Monday, December 9, 2019
682 - What It Is ... and Is Not
Spirituality Column #682
“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 41:10
December 10, 2019
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
What It Is … and Is
Not
By Bob Walters
“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 41:10
Peace is not absence of war, of strife, or of anger; it is
calm trust in God and knowing Jesus, our peace.
Obedience is not the absence of sin; it is working for the
Glory of God.
Patience is not the absence of hurry; it is the acceptance
of God’s timing.
Joy is not absence of concern; it is assuredness in God’s
truth.
Righteousness is not me being better than you; it is God
being best all the time.
Love is not the absence of hate; it is the art and
insistence of putting others first.
Salvation is not the absence of Hell; it is the excitement
of Heaven.
Forgiveness is not the absence of blame; it is freedom from
the past.
Divine rewards are not a pending “let’s see” transaction;
they are God’s promise.
Grace is not the absence of judgment; it is the action of
sacrificial love.
Judgment is not the opposite of mercy; it is the proper
complement of mercy.
Mercy is not turning a blind eye; it is seeing things God’s
way.
Thankfulness is not a debt; it is the joy of recognizing
God’s gifts.
Freedom is not the selfish exercise of my rights; it is my
recognition of God’s will and my responsibilities – to Him and to humanity.
Rebellion is not only Satan’s example; it is our failure to
accept God’s love and assert God’s freedom.
Truth is not just the absence of a lie; it is the presence
of the person Jesus.
Eternity is not just the absence of time; it is the quality
and substance of the life of God.
Science does not replace God; it reveals God.
Doubt does not have to be the absence of faith; it may be
the discipline of curiosity.
Hope is not a gamble on the future; it is our awareness of
the reality of God.
Faith is not a blind idea; it is our living experience with God.
Church is not for being fed; it is for feeding each other.
The Gospel is not just the Good News of Jesus Christ; it
reveals the perpetual light of the Spirit, truth of Christ, and love of God.
The Incarnation is not just the birth of a Savior and Emanuel-God-now-with-us;
it celebrates humanity’s reunion with the Kingdom of God.
The Crucifixion is not just a horrible settlement for sin;
it is the glorious, gracious, selfless, and complete obedience of Jesus Christ;
it is Jesus’s human nature surrendering to God’s divine nature.
The Resurrection is not just the defining evidence of the
love and power of God; it is our release from sin, the end of death, and the promise
of life everlasting.
God’s glory is not merely God’s pride; it is His love He
shares with us and the freedom He affords for our own response to the gift of
His son Jesus, our savior.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) first dashed off this column as punctuated
verse, but alas – as his wife Pam the retired English teacher pointed out –
Walters is not a poet. Walters is
however sensitive to and observant of positive vs. incomplete, simplistic, secular,
and/or negative doctrinal proclamations (and somewhat panicked by the latter).
Humans tend to rebel against God rather than seeking to replace our nature with
His.