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 “Earth’s Closing Events”. Our 2nd quarter 2024 lessons, like all our quarterly’s lessons, are a springboard for future study and investigation. These lessons seem to lead us to expand on what each lesson presents. In this quarter, I find that our traditional interpretation of “The Great Controversy” (this quarterly’s title) can lead us to minimize those very “Great Controversy” issues latent in our own hearts/ minds. The deadly issues we individually confront are not “us versus them” or one group against another group. The “Great Controversy” issues are waged individually in each heart and mind. The dividing line between good and evil passes through each person’s heart.
For example, in Sabbath’s lesson, the lesson states, “The aim of this week’s lesson is to reveal what the prophetic Word says about closing events and discover anew Christ’s strength to take us through earth’s final conflict and get us home”. The emphasis here is on knowing the closing events so that I can get home. It is not so much about knowing the God of the closing events so I can serve Him. The intent is more knowing the “how” instead of the “who”. Don’t get me wrong here. Knowing earth’s closing events is important. But not as important as knowing our Father and relating to Him. Knowing Him who is coming is essential… rather than only knowing what is coming.
Knowing what is coming can make us focus on the events themselves and lead us to assure our puny selves are safe and secure (self-preservation). Knowing what is coming can lead us to strive to eliminate all that is bad from our lives. But if we focus on knowing our Dad, He will lead us in a different direction. He will lead us seek to be authentic people who strive to establish beachheads in our sin-filled world and strive to conquer Satan’s strongholds in the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters. He will lead us to forget self for the good of others (self-sacrifice). This is the true purpose of knowing what is happening in these last days. To drive us closer to Who is coming in order to do His work in these last days.
This underscores a potentially fatal flaw in so many Christians lives. Because we are sinners out to save “self” at all costs, we tend to relegate “faith” to believing a list of teachings and doctrines we need to know. We believe that stripping away the falseness of the doctrines will enable us to follow the truth of the doctrines. We do this so that we will not be radically altered. So, we can still retain self… retain “ourselves” and our autonomy. As sinners, we seek to know the truth about the Person, rather than knowing the Person, who is the Truth. This is so we can know what He wants, rather than know Him. We do this because we are kind-of afraid of Him. We are afraid that if we get to know Him, we will lose who we are. God will want to so change us that we lose our identity. That we lose “self”.
But this is only because we have sensed the “fire” of God’s love. A fire that seems to consume us, even as it seems to destroy us. God’s “fire” only burns at a distance… the farther away we are. But if we turn and go towards the “fire” we find that it becomes the comforting warmth of the home-fire. Because God’s fire is not consuming us. It is consuming all that is not us. It is consuming all the pride, all the greed, all the self-promotion, all the lust… everything that is not the real me. God’s “fire” is rejuvenating, not suppressing. God’s “fire” is ennobling, not degrading. God’s “fire” is restorative, not toxic. God’s “fire” is health, not disease. God’s “fire” is love, not hostility. Each of us are created in the image of God Himself. This is the real person… the real you… the real me... like our Dad. But sin outside of us and within us has almost obliterated that original image. God’s “fiery love” is the only solution. For only if we know we are so entirely loved, will we allow our Divine Lover, our Divine Psychologist, to untangle our mess so that we can see it clearly, confess it sincerely, and turn our back on it completely.
Besides, this also clears-up our Third Angel’s message. The fiery love of God depicted in Revelation 14 is only feared by those who know Him not. We need to be like Moses when confronted by the people who fearfully cried-out, “let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19). Moses respectfully explained reality to them, “’Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.’ So, the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20: 20-21). Moses not only told the people the truth, he demonstrated truthfulness. That he not only knew the truth about God… he knew God, the Truth. May we so know God that we long to be near His fiery love. No… not be near His fiery love but be the fiery love. For such He is… for such we are.
With brotherly love,
Jim