Originally published at road2wholeness.com on 1/31/17
The Power of Contrast
Welcome back! Thank
you for taking the read and another stroll with the Road2Wholeness Blog!
So, this is officially the last blog in this "Power" series. I must say, I really
enjoyed watching this series unfold and develop. Well, stretch out and let’s get this walk!
Today the subject is contrast.
Surely right now in the USA, this is a clear theme. Yet, my mind is not called to the
obvious. My attention has been called to
a few of the interesting ways in which I believe God uses contrast to speak to
larger, and naturally unseen issues and contradictions.
Two interesting things happened in my life nearly at the
same time that called my attention to contrast.
Last October as I began to face the spiritual depth of an abortion I had
in my late teens, a family member gave birth prematurely to twins. Naturally, being someone who reflects a lot,
something stood out. I thought I
wouldn’t be surprised if premature birth is a contrasting way God speaks to the
validity of early pregnancies.
Then I began to think about marriage. I thought about how the people who will tell
you that they are the ones who are justified under the biblical sanction of
marriage, still find it hard to properly exemplify the original plan for
marriage. They often use it selfishly
and inappropriately, and even disregard the sanction. It then made me think of the parable of The
Wedding Banquet in the bible, where Jesus told a story of a man who had
prepared a wedding banquet and sent out invitations, only to be met with
excuses. None of the invitees paid
attention. Then the owner of the house
became angry and ordered his servant to go out and compel all types of people
to come in. You see, God is always
trying to get the attention of the people who are called by His name.
What I saw from that story is that, when those who are
called don’t answer, others are chosen.
I see that statement also acted out in The New Testament when the
Gentiles received salvation. The
Gentiles became a part of the chosen, while many who “were called” to receive
the gift of salvation simply chose not to believe in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. In the scripture below the
Apostle Peter responds regarding the baptizing of the Gentiles who Jews like
himself were not formerly associated with.
From Acts 15:8-9
“And God, who knoweth the heart, bare them witness, giving
them the Holy Spirit, even as He did unto us and He made no distinction between
us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith”.
What is powerful in that first conversion of Gentile to
Christian is that the Apostle Peter recognized the Spirit of God, and yielded
to it without conflict. Peter being one
of Jesus’ disciples and one of the witnesses of His post-resurrection sighting
certainly could handle the task.
However, we know that was the purpose of God from the beginning because
scripture says, “For God so loved the world…”
Yet, I find it interesting that God left the matter to be administered
by man. The bible may not have fully
encapsulated this, but this idea was a big one and the issue was very
sensitive.
One of the pressing issues of modern times is that believers
have a difficult time identifying scriptural principle and progression in
reality. We use scripture to motivate
and encourage our positions but often separate the motivation from the
message. So many scriptural fragments
are floating around while they exist completely outside of the context they
were written.
Ultimately, God knew man could never fulfill the law. So as scripture says … “While we were still
sinners Christ died.” Why then would He
still be waiting on us to get righteous to get saved? No, He saved us already! He loves us so much that He didn’t wait. He loves us so much that He bridged the gap
that we might have no excuse why we can’t come to Him. He loves us so much and all He is asking is
that we acknowledge how much He loved us by believing in His Son, Jesus
Christ. That’s it! From there He will give us the abilities and
strengths we need to overcome and live out the Destiny He designed for us.
More importantly, He will walk with us closely as we move
from simply accepting His love to falling in love with Him. This is the component that many Christians
don’t see. Many of the things that they
expect man to do cannot be done fully until man loves the Lord and that is a
journey all onto itself. Not to mention
a very personal one. That is why Jesus
said… “If you love Me, you will keep My commands.” Yet He makes it easy to love Him. He pours out His mercies so lavishly that you
can’t help but love Him. And this is the
only reason in Him you will see your flaws; it’s so you can then see His
mercies for what they are. Again, a
lesson in contrast.
In the meantime while all this reform is taking place at
different stages for many, we are asked to love our neighbor as ourselves;
which is really a command for mercy. He
is saying, see you neighbor in your sin.
This is powerful because we cannot have compassion for what we don’t
understand. So He says, see you neighbor
as yourself; see your neighbor in your sin… and then “Love Your Neighbor as
Yourself”. Therefore, as much as you
want forgiveness for yourself, want it for your neighbor.
Lastly, I’ll say this.
I’ll like to reference the scripture from above again, where the Apostle
Peter said in (Acts 15:8), “And God, who knoweth the heart, bare them witness,
giving them the Holy Spirit, even as He did unto us.”
I believe that the Apostle Peter’s ability to make a solid
decision in the case of salvation for the Gentiles was that he honored the
fruit of the spirit which he witnessed in the Gentile man Cornelius who God had
instructed to send for Peter.
Likewise, in present day, I believe that Christians must
become more familiar and sensitive to the fruit of the Spirit and show
reverence to God by honoring the Spirit wherever it is sighted.
Ultimately, that is what the Apostle Peter
did. He was a mere man, but He submitted
to Spirit of God. And, even if He had
stumbled, God would honor his heart.
This is my piece of walk for today. Thanks for joining me.
Remember to go within that you may never go without, The God within you awaits you! Until our paths collide again, I wish you... Peace, Love, Life, and Complete Wholeness in Christ!
In Service,
NaTisha Renee Williams
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