As I study and write
I am struck by the themes that keep recurring.
A couple of those themes being
-the Bible is a book
of balance
-Peaceful and loving
God and Jesus who want to see the whole world saved vs. strong and mighty God and Jesus who can kick
a little tail.
Take a look at these
verses and then I'll share my thoughts.
Luke 18:1-8(NKJV)
1Then He spoke a parable to them, that men
always ought to pray and not lose heart,
2saying: “There was in a certain city
a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.
3Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get
justice for me from my adversary.’
4And he would not for a while;
but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard
man,
5yet because this widow troubles
me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”
6Then the Lord said, “Hear what the
unjust judge said.
7And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night
to Him, though He bears long with them?
8I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the
earth?”
To begin with the
first part cracks me up because it shows how far back some stereotypes can
go. I mean what are we talking about
here? A nagging woman. Wow. So that is where the myth of the nagging
woman came from?
But this is also
where I again see the tension of balance.
My major inclination is to bring something up to God once and move
on. God's not some doddering old fool
with a failing memory. I mean come on He
runs the universe. I'm sure I don't have
to keep reminding Him.
On the other hand
here is another example in the Bible where God seems to be saying "come
on, keep knocking, keep asking, bug me a little." Maybe in these instances He just wants us to
show Him we really want it. I don't
know. It's just sometimes hard to find
that balance.
Now as to the God
the strong and mighty. Check this
out. What I want to illustrate here is
a difference in the word picture. There
is a difference of attitude. Look at
this definition.
A·venge
verb (used with object),
a·venged, a·veng·ing.
- to take vengeance or exact satisfaction for: to avenge a grave insult.
- to take vengeance on behalf of: He avenged his brother.
Synonyms
vindicate. Avenge, revenge both imply to inflict pain or harm
in return for pain or harm inflicted on oneself or those persons or causes to which one feels
loyalty. The two words were formerly
interchangeable, but have been differentiated until they now convey widely
diverse ideas. Avenge
is now restricted to inflicting punishment as an act of retributive justice or as a vindication of propriety: to avenge
a murder by bringing the criminal to trial.
Revenge implies inflicting pain or harm to
retaliate for real or
fancied wrongs; a reflexive pronoun is often used with
this verb:
Iago wished to revenge himself upon Othello.
Pasted
from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/avenge>
When you are
presented with the Gospel you have to make a choice. There is no being Switzerland here and
staying neutral. Jesus himself told us
that we are either for Him or against Him.
If you don't chose Him you are therefore rejecting Him. You think that might offend and insult God?
So here is the
difference. It would be one thing to let
them just quietly slink off to eternal damnation, but based on what I read
above that doesn't seem likely to happen.
Instead by rejecting Jesus they have offended and insulted God. He is going to avenge that act by causing
them pain and torment on the way to eternal damnation. Ouch!
So remember folks,
there's no not making a decision and waiting til later. To not choose is to choose.
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