I happened upon this message board today as I search for truth. It looks to be a wonderful place to share ideas and to help others in their search to know God.
I thought it would be good to share with anyone who is interested a little about me. Perhaps because I think it might inspire someone else to seek the truth about themselves. After all, how can we hope to understand the character of God if we are unable to know our own character first?
I was born to a loving father and mother some 42 years ago. They gave me a wonderful Hebrew name, which in English means "beloved". My namesake was a man who was asked by God to fight seemingly undefeatable enemies. He obeyed the Father and accepted His strength and did as he was commanded.
My namesake also disobeyed the Father in many shameful and destructive ways. But because he believed in the healing power of the pure blood that had not even been shed yet, he was forgiven and held in esteem by the Father. So much so that it seemed good to Him that when the Word was made flesh His earthly parents came from the lineage of my namesake.
So who am I?
I have killed my unborn children whom God knew in the womb.
I have lashed out in anger towards others in a feeble attempt to preserve my foolish pride.
I have committed adultery in my heart with countless women.
I have born false witness against my brothers.
I have dishonored and failed to keep countless Sabbaths that my Father commanded me to keep.
I have accepted apologies from those who have wronged me only to keep anger and malice in my heart towards them.
I have stolen from my brothers and sisters out of selfishness.
I have coveted that which belongs to my neighbor.
I have worshipped many false Gods including money, power, status, position, sex and physical beauty.
I have sought strength and prosperity by my own hand only to find failure because I rejected the strength and guidance offered by He who made me.
I have substituted my own will for that of my creator.
I have brought a sentence of death upon myself.
My clothes are filthy rags.
Yet a Son became flesh from the root of David. Before that He and His Father designed the atom. They devised the sun and the sunset. They conceived of, and then built the supernova, the aurora borealis and the butterfly. Together They invented love.
This Son was sent away by the Father. Had no one else who had ever walked the face of the earth ever disobeyed the Fathers laws of love except me, still the Son would have been sent away by the Father to become the Son of Man. He was instructed by the Father to offer Himself up. He did so because of the love that They had created together.
Besides the suffering of the scourge, the beatings and the crucifixion, the scars of which He bears to this day, the Son suffered the unimaginable because of my selfish disobedience. Because He took my sins upon Himself, the Son suffered the horror of separation from the Father. Because my sins separated me from God, and the Son took them upon Himself so that I might live, He then suffered for the first and only time that separation from the Father that I deserved for myself. At the moment He took them away from me to bear upon Himself, He realized the awful emptiness that is the separation from the Father. It was then He asked "Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He asked this because the perfect connection with the Father had been broken in that moment because of me.
For those who seek to know the character of God, ask yourself this question. What kind of God would do such a thing?
I thought it would be good to share with anyone who is interested a little about me. Perhaps because I think it might inspire someone else to seek the truth about themselves. After all, how can we hope to understand the character of God if we are unable to know our own character first?
I was born to a loving father and mother some 42 years ago. They gave me a wonderful Hebrew name, which in English means "beloved". My namesake was a man who was asked by God to fight seemingly undefeatable enemies. He obeyed the Father and accepted His strength and did as he was commanded.
My namesake also disobeyed the Father in many shameful and destructive ways. But because he believed in the healing power of the pure blood that had not even been shed yet, he was forgiven and held in esteem by the Father. So much so that it seemed good to Him that when the Word was made flesh His earthly parents came from the lineage of my namesake.
So who am I?
I have killed my unborn children whom God knew in the womb.
I have lashed out in anger towards others in a feeble attempt to preserve my foolish pride.
I have committed adultery in my heart with countless women.
I have born false witness against my brothers.
I have dishonored and failed to keep countless Sabbaths that my Father commanded me to keep.
I have accepted apologies from those who have wronged me only to keep anger and malice in my heart towards them.
I have stolen from my brothers and sisters out of selfishness.
I have coveted that which belongs to my neighbor.
I have worshipped many false Gods including money, power, status, position, sex and physical beauty.
I have sought strength and prosperity by my own hand only to find failure because I rejected the strength and guidance offered by He who made me.
I have substituted my own will for that of my creator.
I have brought a sentence of death upon myself.
My clothes are filthy rags.
Yet a Son became flesh from the root of David. Before that He and His Father designed the atom. They devised the sun and the sunset. They conceived of, and then built the supernova, the aurora borealis and the butterfly. Together They invented love.
This Son was sent away by the Father. Had no one else who had ever walked the face of the earth ever disobeyed the Fathers laws of love except me, still the Son would have been sent away by the Father to become the Son of Man. He was instructed by the Father to offer Himself up. He did so because of the love that They had created together.
Besides the suffering of the scourge, the beatings and the crucifixion, the scars of which He bears to this day, the Son suffered the unimaginable because of my selfish disobedience. Because He took my sins upon Himself, the Son suffered the horror of separation from the Father. Because my sins separated me from God, and the Son took them upon Himself so that I might live, He then suffered for the first and only time that separation from the Father that I deserved for myself. At the moment He took them away from me to bear upon Himself, He realized the awful emptiness that is the separation from the Father. It was then He asked "Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He asked this because the perfect connection with the Father had been broken in that moment because of me.
For those who seek to know the character of God, ask yourself this question. What kind of God would do such a thing?
