Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Parables”. A good study on Mark 4. In this lesson, we look at several parables including the parable of the soils. As we read and study this parable, we see there is a difference in the soils… in us. And it can be easy to assume God Himself feels differently about each of us, as depicted by the different conditions of the soils. But this is not so. God’s purpose in sending His Son is that we all may be restored to the original image in which we were created. And that image is seen most clearly in His Son. All of us are “elected” and “predestined”. But it is up to each of us to “make our election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). Hence the difference. No difference in the Sower, or in the seed. The difference lies with the soil alone… you and me.
The quote from 2 Peter above begs a question. What is that “election”, that “call”? “You are elected to wear the yoke of Christ, --to bear his burden, to lift his cross… Christians are chosen to sanctification through obedience to the truth. They are elected to bear the cross, if they would wear the crown” (Review and Herald 1/17/1888).
This is, perhaps, one of the most important truths of the Bible. In our post-modern age where obedience to God is seen as “works” and commitment to Him is rarely mentioned, much of Christianity has promoted a “gospel” that is blasphemy against God and does insult to honest souls sincerely seeking God. God does not save us in our sin but from our sin. God’s forgiveness is not tantamount to admission to heaven but His forgiveness is the open-door invitation to come Home to Him so He can fit us for Heaven. The Gospel, the life of God Himself revealed in His Son, is to bring us back to our Father so He can re-create in us the image of Himself in which we were originally created, perfectly revealed in His Son. “The end of (our) faith, the salvation of (our) souls” (1 Peter 1:9). Heaven is nothing if our very souls are not healed (salvation). Any “heaven” where my sinful self is left intact is no Heaven. This is the goal of our faith, that our very being (souls) are conformed to God. This is the true salve, the true restoration, the true “fitting” for Heaven, for Heaven is in our heart.
Heaven is not so much a place as a person… where God is. And if not, it is not Heaven. Do we love God? Do we aspire to His self-less, other-centered love for our enemies? Would we die on the cross for those who despise us and spitefully use us? Loving those, is the life of the Father, the life of the Son, the harmony of Heaven. The cross reveals the heart of the Father, the only way life is possible, the “modus operandi” of all heaven. “Heaven” is the result of choosing to follow God and forsaking self. Heaven is not a goal… it alone is not the inheritance incorruptible. A heavenly character is the inheritance incorruptible. Heaven is the result of this inheritance, having been created anew from God and possessing His character. If heaven is our goal, we will not achieve it. If the self-sacrificing love of God, to be made anew into His self-less image is our goal, then heaven is ours. “If we will wear the crown, we must bear the cross” (op. cit.), just as the Father and the entire Godhead bear the cross… therefore they wear the crown. The throne in Heaven is the throne “of God and of the lamb” (Revelation 22:1, 3), “a lamb as though it were slain” (Revelation 5:6). This describes the character of those on the throne. The entire Godhead “bear the cross”. And it also describes those who share the throne, too. You and me. “Love for souls for whom Christ died means crucifixion of self” (Desire of Ages pg. 417). Does this describe our heart’s desire? For “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). If this is not you, confess this truth to God, the Lover of our souls. You are elected and predestined for a character like our Father’s. He is wanting and waiting…
With brotherly love,
Jim