Part VI expanded the scope of our vision regarding the universe of DNA combinations. If human conception and birth is the method of propagating human DNA, then is being “born again” the method God provides for propagating His spiritual DNA in humans? And if so, which if any of His attributes (or DNA) should we expect to receive?
God’s DNA
How can we even begin to investigate such an awesome idea? The only way I can think of is to try to discern how much He has chosen to reveal to us through His word. It would be the height of presumption to suggest that we as humans could ever receive the same measure of holiness as God possesses, but it is not unthinkable to believe on the authority of His word that we can possess the same quality of His holiness. Else why would He command us “… just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15,16 with references to Leviticus chapters 11, 19 and 20) Peter picks up the theme again in 2 Peter 3:11,12: “…what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God….” I only need a thimble full of the Pacific Ocean to possess something qualitatively equivalent to the whole ocean. Since there are many excellent books available on the subject of holiness, I am confident that the serious reader can find sufficient material at sites such as Beacon Hill Press and similar publishers.
There are many books and Bible studies also available listing and discussing the attributes of God. I’m confident that any list I would make of the attributes of God would be far from complete. However, I’m also confident that we can list many directly from the Bible and infer others. Since we believe in the Triune God I believe it appropriate to include attributes of Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit as well.
A partial list might include:
• Omnipotent
• Omniscient
• Omnipresent
• Reason/Discernment
• Compassion/Gentleness
• Generosity
• Grace
• Eternal/Everlasting
• Truth
• Father
• Fortress
• Invisible
• Jealous
• Judge
• Law-giver
• Merciful
• Shield
• Strong Tower
• Shepherd
• Absolute existence
• Infinite
• Single yet triune
• Spiritual
• Eternal
• Transcendent and Immanent
• Intelligent
• Good
• Integrity
• Love
• And many others, too numerous to list.
It’s obvious that many of the attributes of God are reserved for Him and Him alone and not available to us in any “DNA” form, such as His omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence. These are attributes used by Him in His role as Creator and Administrator of the universe and all that’s in it, and are important to us as we try to gain some understanding of this whole subject of being born again.
I think it would be useful at this point to take a deeper look at God’s omnipotence. The power of God is so much greater than we can even imagine that most of us put away our imagination on this subject and move on to things we think we can get our mental arms around.
There are important reasons for us to gain some understanding of God’s power. First, we don’t want to be lumped in with the Sadducees who Jesus reprimanded: “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matt. 22:29)
On another occasion:
17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.…” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” (Luke 5:17-26)
There are many facets to God’s power. Some of the observable ones are:
• Creation power
• Physical power
• Intellectual power
• Medical power
• Salvation power
• Forgiveness power
• Transformation power
Other attributes of God, given us in our born-again state in order that we may reflect Him to the world around us, we can infer from many scriptures. In succeeding Parts in this series we also want to examine more closely those dealing with the “Gifts of the Spirit” and the “Fruit of the Spirit”.
Showing posts with label holiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiness. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
My Father’s Genes – Part VII – God’s DNA
Friday, May 7, 2010
Free To Love
Dennis Kinlaw, former president of Asbury College, and now retired, has written extensively about holiness and the deeper Christian life. His writings are rich in practical applications in living out that deeper, passionate, all-surpassing love to which Christ calls us.
He recounts the story in one of his writings of a man who was saved and then filled with God's perfect love. Some time later his church received a new pastor. For the new pastor's first service, the man selected his very best ham from his storage room so he could present it to the new pastor as a love gift. During the service there was a testimony time and the man told how he was converted and then how the Spirit of God came and cleansed him from self-interest. In the middle of his testimony, the preacher stood up and said, "Sit down, Mr. 'Blank'. That is fanaticism, and as long as I am pastor, we will not have any talk of that kind."
After the service, Mr. 'Blank' surprised his family by going to his vehicle, retrieving the ham, taking it to the pastor, and saying "Pastor, we are so glad you are here. ... We love you, and if we can help you, let us know."
The next morning an unfamiliar vehicle pulled into Mr. 'Blank's' drive and it was the new pastor. He said "I have come to apologize. If there is anything you want to witness to in one of my prayer meetings, go right ahead, because it is obvious that you have found something that I know nothing about. Blessings on you."
Dr. Kinlaw concludes with the observation that "there is a power that comes when we are free from ourselves and free to love."
What a challenge!
He recounts the story in one of his writings of a man who was saved and then filled with God's perfect love. Some time later his church received a new pastor. For the new pastor's first service, the man selected his very best ham from his storage room so he could present it to the new pastor as a love gift. During the service there was a testimony time and the man told how he was converted and then how the Spirit of God came and cleansed him from self-interest. In the middle of his testimony, the preacher stood up and said, "Sit down, Mr. 'Blank'. That is fanaticism, and as long as I am pastor, we will not have any talk of that kind."
After the service, Mr. 'Blank' surprised his family by going to his vehicle, retrieving the ham, taking it to the pastor, and saying "Pastor, we are so glad you are here. ... We love you, and if we can help you, let us know."
