Christ must suffer, and then rise from the dead on the third day; that repentance and forgiveness of sins might be preached in his name among all nations, beginning in Jerusalem."
--Jesus
"To see a Truth, to know what it is, to understand it, and to love it, are all one....To see one divine fact is to stand face to face with essential eternal life." --George MacDonald
Eternal Goodness Itself Suffers in the Fire of God's Redemptive Plan
The Consuming Fire is God working through the ages in His science, history and poetry to impart His vision of the Truth of essential life, that is eternal life, to every human soul whose eyes have not been opened, whose child-heart has not yet been born in him.
For our Creator regards men not as they are merely, but as they shall be; not as they shall be merely, but as they are now growing, or capable of growing, towards that image after which he made them that they might grow to it.
Therefore a thousand stages, each in itself all but valueless, are of inestimable worth as the necessary and connected gradations of an infinite progress.
Growth toward the divine nature is accomplished through the divine process: repentance (agreeing with the Creator's indisputable right and necessary duty to judge how our actions measure up to that image) and forgiveness (accepting the bonding of our hearts with His by releasing our revealed inner corruption into the Fire of His Perfecting Love).
This, follower of Jesus, IS Good News worthy of our efforts to proclaim to everyone: that the Living Savior is at work with His father, tirelessly transforming every individual into His Goodness!
(adapted from The Consuming Fire, Unspoken Sermons I, George MacDonald.)
Eternal Goodness Itself Suffers in the Fire of God's Redemptive Plan
- A burning bush transforms an eighty year old man from lawless fugitive to premiere lawgiver
- A smoking mountain makes a slave-bound people fit fornationhood
- Fiery visions warning of impending judgments turn hearts from sin
- A hellish, blood stained cross purifies a ragtag group of men who turn the world upside down
For our Creator regards men not as they are merely, but as they shall be; not as they shall be merely, but as they are now growing, or capable of growing, towards that image after which he made them that they might grow to it.
Therefore a thousand stages, each in itself all but valueless, are of inestimable worth as the necessary and connected gradations of an infinite progress.
Growth toward the divine nature is accomplished through the divine process: repentance (agreeing with the Creator's indisputable right and necessary duty to judge how our actions measure up to that image) and forgiveness (accepting the bonding of our hearts with His by releasing our revealed inner corruption into the Fire of His Perfecting Love).
This, follower of Jesus, IS Good News worthy of our efforts to proclaim to everyone: that the Living Savior is at work with His father, tirelessly transforming every individual into His Goodness!
(adapted from The Consuming Fire, Unspoken Sermons I, George MacDonald.)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are welcome. You can post them here or send me an email: clyon2msu@gmail.com. Thanks for reading, hope you are encouraged, blessed, challenged and grow stronger in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Charlie