A Love Story

It’s Easter and here in Australia there’s a four day break to mark the occasion. For many its a time to catch up with family and friends, while others it a chance to over indulged in chocolate. For very young its about the joy of the secretly of the Easter bunny and hunter for Easter Eggs.

But is this what Easter is really about?  Despite misconceptions for Christians Easter is the most holiest  event on the Christian Calender. It is a time of reflection as we remember the central core of our faith.  At the core of Christianity is the cross.  Without the cross our faith becomes meaningless.

So you may the wondering what is so important about a cross?  Hang-on I didn’t say a cross, I said THE CROSS! THE CROSS – that JESUS CHRIST was nailed to.  The cross was designed to put to death, men who broke the law, but also in the case of Christ THE CROSS was designed to up to death the growth of a new movement that threaten the major  religion of that period of history, Judaism.

THE CROSS Jesus was nailed to failed in its mission on both counts.  This is what as Christian we celebrated at Easter.  THE CROSS failed to end the life of Jesus.  He rose from the death, in doing so of we believe the Jesus defeated death itself.  By rising form the death Jesus destroyed the one thing that could separate us from his Father, the thing which God can not accept into the kingdom of heaven where He rein’s is sin. And THE CROSS failed in its mission to stop people following the teaching of Christ. Christianity continues to spread through the world.

The act of sin was introduce by mankind through the temptation of God’s arch emery Satin also known as the ‘devil’.  Where living in the garden entitled mankind to eternal life, the lies of the devil broke our trust with God.  “We became wise” – this was sin.  We thought for the first time we could question and reason with God. Mankind was and God vanish us from the garden, we then had to earn of food, buy growing our own crops.  Mankind was forced now to labour and the relationship between God and man was broken. Man and women would now die and experience total separation from God, whom he was created for the sole purpose to love God and be loved by God, sin through one act of rebellion destroyed this.

It would take a pure act of love to rebuild what man had destroyed. It would take THE CROSS!  For me Easter is a change to remember the greatest love story in history.  It dates our calendar and it dates history. The sole reason God who created the universe  became one of us was to die and break the chain of death that locked us out of the garden. But unlike us he resisted the temptation of the emery and temptation to sin.  At the time of his death no wronging doing could be found.  He was an unblemished sacrifice, mankind had finally killed God.

That was until Jesus defeated death by rising from death. By this defeat Satin had lost his hold on death and the sin that separated us from God. Jesus had restored the broken relationship between us and himself.  Because of the sufferings of Christ I will never experience the suffering of hell. However the cross did not destroy the free will of man nor the presence of sin. We are still banish from the garden and still have to toil to sustain our lives. The presence sin as death remain a reality of our lives and the results are visible all around us.  We remain wise like God and all too often we feel we know better than God.

The only way to break our personal chain of death is through the cross.  We have to acknowledged it was us the nailed Jesus to the cross. Each of us deserved to be nailed to the cross. However such was God’s love for us, he allowed his son, part of him to be nailed to the cross instead. The blood that was spilt during his death covers sin. 

We are still sinful but through the power of the cross our sins are block from God’s sight. You to can experience this joy of Easter has to offer through the forgiveness of the cross. I invite you to reflect too this Easter on God, his plans for us and the cross, the greatest love story in history. 

To know more visit Heaven 4 sure; The Message of The Gospel ; and Scripture Union

Social Justice . . . A Christian Response

Should Christians get involve in Social Justice? From the out set, I want to make it clear my answer is YES!  While Jesus made it clear our primary  roll here on earth is to be embarrasses of the gospel I believe his Sermon on the Mount give a clear mandate for .  Christians to be involved in seeks justice while we are on earth.

While we are not saved by our works our faith without works are dead.  Then Jesus answered them What I am about to tell you is the truth. Anything you did for the least of these, you did for me (Matthew 25:45) Jesus added the people who failed to care for people in need should depart from him.

Is there a better way to represent the gospel than to been seen as caring for the most at risk member members of our community?  Have said that, as a member of Pay It Forward community, I am a firm believer that every member of our community is deserving of being the recipient of kindness from another human being.

It is easy to see the needs of the homeless, single mums, people with disabilities, the poor, the hungry and those who are perhaps ‘broken in spirit’ in our community.  However, people’s needs are not always visible. 

We have not way of knowing if the person sitting next to us in the bus or the check-out chick is suffering emotionally, or even if they have a hidden disability. If we are fair dinkum about showing the compassion of Christ, then we should not be looking for the person ‘we think needs to be shown kindness the most.

Let us all act with compassion to out felloe man.

 

Made By Designed

As a Christian I believe my birth and circumstance leading to my disabilities were not the result of some random events that occurred on the 10 September 1968. Rather I was an individually designed by my heavenly father and I can with a special instruction book to help me developed and mature into the women of God, I am to day. Here’s what my instruction manual has to say about my birth.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me tother in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before even one of them came into being. How precious to me are your thoughts Lord. ( extracts of ps 139)

The user guide that I was give with my broken body said the following about its use and the author.

Your precepts were laid before me, O Lord. Oh that I steadfast obey your laws. That I would not be put to shame, having considered all that you have commend me, Even if I were to laid in the dust, you would preserve my life, according to your word. You have caused to have understanding of your laws. I will meditate on your wonderful deeds and consider the way I take the steps of my life.  Your hands have formed me and given me understanding, that your love and compassion may order my life. Oh how I delight in your law, which lights a path for my feet to follow. (Rephrased for Psalm 119).   

Yet even many Christian refute my interpretation of Psalm 139. A perfect God creates perfectly. Which we are told in Genesis Chapter 1  God saw all that he had made and it was good. However, I argue that that is just the beginning of the story. All was perfect until the fall in Genesis Chapter 3. Since then when have lived in a fallen and corrupt world, any read of the Old Testament makes that clear.

I do not believe God finished creating on the seventh day Then God blessed the seventh day and mad it holy, because on it he rested form all the work of creating he had done. (Genesis 2:3) Did you read that he ‘rested’ he didn’t stop the work of creating. It is difficult to read Psalm 139 and believe God stop creating on day 7. I believe God is still creating today.  He creates each individual to be individuals, whether they acknowledge it all not.

So why if we are fearful and wonderful made in the imagine of God are we not perfect. Well have you ever followed a cake recipe? Is  every cake you make using that recipe the same or does the imagine look the same.  We are created from a perfect imagine and we are perfectly created, that is not the same as being created perfect person. I have no problem with being perfectly created with a disability. Am I am less perfectly created that a person who acquires disability during the course of there life?  I don’t believe the is any thing in the user’s guide to support that analysis. We were born by design each with our on imperfections of being created in a perfect imagine, I believe only the original being was perfect, we know not even the angels were created perfectly otherwise Satin would of never challenged God.

Being unwell this week has meant I have been reflecting on how individualised each of us really are. Despite being perfectly created our bodies are in a constant state of decay. Yet we each deteriorate at different rates, are affected by different aliments, need a variety of different drugs to treat the same illness.  When it comes to medicine there is not blue print contained in the users guides. Only suggestions, hints and guides, even the ever growing popular healings in the charismatic movement are individualised and not every one in the New Testament is healed.  Do we need any further proof that we are handcrafted designs than the fact we each require different responses as we decay.