AFib (def.) – “Atrial fibrillation (also called AFib or AF)
is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood
clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications. At least
2.7 million Americans are living with AFib” (1).
A Fib (MW Thesaurus) – untruth, lie, falsehood, sham,
pretense, deceive, misrepresentation, fake, pull the wool over somebody,
fantasy.
Combining the two together, this would be a deception, an
irregularity, a lie said persistently within the heart of someone, which then
can lead to heart failure or heart complications. And, the heart is the core,
the center of our being. It is our mind, soul, spirit and nature. So, this is
about the impact that persistent lies, lies that deny the Lordship of Jesus
Christ over one’s life, have on individuals’ lives, which can lead to spiritual
and physical death. And, a large number of Americans, too, are living with a
fib.
Psalm 14 ESV
The fool says in his
heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
The Lord looks down
from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned
aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
Have they no
knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?
There they are in
great terror,
for God is with the generation of the
righteous.
You would shame the
plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
Oh, that salvation for
Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his
people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
An Allegory
So, you and Henry got married. After a couple of days, he
pulled out a chair for you at the table for you to sit on. For all appearances,
he was being nice, a gentleman. But, just as you got ready to sit down, he
pulled the chair out from underneath you, so you fell to the floor. But, he
said he was sorry, so you forgave him.
Maybe a week later the same thing happened, but again, you
forgave him. But, this kept going on for years, and quite consistently. But, every
time you forgave him, and you trusted him again, but again he did the same
thing.
Now this had been going on for 40 years, and for all 40
years you took his abuse, you forgave him, and you trusted him again, and you
put your life in his hands, and you loved him, and nurtured him, and gave your life
up for him in hopes that one day he would stop pulling that chair out from
underneath you. But, he didn’t.
So, you cried out for help, only the help never came. No one
would come to the rescue. No one would be willing to take your word for what
was going on. No one would gather together a group of people to sit down with Henry
and to speak truth to his heart and to hold him accountable for his actions.
So, they either did nothing, or they took his side, and they treated you as
though you were the one at fault, instead.
After all, it was your word against his. There were no
witnesses, and even though you had been injured by this over and over again, it
did not leave any visible marks to where you could prove that you were being
abused. So, you clammed up, and you stopped trying to tell anyone you were
being abused because they were not listening, and they would not reach out to
help.
The Analogy
There are parallels in this allegory both to God’s
relationship with man, and to the Lord’s servants’ relationship with humankind,
as well. So, this is not going to be a literal word-for-word translation of
this allegory, but rather it will be more of a paraphrase of the general
thought, the general principle at work here, both in God’s relationship to
humans, and to the saints of God’s relationship to their fellow humans, too.
**
God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
But, man sinned against God, and in doing so he circumvented the authority of
God over his life, and he took advantage of God’s love relationship with him,
i.e. he abused God’s grace. But, God forgave him. But, he disciplined him, too.
Then, Adam had two sons, Cain and Abel, and Cain became
jealous of Abel, his brother, because God approved of Abel’s sacrifice to him,
but he did not approve of Cain’s. So, Cain was very angry with God. But…
The Lord said to Cain,
“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not
be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its
desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen. 4:6-7)
But, Cain disregarded God’s counsel to him, and he allowed his
anger to turn to bitterness, and that bitterness turned to hatred, and then
Cain killed his brother because his hatred for his brother consumed him.
And, mankind continued to sin against God, symbolized here
by the 40 years that God’s people wandered in the wilderness, most of whom died
in the wilderness and did not get to go into the Promised Land, because of
their disbelief in God and their refusal to obey him, and their continual pursuit
of foreign gods and what was immoral, wicked and vile.
But, in all of this, God continued to reach out to
humankind, to forgive them of their sins if they would only repent, and to love
them, nurture them, and then eventually to give his life up for them on a cross
so that they would go free from their slavery to sin, and so they would stop
circumventing God’s authority over their lives. But, even with that, humans
still denied the authority of God over their lives by refusing to believe in
Jesus Christ.
