"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father Who dwells in Me does the works." (John 14:10)
Literally, "....I do not speak from Myself, but the Father dwelling in Me...." The, "I," is a continual, "we," as in what Jesus a few moments later said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." I think it can be accurately stated, therefore, that Father was in the manger at Bethlehem that "cold winter's night that was so deep"--- Blessed Trinity.
When I was 19, I summed up a two week Bible school session with third grade boys, "God's best gift to us is Himself in Jesus." (Those boys would be 60 today) I taught them that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were not somewhere it Heaven in the vast Universe watching the events of that "birthday" night, nor for the succeeding 33 years. Rather, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." Quite frankly, I think there has been far too much emphasis over the years of the Father "turning His back on Jesus" when Jesus was on the Cross. So much misunderstanding of God Himself is due to erroneous theology spun by those who are selective Bible readers.
If the Church is going to do as Jesus said, "....all should Honor the Son just as they honor the Father...," the Church needs to realize that God, Whom we proclaim to the world, is not a God removed from the world, from the daily struggles and battles of humanity. Father and Holy Spirit were, "in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," and is continually, "in Christ," saving, reconciling, healing, delivering us all, i.e., all who believe Jesus, trust Jesus, surrender their lives to Jesus. Separating Father and Son gives the impression to the world that there was and is this aloof, sort of angry "god" who would never stoop so low as a manger, as a Roman trial, as a cross, or as in, "I call you friends"----- but He did; He does. We can say categorically, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock," is a Trinitarian invitation.
Christmas is "merry," because the Living Triune God of the Universe is the Living Triune God who answered the prayer expressed by the song writer, "O, come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Immanuel."
Father, in Jesus' Name, what an absolutely wonderful, marvelous, joyous "Holy Family." I pray that all who have no family will embrace Your Family, and help me to embrace them. Amen.
Literally, "....I do not speak from Myself, but the Father dwelling in Me...." The, "I," is a continual, "we," as in what Jesus a few moments later said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." I think it can be accurately stated, therefore, that Father was in the manger at Bethlehem that "cold winter's night that was so deep"--- Blessed Trinity.
When I was 19, I summed up a two week Bible school session with third grade boys, "God's best gift to us is Himself in Jesus." (Those boys would be 60 today) I taught them that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were not somewhere it Heaven in the vast Universe watching the events of that "birthday" night, nor for the succeeding 33 years. Rather, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." Quite frankly, I think there has been far too much emphasis over the years of the Father "turning His back on Jesus" when Jesus was on the Cross. So much misunderstanding of God Himself is due to erroneous theology spun by those who are selective Bible readers.
If the Church is going to do as Jesus said, "....all should Honor the Son just as they honor the Father...," the Church needs to realize that God, Whom we proclaim to the world, is not a God removed from the world, from the daily struggles and battles of humanity. Father and Holy Spirit were, "in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," and is continually, "in Christ," saving, reconciling, healing, delivering us all, i.e., all who believe Jesus, trust Jesus, surrender their lives to Jesus. Separating Father and Son gives the impression to the world that there was and is this aloof, sort of angry "god" who would never stoop so low as a manger, as a Roman trial, as a cross, or as in, "I call you friends"----- but He did; He does. We can say categorically, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock," is a Trinitarian invitation.
Christmas is "merry," because the Living Triune God of the Universe is the Living Triune God who answered the prayer expressed by the song writer, "O, come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Immanuel."
Father, in Jesus' Name, what an absolutely wonderful, marvelous, joyous "Holy Family." I pray that all who have no family will embrace Your Family, and help me to embrace them. Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
