Bible in 90, Day 13: Image Bearers, Not Image Makers

Numbers 33 – Deuteronomy 7

Originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 60: God has no grandchildren

Ezekiel 13-23

image courtesy of gundolf at stock.xchng

Congratulations!  Today we hit the 2/3 mark!

There’s an interesting passage in chapter 18 of today’s reading.  God lays out a few hypothetical lives spread over  three generations.  First is a righteous man who does what pleases God.  This man is commended by God.  Next is his son, who is wicked and lives nothing like his father.  He is condemned by God.  Third is the grandson who returns the family to his grandfather’s ways and lives a holy life.  He is commended for his actions, not condemned by his father’s.  Last is an unrelated man who turns from his wickedness back to God and is forgiven of his past.

God makes it clear here that each man stands before God on his own.  The son is not given credit for his father’s good deeds, and neither is the grandson punished for his father’s wicked deeds.  God had established this rule earlier in the law (Deuteronomy 24:16).  Elsewhere, there are passages that seem to contradict this (Leviticus 26:39; 2 Kings 15:9; Exodus 20:5), but these seem to be best understood not as a direct punishment of one generation for the sins of another as much as the tendency of one generation to fall into the same sin patterns as another.

This same principle is still in effect today.  A child who has parents that are completely opposed to God or religion can still put their faith and trust in Jesus.  My faith in Jesus Christ will not save any of my children.  The combined faith of my wife and I will not save them.  The only good that our children get out of us being Christians is that they will hear the gospel from a very early age and will hear it often.  My faith in Jesus makes me a child of God (John 1:12, 1 John 3:1-2).  But, there is an interesting truth within Christianity.

God has no grandchildren.

Each person stands before God on their own.  The faith of your parents will not grant you any forgiveness of sin.  But, like the fourth man in the passage today, anyone who turns from their sin and comes to God through Jesus Christ will find forgiveness and life.

Let’s never rely on the faith of our parents, or anyone else for that matter.  Just because our parents, or spouse, or even our children go to church does not mean we are right before a holy God.  Instead, let’s realize that apart from Christ, we are all headed in the wrong direction and turn to Him in faith.

originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 40: Our Father, which art in heaven

Psalms 25-45

*image courtesy of nem youth at www.sxc.hu

My dad and I don’t always see eye to eye.  No father and son do.  We’ve had times when we were closer, and times when we really weren’t getting along very well.  One thing has never changed – I’m his son, and he’s my dad.  Dad used to play this song for me when I was a kid.  It was Love Without End, Amen by George Strait.  I don’t think I got it when he first played it for me, but the older I get, the more the song clicks with me, especially now that I’m a father.

I’m fortunate.  I know my dad, and I talk to my dad.  Not everyone does.  Not everyone has an earthly father they can look up to.  But, for those of who are in Christ, we have a heavenly Father.  David reminds us of this, in a way, in Psalm 27.

This is another one of those psalms where David is seeking help from God against his enemies.  But this one starts out with confidence and hope in God.  This psalm’s theme is definitely focused on God’s presence and faithfulness.  His heart’s desire is to seek God, and he knows he will find Him.  He is confident in this because of God’s faithful love.  He proclaims that even if his own father and mother were to forsake him, God will receive him.

God promises us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  This is part of His love for us as our Father.  We don’t talk nearly enough about the Fatherhood of God.  We talk about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, as though that’s the Trinity.  While there is some precedent for this in the New Testament, it’s hard sometimes to remember that the Trinity is made up of Father, Son, and Spirit.  We have a Heavenly Father!  Those of us who are in Christ have been adopted by the Father (Ephesians 1:4-5)!  Because of this, we can call God, “Father.”  Not only this, but we can call Him “Abba” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6).  Abba is the Hebrew/Aramaic equivalent of “daddy.”  It is one of the first words a first-century Jewish boy or girl would learn.

We have a Father who loves us and will never leave us!  Some have seen this modeled in their own fathers, and some have seen just the opposite.  For those who have a faithful father who has been the rock of their lives, take comfort that God is even more faithful than him!  God can come through even when your father might fail.  For those who have a less than faithful father, or maybe don’t even know their father, know that God the Father adopts all those who come to Him through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  This Father will never leave you, never fail you, always loves you.  If everyone in your life forsakes you, if everyone else lets you down, the Father will still receive you.

I never noticed this before, but George Strait sings, “When I became a father, in the spring ’81…”  I was born May 1981, so this must’ve really connected with my dad!

*originally at Words of Reason