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16 Now [de] our [hemon] Lord [kurios] Jesus [Iesous] Christ [Christos] himself, [autos] and [kai] God, [theos] even [kai] our [hemon] Father, [pater] which [ho] hath loved [agapao] us, [hemas] and [kai] hath given [didomi] us everlasting [aionios] consolation [paraklesis] and [kai] good [agathos] hope [elpis] through [en] grace, [charis]KJV-Interlinear
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and
good hope by grace, NASB
Now there is a pronoun
inserted here, Himself, which relates to both Jesus Christ and God the
Father.This position makes them both
equal persons and is one of the strongest testimonies that Jesus Christ is in
fact God.
In every Christians
mind, there should be no doubt that Jesus is the Lord, the one and only person
through whom we look to gain access to deity and the favors of deity.
The Holy Spirit here is
not included, but not for the reason that you probably are thinking.He too is also co-equal and co-eternal with
both the Son and the Father, however, there are too
many folks and movements out there which try to make the Holy Spirit, or the
gifts of the Spirit, into a religion of their own.And that is a distortion, of truth and the
function of the Spirit, in the overall plan of God for us.
Too many folks want to
make the Holy Spirit into an emotional component of the spiritual life, and the
spiritual life is not an emotional relationship, nor any type of connection to
God through emotions or the senses, etc.Our relationship to God is through doctrine.The Holy Spirit facilitates that spiritual
growth process, but apart from the physical senses that so many folks try to
include in their spiritual life.Those
emotional approaches are nothing more than pretenses and frauds.
Both the Father and the
Son have loved you since eternity past.When you were first conceived in their minds and included in the overall
plan of God, their love for you has never faltered or waivered.Through the history of eternity past, through
prehistoric history, through our current human history and through all of the
future of eternity, their love has always been for you, and will never depart
or fade.
You are an important
person.Probably more than you really
know.Regardless of
your circumstances, regardless of your color, culture, talent, ability,
intellect, health, etc., or lack of them.Those things are irrelevant to Gods love for you.
But Gods love is based
on truth, not lies, reality not fantasy, fact not fiction, responsibility and
not irresponsibility.In doctrine there
is no room for pretense, no room for excuses, no room
for shallow phony spirituality.
Bible doctrine is the
real food for your life, not milk for children, but food for adults, mature
adults.Your responsibility in life is
to grow up to spiritual maturity, and in maturity you will discover phenomenal
blessings that only adults can appreciate.Infants cannot appreciate anything much less the details of an adult
life.And so it is in the spiritual
life.
Remain a child and lose
out on the greatest opportunities that have ever been made available to anyone.
God has a plan for your
life.It is a phenomenal plan.One that you could never dream up on your
own, and all you have to do is grow up.
And along the way, of
your growing up, God will test your spiritual muscle to see if you are really
growing up or just coasting through life on an emotional roller-coaster.
God has phenomenal
things to give to you, but to whom much is given, much is expected.You have to do your part, and your part is
the growing up part.Our study in James,
looks in detail into the work of the Christian life, which by the way, has
nothing to do with working for God as some would have you think. And, by the way, you might want to revisit
the studies in 1, 2, and 3rd John, for the details of the function
of the spiritual life.
But of course only
those who are genuinely interested, will pursue
knowledge, while others will of course be too busy for what they view as
nonsense.Isn t it interesting that
those who are clueless as to the workings of the universe, rate their own
wisdom off the charts, with regard to life, afterlife, and reality in general.
God questioned Job
about some of the basic fundamental details of our world, which even today we
still have no answers to, so even our science of today, has not improved mans
omniscient attributes.
I saw a show on
television on dark matter and dark energy and the various theories of
undiscovered dimensions, and though these are just theories, they do present
more evidence of the amazing sophistication of our universe and how it is
constructed.And when you consider the
vastness of our universe, the complexities and so forth, and then begin to
wonder about the next universe which is to come, and how it will be infinitely
better than what we have now, then possibly you can begin to realize the
magnitude of what God has in the works, for you.
Is that not worth a
little of your time to learn doctrine and grow up to be a complete person, as
He would like you to?
Regardless of who or
what you are in this life, the next great event of your life will be your face
to face meeting with Jesus Christ.Those
who are not impressed with Christ in this life, are
going to be in for an overwhelming shock.Those who are impressed with Christ are going to be in for an
overwhelming and anticipated experience.
You have an
opportunity, right now, to prepare yourself to completion and readiness for
that next great event.That means that you need to adopt for yourself the genuine desire (not
pretended, not phony, not emotional, not for show), to learn doctrine and grow
up in your spiritual life.And if
you really care, then you will invite others to participate in their own
spiritual advancement as well.
Gods desire in not for
you to make noise to impress others, but to remain silent, a student without
portfolio, and learn.And in so doing,
He (not you), will mold you into something more beautiful and wonderful than
anything that has ever existed.
Humanity consists of
dirt.And into that dirt, God imputed
life out of nothing.And from that
combination, God has molded all of the many examples of humanity that you have
witnessed in your life.From the
beautiful to the ugly, smart to the dumb, talented to the not so talented.And what could you do with only dirt?
And with all of these
many examples of people, the world has imposed many hardships and disadvantages
for most of us, but God has risen above the unfairness s of the world and has
given everyone, with no exceptions, the opportunity of having a complete life
and far more.What have you accomplished?
The only barrier to
your ultimate success in life is your refusal, or reluctance, or indifference
toward God, Christ, doctrine, and your own spiritual life.No one but you, can
be blamed for your failure.And God
alone gets credit for your success.
So now, you have to
choose.Roll your eyes and walk away, or
commit yourself to your daily bible study and stick with it every day of your
life, no exceptions.