Being a Daddy help me understand Heavenly Daddy.
I’m having a tough time putting this into proper words. I’m not an author, never tried to be. Like I said in my 1st blog entry, I always did better in Gym class then Grammar. My old pastor in Iowa once said he loved the way I wrote articles for our Youth Paper; he said the way I wrote was just like as if I was talking to you in person. I don’t know if that was a compliment or a slight suggestion for me to take a creative writing class. He once said that he admired how I showed my wife love by being willing to be late for church. I think that was his way of telling me to be on time. Anyway below is the best I could do for the moment. Maybe one day I’ll take that writing class so I can express the following better.
Sasha Grace was born on Wednesday Dec 3rd, 2008. She’s the newest Buster born into this wonderful world. She came out at 10:14am. Kesha had a pretty short labor, a little less then 4 hours but it seemed like it lasted forever. Kesha is such a Wonder Woman. The last few minutes before 1014 I felt the craziest, coolest rush that I’ve only felt one other time, that would when Saige was born. I remember Kesha bearing down and pushing with all she had. I remember how my heart felt, forget that, I remember how my whole chest felt. It was about to explode. When Sasha’s head popped out there was an extreme amount of emotions flooding all over me. I was ready to cry, laugh, shout, jump, or whatever. I remember hearing her cry for the first time. WOW. Being a parent is so awesome. There are so many “WOW” moments involved with being a parent. The birthing process has to be right up there as one of the best “WOW” moments. The Sunday following Sasha’s birth I ran Saige up to church. Our church here in Birm is about 35 minutes away so I had a lot of thinking time on my hands. On the way I was reflecting on the whole birth process and the emotions that go with it. My thoughts switched from how I felt on that magical Wednesday to how God must feel about the whole Spiritual birthing process. What does God feel in the moments right before He knows we are about to pray the salvation prayer? Is His chest ready to explode? Are there tears of excitement gushing out of His eyes? I don’t remember the exact day that I prayed the salvation prayer but I bet He has all that stuff going on, but I wonder if He remembers it with such fondness as I do with both of my daughters’ births. Sure He does. Jesus gave us a glimpse into the character of our Heavenly daddy when He told the story of the prodigal son. The whole parable is found in Luke 15:11-32. I’m not going to type all of it out here, you can go back and read that for yourselves. I just want to bring out one verse here. In this verse you see God’s parental emotions in full effect. You see His love and anticipation for us. I know this is a story about a son returning from his mistakes but I believe the reaction of a loving parent is all the same. In verse 20 there are 5 words that stick out further then any other words in all of Luke 15:11-32. Those 5 words are “He ran to His son”. I don’t remember the exact day in 79 when I was born again/spiritually born. I know I was about 5. It was at Westside Assembly of God. I remember Pastor Barnett gave the alter call but it was my dad that prayed the salvation prayer with me. I remember I raised my hand and the preacher called all those who did so to come to the front. When I started to go my dad jumped out to go with me. I remember thinking that it looked like my dad was answering the call. I knew that was not the case but I didn’t want every one else thinking that he was. Dad didn’t care; he was going up with his boy to lead him/me to Christ. My dad will always be a hero to me for what he did that day. Like I said, I don’t remember the exact day in 79. When your 5 growing up in church you answer about every alter call but that one sticks out the most to me. I do remember December 6th 1996. For about 4 years after high school I ran from the things of God. My life pretty much resembled the prodigal son. That December Sunday morning at East Coast Christian Center in Merritt Island Florida I gave my life back to Christ. I remembered the way I cried, much like a new born. Luke 15:20 tells me how my Heavenly Dad reacted on Dec 6th 1996 around 11am. “He ran…”
The last of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
The last of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
So this is what we have established over the last few entries: 1.the fact that I love this statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” & 2. We grab a hold of true life by walking in the fruit of the Spirit and fighting the good fight of faith. I like what a friend pointed out about the fruit of the spirit after the last blog entry. These are things God ordained for us to do. He referred to Eph 2:10 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Love that script! Mediate on that for awhile………….Ok. Now that we meditated on that let’s get back to business of breaking down “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” good Ol’Greek style. Last entry we found out that the original Greek word for “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” is used in a previous script in 