him. Nevertheless, The Power of Love and forgiveness triumphed over the power of hate, sin, and death. This forever incarnate, glorified, risen, and ascended representative of all mankind shall forever be one of us. God Himself formed this union to totally identify with us so that we could forever totally identify with Him. His Life is now our Life through His Spirit. We are now free to receive Love, be Love, and give Love! The message of the cross is one of pure Love...not anger, bloodlust, vengeance, and appeasement.
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 I don't have to wait for God to "show up" and I never have to "enter His Presence" or pull Him through the roof. He's always HERE...in me, above me, below me, and beside me...extending beyond what the universe can contain.
I don't need to take a pilgrimage or worry about special buildings. I worship Him in Spirit and in Truth! My body is His Temple! I'm also a precious, lively stone in His corporate Temple...not made with hands! I don't have to get Him to Love, Value, Cherish, or Accept me. He always has and always will. I don't have to get Him to speak. I must simply rest and listen to what He's saying vs. trying to conjure up what I want to hear. If the melody that I'm hearing isn't accompanied by a harmony that screams, "Abba (DADDY), Father!", "You Belong!", "You, My Beloved son, are Deeply and Infinitely Loved, Perfectly Accepted, and Highly Favored!", I'm either not hearing Him or my partial hearing has tuned out the most important frequency. He can't possibly Love me any more or less than He does at this moment. God is Love! While I desire to be sensitive to His guidance, I don't have to be paranoid about being at the right place at the right time with the right people. The right Person dwells in me and Loves every person in every place. I have simply been given the privilege to let Him Love them through me as He directs. My prayers have nothing to do with conjuring up a distant deity and begging Him for stuff or to do stuff. I simply get to participate in the perpetual conversation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I don't have to worry about titles or the praises of men. He calls me His son! His delight and affirmation are more than enough! Blessings! -Joe  The Virgin Birth shall forever convey the truth that the womb is far greater than the publishing house and the Son is far greater than a book that is filled with accounts of humanity's contradictions and misunderstandings of the Father while masterfully pointing us directly to Him through the Son. Jesus is not ink on paper. He is Divinity wrapped in Humanity! I'm reminded that Jesus is greater than the Law and the Prophets whenever I think of the Mount of Transfiguration. Like Peter, men are bent on building three co-equal tabernacles for Moses and Elijah but the Father will have none of it. In that Biblical account, the two disappear and only THE LOGOS (The Word of God/God's Perfect Logic) remains, and His Name is Jesus! We can appreciate the Law and the Prophets, but the Father commands us to HEAR THE SON while assuring us that His Voice is all-sufficient and far greater than the Law and the Prophets who were groping in the dark while longing for Him Who ALONE is the Brightness of the Father's Glory and the Express Image of His Person. Jesus is the only One Who could say, "He who has seen me has seen the Father". The Bible is like a series of love letters that invite us to the marriage bed. We should deeply appreciate our Bibles and be lifelong students of its texts, but not at the expense of behaving like a newlywed bride who is more obsessed with a book that whets her appetite for intimacy than intimacy itself. Blessings! -Joe |
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