Welcome to Christians Grammar School!

Welcome to Christian Grammar School!

To explain the title of this post is to admit that I am just now learning things that many of you have known for years.  But I am writing to you about it because there may be other knuckleheads like me that also can’t see the forest for the trees.  So if there’s a chance that someone will get a little closer to God because of something I took the time to write, then I have used my ‘spiritual gift’ the way that God intended.

Speaking of spiritual gifts, the people that step up and teach the Sunday School lessons are really awesome.  It takes a lot of time, effort and prayer to properly prepare just one lesson much less a whole series.  And I have to say a special thanks to God for Doug Reynolds.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not praising Doug for just being a good teacher.  I am praising him for using his ‘spiritual gift’ to its maximum power!

Believe me on this!  You can ask Cindy if it’s really true, it can really take a two by four and a lot of whacks to penetrate my thick head before I will finally say the long awaited “Yes Dear.”

Doug’s been hammering away at me for seven years now.  And he has had no small amount of success.  Doug teaches in a way that makes up for my being too dense and too lazy to discern on my own.

Let me ‘splain it to you.

Today, we were talking about Adam and Eve and the relationship they had with God.  Doug asked, was it a relationship of obedience, of trust or is it of love?  The knee jerk reaction would be it was ‘Obedience’ but maybe we ought to give it some more thought.

God would visit them in the Garden. 

Genesis 3:8 NIV – Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day . . .

“As he was walking in the Garden . . .”  does that sound like a ‘formal’ thing?  No it was casual.  God created us to love us and interact with us.   He came to just be with Adam and Eve.

Can you imagine that?  A God who WANTS a relationship with us?

How about this then?

When Jesus lived, he would frequently go into the homes of people and eat with them, talk with them and heal them.  Again he was here to love us and interact with us.

So what’s the big deal?  These are ‘dieties’ that I am speaking of and they want a relationship with us.  Two thirds of the Holy Trinity (and by the way did you know that GOD was not by himself at the time of creation … remember, he created us “In Our image . . .”) but I’m getting ahead of myself, back to what I was saying.

Can you imagine sitting down to dinner and Jesus is sitting across from you?  Our God come to earth to be one of us and he’s asking you to pass the peas and cornbread.  Does that sound like a God wanting only obedience?

You see what the difference is?  Have you ever thought of Jesus or God wanting to be in a ‘Relationship’ with me?  Ok, ok then, wanting a relationship with YOU?

I had never placed them in these ‘human’ terms and when Doug did it just floored me.  I know I am not doing this subject justice with my words here but it was an epiphany for me today.

Back to what I was saying about God not being alone at the time of creation.  Take a gander here:

Genesis 1:26 NIV – Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Did you catch that ‘Our image’ statement?  That’s because Jesus was there too and the Holy Spirit.  That is clarified more in John 1:1-5.

John 1:1-5 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The next time all three of them are present here on Earth is spoken about in Matthew 3:16-17.  As Jesus was being baptized my John,

Matthew 3:16-17 NIV – As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

The entire Holy Trinity was there at Christ’s baptism, The Father in Heaven, the Son rising from the water and the Spirit of God (The Holy Spirit) descending upon him.  I had never understood that the Spirit of God and The Holy Spirit were one and the same.

See, I told you I was a little dense.  (And yes! I do know that’s an understatement!)

But this was just the first lesson in this series that Doug is teaching.  I am really looking forward to the rest!

Sincerely,

Roscoe
(Christian in Training)