Ashamed of God

"God is the only being who is good, and the standards are set by Him. Because God hates sin, He has to punish those guilty of sin. Maybe that's not an appealing standard. But to put it bluntly, when you get your own universe, you can make your own standards." — Francis Chan 

Few people have a problem with God's love, but ...

• Are we ashamed of God's wrath?
• Are we ashamed that God will send millions of unbelievers to hell? 
• Are we ashamed that God has given us commands and conditions for our lives? 
• Are we ashamed of God's moral standards against premarital sex, homosexuality, and pornography?
• Are we ashamed that Jesus said He is the only way to be saved? 

"Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26 

May we never be ashamed of anything about our God.

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Fellow blogger, Rosilind of A Little R&R recently started a site dedicated to encouraging missionaries. If you're a missionary in need of encouragement or someone who'd like to learn more about missions, take a look: Missional Call.

Tricked and Trumped

The 2nd from the left is my grandmother.

My great grandfather and his cousin homesteaded in Kansas in the late 1800's, and his cousin deceived him by switching claims. 

After my grandfather built a home, his cousin revealed the switched claims and "legally" stole my grandfather's house.

My grandfather, an especially forgiving soul, took this injustice in stride. But it wasn't easy for his family who lived in a shack until my grandfather had time and money to build another home. 

But there's an epilogue.

Years later, natural gas was discovered on my grandfather's plot, and not on his cousin's. 

My grandfather's children and grandchildren benefited from that oil well for many years, which is now barely producing but still pays my sisters and me (his great granddaughters) about $100 a year. 

Some injustice is not righted until the the Judgement, but Scripture promises "a man reaps what he sows" (Galatians 6:7). 

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The 100 Guilder Print

This etching by Rembrandt is unusual because it combines the people, parables and situations from Matthew 19 into a single presentation. 

It's named "the 100 Guilder Print" because of this legend: 

Rembrandt was supposed to have paid 100 guilders for a print made from his original engraving, an extremely high price in the 1600s.

It's an intriguing scenario--the artist paying such a high price to buy back something he'd created. One author suggests it's a good picture of our salvation.

We're created by God, yet Christ paid an extremely high price to purchase us back from death and sin. 

"For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God because he owns it." 1 Corinthians 6:20 (NLT)

Let's ponder this today and take time to express love and gratitude to our Creator, Purchaser, and Owner.

Reference sources: Living the Biblios;  Art Way;  Wikipedia (print public domain)

 
This week Bite Size Bible study is a bit different than the usual study. It's a look at Matthew 19 in light of Rembrandt's 100 Guilder print.

LISTEN to this devotion below. If you can't get the audio on Internet Explorer, try another browser. 

Subscribers need to click the link in the title and come to the Bible Love Notes site. Thanks.