You cry out but you’re hesitant. The only reference you have of God is one Sunday School class you attended as a cild. From that you learn that God is a loving father and he cares about those he loves. For an understanding of a loving father, you consider your own dad. Drunk and full of rage, he’s the reason you spent your childhood cowering in fear. Failing grades, fights and expulsions from school happened regularly and without consequence.
This gave birth to trouble as a teen and ultimately led you down the path your currently on. Because of a difficult past, the idea of appealing to a God with the likeness of your own father is extremely intimidating. But that doesn’t matter anymore; the weight of your shame is just too much. In a desperate plea you cry out to this loving God expecting to cower in fear once again.
In The Message, Eugene Peterson writes: “Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!” (Eph. 1:7) Free! Did you hear that!?!? Jesus doesn’t just give us access to the heavenly father, He makes us free, and not just barely free – abundantly free!!! Free from the hurt and pain brought on by our drunk and enraged parents. Emptiness and abandonment disappear.
Instead of feeling lonely, we are welcomed into a community where we don’t need to hide behind our fake smiles and white lies. Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us that God is not far away in another universe minding his own business, as we conduct life on earth. Instead he sympathizes with our weaknesses. *In addition to creating the heavens and the earth, He was tempted with sin just like the rest of us. Because of this we can approach God with boldness and confidence.
The bible tells us that God isn’t concerned about a person’s outward appearance. He cares more about the condition of a person’s heart. So let me ask you how is your heart today? If you had a face to face encounter with God tonight, would you meet him with a smile on your face, knowing you have nothing to hide? Or would you find the nearest crawl space then respond to the Lord’s requests? If you find yourself playing hide and seek with the Lord, then I would encourage you to spend sometime in prayer asking the Lord to give you a good cleaning. If you want to talk to God about setting some things straight but find prayer intimidating, just use the words to the song below as a guide.
Create in me a Clean Heart
Create in me a clean heart oh God
And renew a right spirit within me
Create in me a clean heart oh God
And renew a right spirit within me
Cast me not away
From your presence oh Lord
Take not your Holy Spirit from me
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation
And renew a right spirit within me
John Calvin was never accepted by the Catholic Church in any sense, except as another sinner needing redemption.
ReplyDeleteHis leading people into heresy and away from the Body of Christ has been one of the major heartaches for all good Catholic saints who have worked so hard through the centuries to repair the damage he has done to innumerable souls in cutting them off from Divine Grace through severance from the Church.
One saint in particular, St. Francis de Sales spent his life as a missionary, and subsequently as bishop of Geneva trying to reconvert (with great success) those who had been led astray.
The Jesuits were founded, as a religious order, specifically to help combat the heresy of Protestantism.
I’m lost here Michael, how does John Calvin's ties to Protestantism and St. Francis relate to this particular entry?
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