Tag: god

Staying in Bed

[From my journal on  November 26, 2007]

Jan was having a hard time staying in bed tonight. When Jess went down to get water, she came in to ask me to put her blanket on her. I chose to ignore her because Jess had given Jan explicit instructions to stay in bed and consequences if she got out.

When Jess came up with the water, she found Jan in the hall. Jan started to cry and in a heart-broken voice told Jess how she came to talk to Daddy, but he wouldn’t talk to her, and didn’t turn his head to look at her. She was so sad. I almost ran out to hug her. She went to bed and stayed there for a while which allowed me to go tuck her in.

I thought I must know a little how God feels. How often do we try to ask God for things, but He can’t answer or look at us because we have chosen to be disobedient. He gives us commandments and consequences and He MUST abide by them. If He breaks them even once, even the smallest one, He would cease to be God.  He can not be the law giver and enforcer and break His own laws. I think I felt a bit of the heart ache He feels when He is bound to His laws and can not help because we have not kept our part of the bargain.

Fortunately, He is a merciful God and we can rectify our standing with Him when we apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through repentance, continued obedience, and the cleansing power of the Atonement, we can have again a clean and pure relationship with our Father in Heaven.

God is the God of all people

Paul is a powerful preacher and prophet. I finished Acts and have started Romans, and I’m astounded by the works of Paul. Despite constant tribulation he keeps the faith.

In Romans chapter 3, he speaks to the believers and non believers in Rome. He testifies of Jesus Christ. He tells the people that it doesn’t matter if they are Jew or Gentile (non-Jew), because “is he not also [God] of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also” (Romans 3: 29). So God is the God of all people, not just the Jews. The acts and teachings of Jesus were for every human being, not just the Jews.

Why then the special situation of the Jews? Paul explains that it had been the “advantage” for the Jewish population to have “committed” unto them the oracles of God. It was to this people that God gave the prophets, the seers, the revelators. To these people were given the “advantage” to be have the mouth piece of the Lord.

Does this mean salvation is only for the Jews. Of course not. Salvation is available for all human beings. How does it come? Through strict obedience to the Mosaic laws? No! But through faith on Jesus Christ.

Romans 2: 27-28

27 Where is aboasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is ajustified by bfaith cwithout the deeds of the law.

Does this mean we only need to have faith to be saved? Yes, that’s what it means. Salvation does not depend on how well we follow the laws of Moses. Salvation depends upon how we have faith in Jesus.

So what does it mean to have faith in Jesus? I’ll be looking at that through out this week.

He will save the day

Today was Fast Sunday for us, since Stake Conference is next Sunday. Jonas was sitting next to me, and when there was a lull in people bearing testimony I asked Jonas if he wanted to go. He got quiet and solemn. I could tell he wanted to, but was a bit afraid. When the next lull came, I gave him a nudge. He jumped up and walked up to the podium (we sit on the third row back, so it wasn’t that far away). He stood there for a second or two, trying to think about what to say. He then looked out at the congregation and got real sacred. He looked at me with the beginning of tears in his eyes and motioned for me to come help. I went up there and told him to say he loves his family and Jesus. He did so in a quiet and somewhat shaky voice. Before he could run off, I told him to close in the name of Jesus Christ. He did so, and then came to get a big hug and comfort. Another boy bore his testimony, and then I bore mine as well.

As I did so I realized that the experience Jonas and I just had was an allegory of our relationship with God. I bore this as my testimony:

I had prompted Jonas to do something important. Then at the proper time, I gave him a little nudge in reminder. He immediately went to do it. While trying to do what he was supposed to, he found that he did not have the ability to do it himself. He asked his father for help. His father rushed to his aid and helped him complete his task.

God is always preparing us for important things to do, to help His kingdom roll forward. At the proper time He gives us a nudge. We can choose to be like Jonas and immediately go and do what we know we should. He showed me the scripture in real life, that we should all become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” [Mosiah 3: 19] Jonas was submissive and humble and willing to submit to the thing I wanted him to do (bear his testimony). We must be submissive and humbe and willing to submit to the Lord. When we do so, we may find ourselves in a situation that we can’t finish or complete by ourselves. We can give up, be discouraged or frustrated, or, like Jonas, we can look earnestly to our Father and plead for help. And He will come rushing in to save the day.

I love Jonas. He is a wonder boy, full of love and a great desire to do what is right. He teaches me often through such great examples.

As an epilogue, later in the meeting I commented to Jonas how great it was that he could get up there to bear his testimony, and how scary it can be. He replied almost in a huff and slightly under his breath, “they weren’t all supposed to be looking at me.” Well, my son, they always will be. You will be a strong and upright example for many many people. Point them to Christ and you need not fear.

The Offspring of God

Paul proclaims a lost truth. God is a physical personage, he is known (or can be known) to us. In Acts 17: 23, Paul proclaims to the people of Athens (who worshiped idols and an Unknown God) “him declare I unto you.” God is not impersonal, he is not invisible, insofar as we seek him. He wants us to know him, the same way that Moses did, face to face.

God is also a personage of physical proportions. He has a tangible body. Paul declares in Acts 17: 28-29, that we are the offspring of God. He is the creator of our spiritual beings, our earthly parents are the creators of the physical bodies that house our spirits.