1st Tim 6. I’m going to revert back to the King James for a minute. I usually use NIV but all my study stuff is King James Based. Both 1 Tim 6:12 and 19 says to “Lay Hold On Eternal Life”. (King James, remember? Although “Lay Hold on Eternal Life” sounds pretty cool too.) “Lay Hold On” is the Greek word “Epilambanomai.” I’m not going to get all crazy and break it down to the root of these Greek words and where they come from. One of my favorite authors Rick Renner is good for that. I’ll just refer to my Word Study Dictionary. This phrase is used metaphorically, to lay hold of in order to obtain and possess. The next word is Eternal; that is the Greek word Aiōnios. The last word is Zōē for Life. I going to explain “Life” first and then go back to “Eternal”. The reason why is because when these 2 Greek words collide in the New Testament the meaning becomes amazing and I want to capture as much of it as possible. You can simply say Zoe is energetic life, like the life my daughter Saige is full of. She is so full of energy. I often wonder if we should have named her Zoe because how lively she is. Aiōnios for “Eternal” carries the meaning of without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be. Now back to Zoe and Aionios colliding in both 1st Tim 6:12 & 19. Listen to how my W.S.D. describes this collision: “Whenever it is used for the life which God gives to those who believe in Christ it is to be understood as referring not only to duration, but more so to quality. That is, it is not merely a life that is eternal in duration, but is primarily something different from the natural life of man, i.e., the life of God.” WOW! We don’t have to wait till the “Sweet By & By” to get the life Christ promised. Heaven is going to be amazing but we can have Heaven here on earth. This “Eternal Life” is in front of us waiting for us to grab hold of it. This is not talking about salvation per-say but the life of salvation. The unauthorized “King JimmyB” version would put it this way. “Grab on to that amazing, energetic life of Christ, the life you’re made to live!”
Since my last blog entry I had a kid. Well I didn’t have the kid, my wife did. Sasha Grace was born Dec 3rd @ 10:14. She is beautiful, looks just like her older sister. I am a blessed man! You’ll be able to tell in the next few entries that I am one proud daddy. Until then: Stay blessed, it’s your choice.
So this is what we have established over the last few entries: 1.the fact that I love this statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” & 2. We grab a hold of true life by walking in the fruit of the Spirit and fighting the good fight of faith. I like what a friend pointed out about the fruit of the spirit after the last blog entry. These are things God ordained for us to do. He referred to Eph 2:10 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Love that script! Mediate on that for awhile………….Ok. Now that we meditated on that let’s get back to business of breaking down “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” good Ol’Greek style. Last entry we found out that the original Greek word for “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” is used in a previous script in 1st Tim 6. I’m going to revert back to the King James for a minute. I usually use NIV but all my study stuff is King James Based. Both 1 Tim 6:12 and 19 says to “Lay Hold On Eternal Life”. (King James, remember? Although “Lay Hold on Eternal Life” sounds pretty cool too.) “Lay Hold On” is the Greek word “Epilambanomai.” I’m not going to get all crazy and break it down to the root of these Greek words and where they come from. One of my favorite authors Rick Renner is good for that. I’ll just refer to my Word Study Dictionary. This phrase is used metaphorically, to lay hold of in order to obtain and possess. The next word is Eternal; that is the Greek word Aiōnios. The last word is Zōē for Life. I going to explain “Life” first and then go back to “Eternal”. The reason why is because when these 2 Greek words collide in the New Testament the meaning becomes amazing and I want to capture as much of it as possible. You can simply say Zoe is energetic life, like the life my daughter Saige is full of. She is so full of energy. I often wonder if we should have named her Zoe because how lively she is. Aiōnios for “Eternal” carries the meaning of without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be. Now back to Zoe and Aionios colliding in both 1st Tim 6:12 & 19. Listen to how my W.S.D. describes this collision: “Whenever it is used for the life which God gives to those who believe in Christ it is to be understood as referring not only to duration, but more so to quality. That is, it is not merely a life that is eternal in duration, but is primarily something different from the natural life of man, i.e., the life of God.” WOW! We don’t have to wait till the “Sweet By & By” to get the life Christ promised. Heaven is going to be amazing but we can have Heaven here on earth. This “Eternal Life” is in front of us waiting for us to grab hold of it. This is not talking about salvation per-say but the life of salvation. The unauthorized “King JimmyB” version would put it this way. “Grab on to that amazing, energetic life of Christ, the life you’re made to live!”
