I didn't get past listing the verse yesterday, so I am returning to it today.
Blackaby uses this verse to discuss the "Fatherness" of God. He focuses on how God is the perfect father. The word "father" conjures up a wide variety of remembrances for people--from ballgames in Shea Stadium to physical and verbal abuse. While no person has a father that was perfect, some were far better than others. Blackaby tells his readers that the "key is not to understand the Bible based on your experience, but to understand your experience in light of the Bible." The more time spent reading scripture, the better our understanding of the perfect Father.
One item from Galatians 4:6 that has been rolling around in my mind is the phrase "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts". I am not sure I can articulate all my thoughts at this point, but I'll give it the ol' college try.
An oft used phrase in Sou Bap camp meetings and Sunday services is "ask Jesus to come into your heart". Another is to be "filled with the Holy Spirit". (The term was Holy "Ghost" when I was a wee lad. Guess that conjured up images of Casper thus the change to Spirit.) I think one result of such thinking was to create a separation in the two entities of the Trinity--Jesus and the Holy Spirit. For me Galatians 4:6 helps to unify these two.
While the Holy Spirit is the third part if the Trinity, it is much more. It is the actual essence of Christ. The Holy Spirit is both God and Jesus Christ in a different form--a form that can inhabit our human bodies. Understanding the Holy Spirit is a difficult task for many. However, an understanding of Christ's life on earth is a much easier task. We are human, therefore we can better identify with Christ's struggles, temptations, decisions and actions.
That very same person who resisted temptation, loved all those around him, was patient and winsome, laughed and cried lives begs to take up residence in our lives. Granted it is in the form of the Holy Spirit, but that spirit is the very essence of Jesus--the "Spirit of his Son". He doesn't walk beside us. He doesn't carry us on the beach during hard times. He doesn't live in the Holy of Holys. He indwells believers. Can't get any closer than that.
There is only one reason we don't access all that is available to us through Christ- choice. We simply chose not to allow the in-dwelling Christ to direct our thoughts and actions. That may sound simplistic and many will disagree, but 99% of life is in fact made up of the choices we make. Christ is available to all who believe in Him to help guide and direct all those choices.
Blackaby uses this verse to discuss the "Fatherness" of God. He focuses on how God is the perfect father. The word "father" conjures up a wide variety of remembrances for people--from ballgames in Shea Stadium to physical and verbal abuse. While no person has a father that was perfect, some were far better than others. Blackaby tells his readers that the "key is not to understand the Bible based on your experience, but to understand your experience in light of the Bible." The more time spent reading scripture, the better our understanding of the perfect Father.
One item from Galatians 4:6 that has been rolling around in my mind is the phrase "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts". I am not sure I can articulate all my thoughts at this point, but I'll give it the ol' college try.
An oft used phrase in Sou Bap camp meetings and Sunday services is "ask Jesus to come into your heart". Another is to be "filled with the Holy Spirit". (The term was Holy "Ghost" when I was a wee lad. Guess that conjured up images of Casper thus the change to Spirit.) I think one result of such thinking was to create a separation in the two entities of the Trinity--Jesus and the Holy Spirit. For me Galatians 4:6 helps to unify these two.
While the Holy Spirit is the third part if the Trinity, it is much more. It is the actual essence of Christ. The Holy Spirit is both God and Jesus Christ in a different form--a form that can inhabit our human bodies. Understanding the Holy Spirit is a difficult task for many. However, an understanding of Christ's life on earth is a much easier task. We are human, therefore we can better identify with Christ's struggles, temptations, decisions and actions.
That very same person who resisted temptation, loved all those around him, was patient and winsome, laughed and cried lives begs to take up residence in our lives. Granted it is in the form of the Holy Spirit, but that spirit is the very essence of Jesus--the "Spirit of his Son". He doesn't walk beside us. He doesn't carry us on the beach during hard times. He doesn't live in the Holy of Holys. He indwells believers. Can't get any closer than that.
There is only one reason we don't access all that is available to us through Christ- choice. We simply chose not to allow the in-dwelling Christ to direct our thoughts and actions. That may sound simplistic and many will disagree, but 99% of life is in fact made up of the choices we make. Christ is available to all who believe in Him to help guide and direct all those choices.
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