The next morning an unfamiliar vehicle pulled into Mr. 'Blank's' drive and it was the new pastor. He said "I have come to apologize. If there is anything you want to witness to in one of my prayer meetings, go right ahead, because it is obvious that you have found something that I know nothing about. Blessings on you."
Dr. Kinlaw concludes with the observation that "there is a power that comes when we are free from ourselves and free to love."
What a challenge!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Chapter 20 - The Will
Chapter 20 used 7 passages to enlighten the Biblical view of “The Will”, as follows:
John 3:10-21
Luke 11:14-28
Matthew 26:36-46
Luke 9:57-62
Mark 8:34-9:1
Luke 5:1-11
Luke 13:22-30
Prayer:
“If Jesus believed that his life was to be spent doing ‘the will of the Father,’ then our task is to be no less. Pray for his will to be accomplished in your life; that you may bring glory to him as Jesus did.”
Hymn:
The hymn for Chapter 20 was “My Jesus, As Thou Wilt” by Benjamin Schmolck. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)
Meditation Selections:
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Mother Teresa, Emilie Griffin, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Evelyn Underhill, Georgia Harkness, George Fox, Thomas R. Kelly, Richard J. Foster, and Andrew Murray. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)
Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:
· “Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves – on God’s grace and on our will to be holy. We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. …and make myself a willing slave to the will of God.”
· “There is a moment between intending to pray and actually praying that is as dark and silent as any moment in our lives. …It seems, then, that the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simple matter of beginning, the simple exertion of will, the starting, the acting, the doing. …we can approach the abyss that lies between us and prayer and retreat from it under cover of being-too-busy or having-family-obligations or even serving-God-in-other-ways. This seemingly justified retreat makes the approach more difficult the next time… .”
· “Man is constantly producing words and deeds, giving them over either to God or to the forces of evil.”
· “Real power is the result of inner harmony… .”
· “…motives, desires, and the spirit’s use of bodily powers will be in harmony with the will of God. If prayer did only this, it would do for us the most important thing that could be done.”
· “…there remained in me an unsubjected will…”
· “…we cannot take Him by storm. The strong man must become the little child, not understanding but trusting the Father.”
· “What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. …almost all church fights and splits occur because people do not have the freedom to give in to each other. …Only in submission are we enabled to bring that spirit to a place where it no longer controls us. Only submission can free us sufficiently to enable us to distinguish between genuine issues and stubborn self-will.”
· “…Jesus called us to self-denial without self-hatred. Self-denial is not the same thing as self-contempt. …Jesus made the ability to love ourselves the prerequisite for our reaching out to others.”
· “Jesus in His prayers on earth, …makes this His first objective – the glory of His Father. Is it so with us too?”
What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 20 not quoted) mean to you?
Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).
Thanks for your participation.
John
John 3:10-21
Luke 11:14-28
Matthew 26:36-46
Luke 9:57-62
Mark 8:34-9:1
Luke 5:1-11
Luke 13:22-30
Prayer:
“If Jesus believed that his life was to be spent doing ‘the will of the Father,’ then our task is to be no less. Pray for his will to be accomplished in your life; that you may bring glory to him as Jesus did.”
Hymn:
The hymn for Chapter 20 was “My Jesus, As Thou Wilt” by Benjamin Schmolck. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)
Meditation Selections:
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Mother Teresa, Emilie Griffin, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Evelyn Underhill, Georgia Harkness, George Fox, Thomas R. Kelly, Richard J. Foster, and Andrew Murray. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)
Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:
· “Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves – on God’s grace and on our will to be holy. We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. …and make myself a willing slave to the will of God.”
· “There is a moment between intending to pray and actually praying that is as dark and silent as any moment in our lives. …It seems, then, that the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simple matter of beginning, the simple exertion of will, the starting, the acting, the doing. …we can approach the abyss that lies between us and prayer and retreat from it under cover of being-too-busy or having-family-obligations or even serving-God-in-other-ways. This seemingly justified retreat makes the approach more difficult the next time… .”
· “Man is constantly producing words and deeds, giving them over either to God or to the forces of evil.”
· “Real power is the result of inner harmony… .”
· “…motives, desires, and the spirit’s use of bodily powers will be in harmony with the will of God. If prayer did only this, it would do for us the most important thing that could be done.”
· “…there remained in me an unsubjected will…”
· “…we cannot take Him by storm. The strong man must become the little child, not understanding but trusting the Father.”
· “What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. …almost all church fights and splits occur because people do not have the freedom to give in to each other. …Only in submission are we enabled to bring that spirit to a place where it no longer controls us. Only submission can free us sufficiently to enable us to distinguish between genuine issues and stubborn self-will.”
· “…Jesus called us to self-denial without self-hatred. Self-denial is not the same thing as self-contempt. …Jesus made the ability to love ourselves the prerequisite for our reaching out to others.”
· “Jesus in His prayers on earth, …makes this His first objective – the glory of His Father. Is it so with us too?”
What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 20 not quoted) mean to you?
Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).
Thanks for your participation.
John
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