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2 Thessalonians 2:16
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16 Now [de] our [hemon] Lord [kurios] Jesus [Iesous] Christ [Christos] himself, [autos] and [kai] God, [theos] even [kai] our [hemon] Father, [pater] which [ho] hath loved [agapao] us, [hemas] and [kai] hath given [didomi] us everlasting [aionios] consolation [paraklesis] and [kai] good [agathos] hope [elpis] through [en] grace, [charis] KJV-Interlinear
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, NASB
Now there is a pronoun inserted here, ‘Himself,’ which relates to both Jesus Christ and God the Father. This position makes them both equal persons and is one of the strongest testimonies that Jesus Christ is in fact God.
In every Christians mind, there should be no doubt that Jesus is the Lord, the one and only person through whom we look to gain access to deity and the favors of deity.
The Holy Spirit here is not included, but not for the reason that you probably are thinking. He too is also co-equal and co-eternal with both the Son and the Father, however, there are too many folks and movements out there which try to make the Holy Spirit, or the gifts of the Spirit, into a religion of their own. And that is a distortion, of truth and the function of the Spirit, in the overall plan of God for us.
Too many folks want to make the Holy Spirit into an emotional component of the spiritual life, and the spiritual life is not an emotional relationship, nor any type of connection to God through emotions or the senses, etc. Our relationship to God is through doctrine. The Holy Spirit facilitates that spiritual growth process, but apart from the physical senses that so many folks try to include in their spiritual life. Those emotional approaches are nothing more than pretenses and frauds.
Both the Father and the Son have loved you since eternity past. When you were first conceived in their minds and included in the overall plan of God, their love for you has never faltered or waivered. Through the history of eternity past, through prehistoric history, through our current human history and through all of the future of eternity, their love has always been for you, and will never depart or fade.
You are an important person. Probably more than you really know. Regardless of your circumstances, regardless of your color, culture, talent, ability, intellect, health, etc., or lack of them. Those things are irrelevant to Gods love for you.
But Gods love is based on truth, not lies, reality not fantasy, fact not fiction, responsibility and not irresponsibility. In doctrine there is no room for pretense, no room for excuses, no room for shallow phony spirituality.
Bible doctrine is the real food for your life, not milk for children, but food for adults, mature adults. Your responsibility in life is to grow up to spiritual maturity, and in maturity you will discover phenomenal blessings that only adults can appreciate. Infants cannot appreciate anything much less the details of an adult life. And so it is in the spiritual life.
Remain a child and lose out on the greatest opportunities that have ever been made available to anyone.
God has a plan for your life. It is a phenomenal plan. One that you could never dream up on your own, and all you have to do is grow up.
And along the way, of your growing up, God will test your spiritual muscle to see if you are really growing up or just coasting through life on an emotional roller-coaster.
God has phenomenal things to give to you, but to whom much is given, much is expected. You have to do your part, and your part is the growing up part. Our study in James, looks in detail into the ‘work’ of the Christian life, which by the way, has nothing to do with ‘working for God’ as some would have you think. And, by the way, you might want to revisit the studies in 1, 2, and 3rd John, for the details of the function of the spiritual life.
But of course only those who are genuinely interested, will pursue knowledge, while others will of course be too busy for what they view as nonsense. Isn’t it interesting that those who are clueless as to the workings of the universe, rate their own wisdom off the charts, with regard to life, afterlife, and reality in general.
God questioned Job about some of the basic fundamental details of our world, which even today we still have no answers to, so even our science of today, has not improved mans omniscient attributes.
I saw a show on television on dark matter and dark energy and the various theories of undiscovered dimensions, and though these are just theories, they do present more evidence of the amazing sophistication of our universe and how it is constructed. And when you consider the vastness of our universe, the complexities and so forth, and then begin to wonder about the next universe which is to come, and how it will be infinitely better than what we have now, then possibly you can begin to realize the magnitude of what God has in the works, for you.
Is that not worth a little of your time to learn doctrine and grow up to be a complete person, as He would like you to?
Regardless of who or what you are in this life, the next great event of your life will be your face to face meeting with Jesus Christ. Those who are not impressed with Christ in this life, are going to be in for an overwhelming shock. Those who are impressed with Christ are going to be in for an overwhelming and anticipated experience.
You have an opportunity, right now, to prepare yourself to completion and readiness for that next great event. That means that you need to adopt for yourself the genuine desire (not pretended, not phony, not emotional, not for show), to learn doctrine and grow up in your spiritual life. And if you really care, then you will invite others to participate in their own spiritual advancement as well.
Gods desire in not for you to make noise to impress others, but to remain silent, a student without portfolio, and learn. And in so doing, He (not you), will mold you into something more beautiful and wonderful than anything that has ever existed.
Humanity consists of dirt. And into that dirt, God imputed life out of nothing. And from that combination, God has molded all of the many examples of humanity that you have witnessed in your life. From the beautiful to the ugly, smart to the dumb, talented to the not so talented. And what could you do with only dirt?
And with all of these many examples of people, the world has imposed many hardships and disadvantages for most of us, but God has risen above the unfairness’s of the world and has given everyone, with no exceptions, the opportunity of having a complete life and far more. What have you accomplished?
The only barrier to your ultimate success in life is your refusal, or reluctance, or indifference toward God, Christ, doctrine, and your own spiritual life. No one but you, can be blamed for your failure. And God alone gets credit for your success.
So now, you have to choose. Roll your eyes and walk away, or commit yourself to your daily bible study and stick with it every day of your life, no exceptions.
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