Since my last blog entry I had a kid. Well I didn’t have the kid, my wife did. Sasha Grace was born Dec 3rd @ 10:14. She is beautiful, looks just like her older sister. I am a blessed man! You’ll be able to tell in the next few entries that I am one proud daddy. Until then: Stay blessed, it’s your choice.
More of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
More of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
I’m still loving the statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” from 1st Tim 6:19. When I first started to meditate on that phrase it seemed like such a “pie in the sky” kind of statement. After reading those 8 words my mind instantly went racing in all sorts of directions on what that could mean. One of the tracks was about what Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” I had this all mapped out in my mind exactly where I wanted to go with this entry but then I started reading all of verse 19. It seemed to take a whole different direction then where I wanted it to go. I would rather be guilty of proving the scriptures point then be guilty of using the scripture to prove my point. It drives me nuts when I hear people misusing scripts just prove their own point. That’s what the devil did while tempting Jesus, remember? So I really want to get this one right because 1: this phrase really excited me when I first read it and 2: I don’t want to play in the devil’s league. So let’s back up to what all of 19 says: “in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life.” Verse 19 starts off with “In this way”, in what way? I gotta back up further. Verse 18 says: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” So if they do good, be rich in good deeds, and be generous and willing to share then they will lay up a firm foundation for the coming age and they can do what my new favorite phrase says, but who are they? Gotta back up further! Verse 17 says “Command those WHO ARE RICH in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment”. Do you know that you can be poor and put your hope in wealth? That’s a subject for another day, let's move on. So Paul is talking about the rich that attends Timothy’s church, and really all the rich that are in the body of Christ. He’s saying to the rich to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share and if they do this then they will be laying up treasures and they can “take hold of life that is truly life.” He’s not rebuking the rich for being rich but just instructing them to be rich in good deeds. That’s getting kinda wordy. I’m gonna cut all that out and just get to the point. Paul is saying that if we do good deeds, we’re generous with what we have and share, then we’ll be laying up treasures and grabbing hold of true life. Got it, understand that. The funny thing is that Verses 17 thru 19 are part of Paul’s final charge to Tim; it’s the end of this letter. The full final charge is found in verses 11 thru 20. In Verse 12 Paul tells Tim to take hold of the eternal life; that is the same Greek phrase used in Verse 19. So really Verse 17 through 19 is echoing what Paul just told Tim to do himself. So really Paul is saying here is “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”, sort of speak. Paul instructs Tim in verse 11 thru 12 to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Doesn’t that sound like some slices of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:21-23? I love what the end of Galatians 5:23 says about all the slices of the F. of S. “against such things there is no law”. There is no limit on me doing good! That means I can go crazy with self control. If I truly indulge in love, joy, peace, and all the others listed in Galatians 5 and according to Gal 5 there is no limit on how much I indulge in those actions then both 1 Tim 6:12 & 19 tells me that I’m gonna be laying up treasure and grabbing the life that is truly life. Going back to what Jesus said in John 10:10, He came to give that overwhelming life. Are you catching this? This is the life I’m made to live. I’ve tried living other ways outside of Christ and I just felt hollow. Now I find that when I chase after love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, if I’m rich in good deeds, I’m literally grabbing hold of life that is truly life. Typing all that out makes the list seem really long but it’s all really easy to do. Now I really am ready to explode with excitement. This is not some silly “pie in the sky” statement, but it’s an obtainable pie with some serious substance. I gonna float on cloud 9 with that for awhile but I can’t wait for my next entry. I want to break down “take hold of life that is truly life” good ol’Greek style, but I’ll save that for the next entry. Talk to ya & stay blessed!!
