A conflict can be called a war, a clash of ideas, a struggle with opposing forces or a mental battle within ones self. It seems strange, but God rules through conflict. God, in the beginning created “light” to conflict with the darkness and thus established His method of ruling in our world.
If you are looking for the government or rule of God to be one of just ideas or principles, you are going to miss a great deal of what God is doing in your life and in the world. God does not just come to you with the idea of holiness or justice. God comes and conflicts with your ideas, actions and emotions. God takes some of the weight of eternity and pushes upon your mortal being some of His glorious weight. This conviction is more than just “reason”. God makes us miserable, nervous, perplexed.
We live in a time when the rule of God is reduced to a suggestion from a whippy God. Some would have you believe that you can offend God and all you will get in return is “easy forgiveness” whenever you decide to return to the Lord. God is full of forgiveness just as He is full of justice, truth, discipline and authority. In God, you cannot separate His love from any other of His attributes. The Lord God is one…. which means He is inseparable, having no parts, but that is another section.
The word “holy” has a base meaning of “other”. This “other than we are” sets us up for conflict in the rule of God. We have a leaders, authority, director and guide who is “other” than us. God is not like us. God conflicts with us. Even if we had never sinned, we would conflict with God who is uncreated and never made.
So – if you are not in conflict, you are not in a good place!!!! God disciplines those whom He loves and if your life is “easy” then you should be scared. Yet we all must also know that being in conflict is not a bad thing, it is not having a bad life. Just as the dawning of the morning brings hope for a new day, so does the light of God shining on our darkens release to us the true hope of eternity. Why long for the verbal blessings and praise of men when the conflicting power of God is the doorway to enjoying life eternal now. If you want to mature in Christ Jesus, you will need to get way beyond the emotions connected with conflict and “feeling rejected and unloved”.
If you are looking for the government or rule of God to be one of just ideas or principles, you are going to miss a great deal of what God is doing in your life and in the world. God does not just come to you with the idea of holiness or justice. God comes and conflicts with your ideas, actions and emotions. God takes some of the weight of eternity and pushes upon your mortal being some of His glorious weight. This conviction is more than just “reason”. God makes us miserable, nervous, perplexed.
We live in a time when the rule of God is reduced to a suggestion from a whippy God. Some would have you believe that you can offend God and all you will get in return is “easy forgiveness” whenever you decide to return to the Lord. God is full of forgiveness just as He is full of justice, truth, discipline and authority. In God, you cannot separate His love from any other of His attributes. The Lord God is one…. which means He is inseparable, having no parts, but that is another section.
The word “holy” has a base meaning of “other”. This “other than we are” sets us up for conflict in the rule of God. We have a leaders, authority, director and guide who is “other” than us. God is not like us. God conflicts with us. Even if we had never sinned, we would conflict with God who is uncreated and never made.
So – if you are not in conflict, you are not in a good place!!!! God disciplines those whom He loves and if your life is “easy” then you should be scared. Yet we all must also know that being in conflict is not a bad thing, it is not having a bad life. Just as the dawning of the morning brings hope for a new day, so does the light of God shining on our darkens release to us the true hope of eternity. Why long for the verbal blessings and praise of men when the conflicting power of God is the doorway to enjoying life eternal now. If you want to mature in Christ Jesus, you will need to get way beyond the emotions connected with conflict and “feeling rejected and unloved”.
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