Tag: atonement

Boxed into a Corner?

Posted on by Olaf

There are many ways we can feel boxed into a corner – for example:

  • Being defined by others rather than who we feel ourselves to be
  • Finding ourselves trapped in a circumstance or role with no apparent way out
  • Feeling locked into a church denomination.

For this duck, it’s as if its wings are clipped and it has no choice but to stay cornered in its hopeless situation. However, it makes a difference if someone has ‘got your corner’ and is actually with you – like a Coach in a boxing match to show you the way out. If you have someone with you, you are no longer alone or without help.  Being stuck can be a thing of the past.

Three and One

Posted on by Olaf

To some this may sound like secret code but to others it’s understood as the ancient reference to ‘The Trinity’! Apart from what God has revealed, much will remain mysterious as to how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit can be three persons and yet one.  Many have tried to explain this in simple terms – you may recall such examples as a three leaved clover or the three states of water in liquid, gas and ice.  The featured tree trunk has three sections and yet is one – there is no metaphor that can adequately explain or help us fully comprehend ‘the Godhead’.  Valiant though any attempts of ours may be from our finite end of the telescope, they will all fall short.  Rather than being troubled about the hidden things, it is better to focus on what is known.  ‘Trinity’ is not a word that appears in the Bible but it was first used by early theologian Tertullian. The theological understanding was finalized at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD after years of debate.

  • ‘The Doctrine of the Trinity teaches that within the unity of the one Godhead there are three separate persons who are coequal in power, nature, and eternity’ – Walter Martin
  • ‘God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God’ – Wayne Grudem

HOLINESS

Posted on by Olaf

Who is sufficient for these things?  The Way of Holiness is the path all those who follow Jesus are to travel and yet it is holy ground we often struggle to find, let alone to walk on or manage to stay on.  Moses found holy ground when he was not looking for it – his response was to take off his shoes and hide his face.  Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, Paul and John all had visions of God in his awesome holiness and were overwhelmed.  When mortals come before the immortal, to be overwhelmed is not surprising but how do we approach the One who dwells in ‘unapproachable light’?  How can we who are so flawed in our human condition come into the presence of God who defines perfection and holiness in himself? Even the most beautiful diamond is a poor representation of the pure radiance of Almighty God.  What’s it to be – shadows and lies or truth and beauty?

  • ‘God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might for ever. Amen’ – 1 Timothy 6:15-16

Remembering

Posted on by Olaf

Some people still tie a knot in a handkerchief and most of us still write a list of some kind to help our memories.  It might be an old photograph, the whiff of a familiar smell, the lines of a poem or the sound of an old tune and our memories can be triggered.  They might just conjure up a face from the past, an event that happened, a past friendship or they could unlock a dam so that you are flooded with powerful emotions.  Why do we remember and what value is there in remembering?  How could a glass of wine and a bread roll have such profound significance for remembering?  The simple Forget-me-not flowers provide the clue!

  • ‘Perhaps nothing helps us make the movement from our little selves to a larger world than remembering God in gratitude.