Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ
to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will Ephesians 1:5 KJV
When anyone who reads these words with a heart for home tries to picture the place that truly fits, the startling offer that God is making is that we can be His children. Not merely outsiders that are ok to wander around on the grounds so long as we behave ourselves; we are truly children. Children that can come in from outside: torn and bloody, or dirty, or thirsty, or missing our tennis shoes, or tired and hungry, or holding a handful of flowers. Too many people get the wrong idea about the word "predestinated" because it has been taken over by the overthinking theologians. Every human is shaped so that he or she can be adopted as a child of God through Jesus Christ. That is what humans were predestined to be. Jesus (Jesus was fully human) proved the truth of that fact (Acts 13:33).
There are many people that don't want certain kinds of children in the house. For some reason, they think that they have to protect the house from the really nasty kids. Reprobate kids. The calvinist imagination invents a brand of humans that never could be adopted. In this imagination, they pridefully picture themselves as adults in the House of God and able to explain to potential children how everything in the house works. Try an experiment: ask a 3 year old to explain how different household appliances work. The accuracy of those descriptions is as accurate as the calvinist explanation of how God did things in the eternal realm before mankind was created. As a matter of fact, Calvin stupidly taught that the yard dog had the same predestined capabilities as humans.
The only "adult" of God is Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. The Father does not bypass Jesus in order to accomplish something that involves humans. Jesus is the Creator. Jesus establishes all that is right and good for humans. No human does what is right and good. Jesus inserted Himself into creation as one of us (Jesus is still God) and became sin for us. Taking sin upon Himself, He died, was buried and arose on the third day...just as He and the Father had worked out in the plan that was written up in advance. Having returned to the land of the dead as the Living One, He set the foundation for the orphanage that He had always planned to build...making Himself a permanent part of the house.
The child, outside, where serpents prowl, that needs to come into the house, does not need to have a special injection of super courage or understanding or "saving faith." (If your formula for "salvation" is too complicated for an 8 year old boy, then your formula is wrong -- who cares how smart you are or how well you think you have things figured out. Where the Kingdom is concerned, you are worthless.) All he or she needs to know is that the house is the place of safety and the owner of the house loves children. Any child is welcome. The safety of the house is a gift to be accepted by wretched children. All humans other than Jesus are children.
Children are lost and in danger and need a home. They are trapped outside because sin has made them unqualified to go into the house. They don't know that Jesus became sin for them and knows how to clean them up. He needs for us to call out to them and tell them that the house is not just for us.
Sinner.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.
unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ
to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will Ephesians 1:5 KJV
When anyone who reads these words with a heart for home tries to picture the place that truly fits, the startling offer that God is making is that we can be His children. Not merely outsiders that are ok to wander around on the grounds so long as we behave ourselves; we are truly children. Children that can come in from outside: torn and bloody, or dirty, or thirsty, or missing our tennis shoes, or tired and hungry, or holding a handful of flowers. Too many people get the wrong idea about the word "predestinated" because it has been taken over by the overthinking theologians. Every human is shaped so that he or she can be adopted as a child of God through Jesus Christ. That is what humans were predestined to be. Jesus (Jesus was fully human) proved the truth of that fact (Acts 13:33).
There are many people that don't want certain kinds of children in the house. For some reason, they think that they have to protect the house from the really nasty kids. Reprobate kids. The calvinist imagination invents a brand of humans that never could be adopted. In this imagination, they pridefully picture themselves as adults in the House of God and able to explain to potential children how everything in the house works. Try an experiment: ask a 3 year old to explain how different household appliances work. The accuracy of those descriptions is as accurate as the calvinist explanation of how God did things in the eternal realm before mankind was created. As a matter of fact, Calvin stupidly taught that the yard dog had the same predestined capabilities as humans.
The only "adult" of God is Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. The Father does not bypass Jesus in order to accomplish something that involves humans. Jesus is the Creator. Jesus establishes all that is right and good for humans. No human does what is right and good. Jesus inserted Himself into creation as one of us (Jesus is still God) and became sin for us. Taking sin upon Himself, He died, was buried and arose on the third day...just as He and the Father had worked out in the plan that was written up in advance. Having returned to the land of the dead as the Living One, He set the foundation for the orphanage that He had always planned to build...making Himself a permanent part of the house.
The child, outside, where serpents prowl, that needs to come into the house, does not need to have a special injection of super courage or understanding or "saving faith." (If your formula for "salvation" is too complicated for an 8 year old boy, then your formula is wrong -- who cares how smart you are or how well you think you have things figured out. Where the Kingdom is concerned, you are worthless.) All he or she needs to know is that the house is the place of safety and the owner of the house loves children. Any child is welcome. The safety of the house is a gift to be accepted by wretched children. All humans other than Jesus are children.
Children are lost and in danger and need a home. They are trapped outside because sin has made them unqualified to go into the house. They don't know that Jesus became sin for them and knows how to clean them up. He needs for us to call out to them and tell them that the house is not just for us.
Sinner.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.
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