Here’s a quote from a (17 year-old?) friend on Facebook. From what I can tell, this is her own words (not quoting somebody–like I’m doing). Very good.
“It was easier for God to create the universe than it was for Him to forgive my sin. All he had to do was speak the world into existence. He can’t speak our sin out of existence. He had to crush His Son.”
A friend of mine on Facebook posted this. I thought it worthy to share.
“When the child falleth not, it is from the mother’s holding the child, and not from the child’s holding the mother. So it is God’s holding of us, knowing of us, embracing of us, and justifying of us that maketh the state firm, and not ours” (Richard Sibbes, Complete Works, Volume 6, p. 439).
Here’s a great video of Steve Scheibner, who was scheduled to be the pilot on American Airlines, Flight 11, which was the first airplane to crash into the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001. The afternoon before the flight, his bags were packed for the trip and he was all prepared to fly the plane from Boston to Los Angeles. However, unknown to Scheibner, Tom McGuinness had bumped him off the trip. McGuinness was stabbed by the hijackers and died on that airplane.
Of these things, Scheibner says, “On national TV, … I saw where I should have died, but didn’t. … This is about the distinct privilege that I have been given to know that somebody died in my place. What I know is that somebody died in my place not once, but twice. … That was my seat that day. I should have sat in that seat. … But Tom didn’t die for my sins. You see, God sent His own Son to die for my sins. Jesus Christ was the other one who died in my place. And he hung and He bled and he suffered on a cross to pay a price for me. … One guy sat in a seat I should have sat in. The other hung and bled on a cross. One is far more significant than the other. That’s not to trivialize what happened to Tom. It’s to elevate and glorify what God did for me and for mankind on the cross.”
My family does many different things during our Family Worship. We sing. We read the Scriptures. We read other Christian books. We memorize Scripture. We pray. We talk about issues facing our family. We don’t do all of these things every time, but over time, we get to all of them.
One book that we recently finished reading is “The Jesus Storybook Bible.” It’s a great book, which I would commend to all of you (not merely children). Here’s a brief quote from the beginning which helps to put all of the Bible into perspective.
No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince wholeaves his palace, his throne — everything — to rescue the one he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!
You see, the best thing about this Story is — it’s true.
There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.
It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story, there is a baby. Every Story in the Bible whispers his name. (page 17)
I love the story of Annie, the Broadway musical. Annie was the little orphan girl, without parents. She was poor and lived in a dirty place run by mean Miss Hannigan, who treated all of the orphans poorly. Her clothes were shabby and her toys were few. Oliver Warbucks, on the other hand, had everything! He owned a multi-billion dollar industry. He lived in a mansion. He traveled the world. He had the ear of the president of the United States.
As the story goes, the relationship between Oliver Warbucks and Annie strengthens to the point that he eventually adopts little orphan Annie into his family. The finale of the play says it all. It describes the great blessing that’s found in relationship, which once was apart, but is now together.
Together at last,
Together forever,
We’re tying a knot,
That never can sever.
Annie: I’m poor as a mouse.
Warbucks: I’m richer than Midas.
But nothing on earth,
Could ever divide us.
I don’t need anything but you.
This is a great picture of our adoption as a child of God by faith. We were poor and impoverished in our sin. God is rich beyond compare. He reconciled to Himself through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We love God. He loves us.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from all time:
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” (A. W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy [Harper & Row: San Francisco, 1961), p. 1).
In other words, it’s not what we say we believe about God that will determine the way that we live. Rather, it’s what we genuinely believe about God (deep in our souls) that will make the difference in how we live.
Philosophy attempts to answer the most foundational questions of life: why are we here on earth? what is our purpose in life? what happens after we die? These are good questions. However, what often happens when people read the philosophers is that they end up with far more questions than they began with.
Francis Schaeffer found something different in reading the Bible. He wrote, “What rang the bell for me was the answers in Genesis, and that with these you had answers–real answers–and without these there were no answers either in philosophies or in the religion I had heard preached” (Edith Schaeffer, The Tapestry [Waco: Word Books, 1981], p. 52).
We are here because God created us. We have fallen because of Adam’s sin. Christ alone can restore us to God. Francis Schaeffer believed these things and trusted in Christ, just by reading his Bible and finding the answers to life.
The book of Genesis begins with the creation account, God speaking the world into existence in six days. At the end of the six days, we read, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). It was a perfect place to live.
Two chapters later, Adam and Eve fall into sin, by eating of the forbidden tree. The rest of Genesis tells of the horrors of sin. It reads like an R-rated movie, with murder and incest and rape and lying and deceit.
But, God’s goodness has not left. In the very last chapter of the book, we read of God’s goodness. Speaking to his deceitful brothers, Joseph says, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). And that’s what God has been doing ever since in this world: working good out of the immense evil in the world.
For instance, consider the cross. Putting Jesus to death in this way was the greatest injustice this planet has ever known. And yet, it brought about the greatest blessing ever: forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus!
Theologians often talk about the two books of God’s revelation: Nature and the Bible. The realities of the creation give testimony to the eternal power of God. The Bible informs us of God’s grace to us through Jesus Christ.
While on a recent trip to the Boundary Waters with some fathers and sons from our church, we spent three days in the wilderness. We opened God’s book of nature and learned much of His divine nature of God from the beauties of creation. We also spent some time in the other book of God’s revelation, the Bible, learning our weekly fighter verses.
What a wonderful time we had.
Enjoying His Grace 