I’m still loving the statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” from 1st Tim 6:19. When I first started to meditate on that phrase it seemed like such a “pie in the sky” kind of statement. After reading those 8 words my mind instantly went racing in all sorts of directions on what that could mean. One of the tracks was about what Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” I had this all mapped out in my mind exactly where I wanted to go with this entry but then I started reading all of verse 19. It seemed to take a whole different direction then where I wanted it to go. I would rather be guilty of proving the scriptures point then be guilty of using the scripture to prove my point. It drives me nuts when I hear people misusing scripts just prove their own point. That’s what the devil did while tempting Jesus, remember? So I really want to get this one right because 1: this phrase really excited me when I first read it and 2: I don’t want to play in the devil’s league. So let’s back up to what all of 19 says: “in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life.” Verse 19 starts off with “In this way”, in what way? I gotta back up further. Verse 18 says: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” So if they do good, be rich in good deeds, and be generous and willing to share then they will lay up a firm foundation for the coming age and they can do what my new favorite phrase says, but who are they? Gotta back up further! Verse 17 says “Command those WHO ARE RICH in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment”. Do you know that you can be poor and put your hope in wealth? That’s a subject for another day, let's move on. So Paul is talking about the rich that attends Timothy’s church, and really all the rich that are in the body of Christ. He’s saying to the rich to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share and if they do this then they will be laying up treasures and they can “take hold of life that is truly life.” He’s not rebuking the rich for being rich but just instructing them to be rich in good deeds. That’s getting kinda wordy. I’m gonna cut all that out and just get to the point. Paul is saying that if we do good deeds, we’re generous with what we have and share, then we’ll be laying up treasures and grabbing hold of true life. Got it, understand that. The funny thing is that Verses 17 thru 19 are part of Paul’s final charge to Tim; it’s the end of this letter. The full final charge is found in verses 11 thru 20. In Verse 12 Paul tells Tim to take hold of the eternal life; that is the same Greek phrase used in Verse 19. So really Verse 17 through 19 is echoing what Paul just told Tim to do himself. So really Paul is saying here is “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”, sort of speak. Paul instructs Tim in verse 11 thru 12 to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Doesn’t that sound like some slices of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:21-23? I love what the end of Galatians 5:23 says about all the slices of the F. of S. “against such things there is no law”. There is no limit on me doing good! That means I can go crazy with self control. If I truly indulge in love, joy, peace, and all the others listed in Galatians 5 and according to Gal 5 there is no limit on how much I indulge in those actions then both 1 Tim 6:12 & 19 tells me that I’m gonna be laying up treasure and grabbing the life that is truly life. Going back to what Jesus said in John 10:10, He came to give that overwhelming life. Are you catching this? This is the life I’m made to live. I’ve tried living other ways outside of Christ and I just felt hollow. Now I find that when I chase after love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, if I’m rich in good deeds, I’m literally grabbing hold of life that is truly life. Typing all that out makes the list seem really long but it’s all really easy to do. Now I really am ready to explode with excitement. This is not some silly “pie in the sky” statement, but it’s an obtainable pie with some serious substance. I gonna float on cloud 9 with that for awhile but I can’t wait for my next entry. I want to break down “take hold of life that is truly life” good ol’Greek style, but I’ll save that for the next entry. Talk to ya & stay blessed!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)