It’s hard being God…

He’s got to be fair and impartial – kind of like Engineers are meant to be in Contracts…

At university they taught us about the role of the Engineer in a Contract as a fair and impartial representative between the Contractor and the Client…

But at the same time He also always wants to be loving and kind – this is His desire…

He is Other-Centred in nature…

He is not “in it” for Himself…

For what He can get out of it…

But He will not share His Glory – what is rightfully His Glory – with another…

Just like I don’t like sharing what is rightfully my dinner with my youngest son (I had to get that out)… 🙂

Anyway, back on topic…

God wants to be loving and kind to everyone all the time but there are times in His Sovereignty – in His capacity as the Blessed and Only Potentate – where He has to administer justice also…

He has to be fair and impartial…

The soul who sins will die…

That’s fair and impartial…

God isn’t going to turn a blind eye to sin…

God tells us to glorify Him because He is worthy of receiving Glory for the Other-Centred God that He is…

When someone does a random act of kindness to us the appropriate emotion which we should feel is gratitude and when this is not expected (i.e. no gun to our head, no crippling or crushing expectation on us from God to give Him His gratitude – God is not controlling, He is not “needy” in that sense – that overbearing sense) but then withheld from God, He needs to act (He is not acting out of some “self serving”, “offended”, “got His nose out of joint”, “knee jerk” reaction – He is reacting calmly and evenly in “controlled aggression” with as much “force” as He needs to exert to execute His Judgement – His Righteous Judgement)…

If we spend our entire life withholding from God the Glory He deserves for all His undeserved (on our part) goodness to us then we will spend eternity in the lake of fire and brimstone (we are free to refuse God but He is also free to refuse us)…

The act of salvation – receiving God’s gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ – is actually just an act of gratitude, “Thank You Lord for dying for me”…

That’s all it is…

Accompanied by faith…

“Thank You Lord for dying for me (You took my place), Thank You Lord”…

I used to get really confused with the Lord and think that He was a megalomaniac wanting all this glory and only last weekend He kind of “took me through it” and explained that He did everything He did in an Other-Centred manner – that is His “modus operandi” and it is only His prerogative as Lawgiver and Judge that He has to “bring to order” un-repented of sin (it cannot remain unpunished) – He is Righteous and He is Just – we understand this – at a base level we understand this – we know this as we were created in His Image – and our conscience – which He gave us – testifies to the truth – that He is right – all of the time and that we (in our flesh) are wrong – all of the time…

He really did give us the very best…

We really weren’t “pushed”…

He was really sad when we turned away from Him (in the Garden) – it broke His Heart…

I am feeling it…

I’ve never felt it before…

His Heart Broken sorrow over our defection from Him and also He felt it when Lucifer defected – which is what he did – and a third of the angels followed him in his defection…

He is so sad…

Still…

And yet He cannot leave the guilty unpunished…

He visits the iniquities onto the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation so we see what we were in Adam – so we see the pain our sin is causing our children – all this motivates us to pray for deliverance – just like the weeds in our gardens – every time we see them it reminds us of what we did in Adam and we are led into prayer for deliverance – everything is leading us into prayer – reminders to pray – reminders of our state in Adam and reminders of what we have become in Christ…

Everything is for our good – every curse which the Lord has subjected us or this earth to is for our good – even child bearing reminds us of our sin and of the pain which Jesus went through in travail for our souls…

I honestly with all my heart believe God to be an Other-Centred God – this is new for me at a deep level – He had me up about this this over the weekend – I’ve paid lip service to this for a number of years but not believed it at a deep level…

At a level deep enough to do it – all the time with no exceptions – myself…

Now I’m in a place where this is all that I can do…

I can’t do (permanently) anything else because I have been won by His love…

To not think about yourself but to only think of others and to only act in justice and righteousness not personal vendettas or pay backs or treating people badly because they’ve treated you badly – but to treat all people evenly – as the Lord is instructing you to do…

He gave me a definition of love…

Specific acts of selflessness completed in submission to the word and will of God…

Love is selflessness…

Other-centred-ness…

It’s specific acts…

An act of the will (our new will) in submission to the word of God (the scripture) and also specifically in submission to the specific will of God…

i.e. God will tell us to go and do something specific which is other-centred towards a specific person or people group at a specific time or for a specific period of time…

It is not random…

In the fullness of time God sent His Son…

At the appointed time Jesus set His Face as flint to go to Jerusalem…

It is not just following a “cook book” – the bible (the scripture) isn’t given to us as a “cook book” – the Holy Spirit is given to us to lead us into all truth – and there is no greater truth than the Other-Centred Nature of God – what greater priviledge is there for us to learn of this right here on this earth?

When people hate us for loving them what do we do?

We keep right on loving them…

How?

It’s a miracle…

God does it in us…

Wow…

Is there anything better than that?

Seeing God do something which we clearly can’t do (in our flesh) right in-front of our very eyes?

Why would we ever want to be delivered from the evil treatment which we receive from our fellow man when we get this revelation of the Other-Centred Nature of God?

Why?

Because our suffering shows the long-suffering nature of God – it shows us how much He loves us – because He is never asking us to do anything which He has not already done Himself towards us (specifically)…

It’s all a learning curve…

I’m seeing this so clearly…

No one can “help” themselves…

They are what they are because of their choice in the Garden and they are hopelessly lost without the Lord…

Even those of us who have been “born again” are incapable of doing anything without the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives…

We don’t get ourselves revelation, we don’t get ourselves deliverance – we are completely dependent on the Lord – even for whether we remain alive on this planet or are taken home to be with Him – we really have no control…

We can’t even make one hair white or black…

It really is that bad (so to speak) – or that good (if you look at it from another perspective)… 🙂

We’re encouraged to get to know the Lord while we’re on planet earth – and that is what I (because He has made me to see this) want to do (this wisdom) – it really is all about Him and He really is Other-Centred…

I see Him as so Humble…

So quiet…

Not blowing His own trumpet…

So “head bowed” (so humble)…

I love You Jesus…

And yet You have all power, all authority – all power and all authority – I worship You Jesus – You are God and You are my Lord…

I worship You and I want to reflect You…

You are my Lord…

My Master and I worship You – I do not want to go free – I want to be Your slave for life – You are a good Master and Your Yoke is easy and Your Burden is light – I’ve never seen it like this before – You told me that You would overwhelm me or overcome or over power (I can’t remember the exact word) me with Your love and You have – You are – You are coming closer and I am seeing You and You are Beautiful…

You are everything I ever hoped that You would be – and You are the Lifter of my head – You are lifting my head – You are not leaving me downcast and You are teaching me that it is more blessed to give than to receive and that to give without expecting anything in return is life – it truly is – and You are re-directing my life so that I am starting (in Your Sovereignty and in accordance with Your predetermined purpose for my life) to walk in Your ways and find that You are the Way – the true source of happiness in mundane situations – nothing is mundane when You are involved – so counter-intuitive and yet it makes so much sense now – Praise You Jesus – You are Worthy – and I worship You – You waited for twenty years after you turned twelve before Your Father said it was time to commence Your earthly ministry – the ministry which culminated in Your death, burial and resurrection from the dead – Praise You Jesus – You were obedient until death and You never doubted (as that vision You gave me through brother Ken as a parable) right until death (the betrothed following the Prince) – You never doubted the heart of Your Father – and I will never doubt Your Heart for me because You have won my heart – I am in love (spiritually) with You and You are (spiritually) my One True Love…