Good evening, dear friends.
For whatever its worth, I’m sending along a little result of my morning musings. It’s been a while.
Things have been both normally and abnormally busy around here. We have two little boys here at present—staying for over a week.
A couple of changes have taken place recently in the dog department. Max, our yellow lab, was seriously sick for two weeks following what we believe to be an intake of rat poison. Not sure where he got it. But we had him put down about two weeks ago. Then one week ago, we took custody of a new canine, a German shepherd puppy, Thano’s dog. Thano named him Tazzy. I’ll stick on a photo.
I’m surprised I’m still awake. I think it’s time for me to go see if I can stop being awake.
Blessings on your sleeping and your waking. Ray.
It may be helpful for all of us to get the answer to this very important and valid question clearly nailed down: WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT OVERARCHING THEME OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE? If we were to gather the most common answers from a cross-section of people we would probably hear guesses like LOVE, or PEACE, or UNITY, or THE GOLDEN RULE, or maybe THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. But I believe the most accurate answer could be stated in two parts—a form of BAD NEWS and GOOD NEWS.
I cannot avoid being amused with the probability that the most well-known Gospel song (“Gospel”, by the way, means GOOD NEWS) in the world could very well be AMAZING GRACE. So a large percentage of people all over the world know the line, “Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a WRETCH like me…” The irony is that I would guess that only a small percentage of those same people truly regard themselves as HOPELESS SINNERS. If that is true, it offers glaring evidence that they have never really grasped the essential BAD NEWS component of the Biblical Gospel.
Within this chapter, there is no mistaking the absolute essential value Paul places on THE CROSS OF CHRIST as a demonstration of God’s love and grace, as well as His attitude toward the seriousness of SIN/THE BAD NEWS. Understanding this also helps us understand how inexcusable and intolerable it is to ignore or minimize the importance of the Biblical GOOD NEWS when God has gone to such drastic measures to provide it—the one and only antidote to the BAD NEWS.
I am impacted again by these lines: “To preach the message of the cross seems like sheer nonsense to those who are on their way to destruction, but to us who are on our way to salvation, it is the mighty power of God released within us” (v. 17, TPT). “So where is the wise philosopher who understands? Where is the expert scholar who comprehends? And where is the skilled debater of our time who could win a debate with God? Hasn’t God demonstrated that the wisdom of this world system is utter foolishness?” (v. 20, TPT) “He (God) took great delight in baffling the wisdom of the world by using the simplicity of preaching the story of the cross in order to save those who believe it” (v. 31, TPT).
Let’s be on guard and alert to any opinion, idea, or doctrine that would “empty the cross of its true power” (v. 17, TPT).