For, Jesus was delivered over to death by the betrayal of
one of his own disciples, one of his companions. Yet, the other disciples did
not understand, although Jesus told them, for their eyes were blinded to the
truth. And, so they all deserted him, and one of them denied him three times
when he was falsely arrested, and falsely accused, and given a mock trial, and
put to death on a cross. All those who participated in his crucifixion were all
blinded to the truth. They did not see! They did not grasp the magnitude of it
all.
So, humans persecuted Jesus Christ, God the Son, and they
treated him as though he was a common criminal, when he had done no wrong. At
his mock trial, he said little to defend himself, though, because the people
weren’t listening. But, through his death on a cross, the work of our
redemption was completed so that, through faith in Jesus Christ, we might be
delivered out of our bondage to sin, and so we might walk in Christ’s
righteousness.
And, after he died and rose again, and he sent his Holy
Spirit to indwell the lives of his followers. Then humans treated God’s
servants, his messengers, the same as they had treated Jesus, and they are
still doing that today.
Persecution of
Christ/Christians
They are still circumventing the authority of God over their
lives. They are still believing the lies of Satan over the Word of God. They
are still trying to win God’s approval by their fleshly sacrifices while they
refuse to obey the Lord in what he wants for their lives.
And, then they are resentful of those who do have God’s
approval, and so they persecute them and they injure them, intentionally, fully
meaning to cause them harm, and they even put some of them to death, or they
murder them in their hearts.
They are still blaming others for their sins, too, including
blaming Satan for tempting them and for tricking them, even though many of them
have known the Word of God for forever, and they know better, and they should
have been prepared, and they should have fled the temptation rather than
remained in the throes of it so that they did give in to it.
They are still ignoring God’s counsel to them that they must
obey the Lord and do what he says if they are to overcome their sinful practices,
and to rule over them. And, they are ignoring his counsel which tells them that
if they walk in disobedience to the Lord, and they continue to go their own
way, that they will not have victory over the flesh, but it will rule their
hearts.
They are still choosing to follow after false gods created
in the minds of humans rather than to submit to the Lordship of Christ. They
are still engaging in wicked and immoral deeds, in sexual immorality, slander,
lying, gossip, and evil plots against others intended to destroy them, etc.
They are still wandering in the wilderness, going around and round in circles,
because they refuse to obey the Lord and do what he says.
And, they are still denying Jesus Christ by their
lifestyles, and are closing their eyes and their ears to the truth, because the
truth interferes with their lifestyles or their comfort, and they just want
life to be fun and entertaining.
They are still betraying Jesus Christ by the words they
speak and by the things that they do, and they are still persecuting his
servants and his messengers, too, telling them to stop confronting them with
the Holy One of Israel, and to get off that straight path, and to tell them
pleasant things, things which will make them feel good, even in their sins.
And, yet some or many of these, which I have described above,
claim to be followers of Jesus. Yet, they want God’s approval of their lives
while they still continue in their sinful addictions. They want God to believe
that they love him, and that they are really trying to do what he says, and
that their hearts really are surrendered to the Lord. But, by their lifestyles,
they deny him.
Oh, that this generation would turn their hearts over to the
Lord Jesus and make him truly Lord (owner-master) of their lives, instead of
them ruling their own lives, and expecting God to approve them. Lord, send a
revival!
Gift of God
An Original Work /
October 25, 2016
Based off Various
Scriptures
Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Died for us on a cross;
Conquered death, sin, and hell,
So, with Him, we would dwell.
For, by His grace, we are saved.
He set us free from all sin.
Thanks be to God for His Gift.
Through faith in Him, we’re forgiven.
Holy Spirit of God,
Given to us who believe,
Gives us new life in Christ;
Made to be just like Him.
We died with Christ to our sin.
New lives in Him we begin,
Walking with Christ day by day.
We read His Word, and we pray.
Jesus, He is our Lord.
Follow Him where He leads.
Tell the world of His grace.
We’ll see Christ face to face.
Soon He is coming again.
We’ll be forever with Him.
He’ll wipe our tears all away.
Oh, what a wonderful day!
Monday, April 1, 2019
(1)
https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation/what-is-atrial-fibrillation-afib-or-af
No comments:
Post a Comment