Call Him Savior

“Call Him Savior.”
We call Jesus Christ many things. Son of God, Son of man, the Nazarene. He has been called a “good man”, a “fraud” or “imposter”. When He lived here some even called Him a devil. There were a few who called Him “my Lord and my God”.
The prophecies in the Old Testament Scriptures called Him by many names also. Each name reveals something about His character and work. But there is one name above all other names that He loves to hear. When He was born a human baby on that night so long ago He was given that name that above all others reveals His greatest power and our greatest need.
The angel who appeared to Joseph to tell him not to abandon Mary said: “You will call His name Savior (Jesus)”. Later on the night Jesus was born the angel spoke in a voice filled with excitement and joy: “For you there is born this very night…a Savior….” Later the apostles declared with the power of God: “there is no other name by which we must be saved”.
All the problems we face today can only be solved by the salvation that is available to each individual through Jesus Christ. Many and varied are the things we try in order to make the world a better place. We spend more in order to educate people as to the error of their “choices”. We pass more laws to try and make people do what is “right”. We are appalled at the evil that still reveals itself in the daily actions of people.
There is only one solution. There is only one way. The words of the One Who came to our earth that night in Palestine still stands as true today as they have always been. “You must be born from above”. The only hope we have is in the Savior born that night. The One Who came to “save His people from their sins.” We are His people; He was born one of us. And He came to provide us with the only chance, the only hope there is for us.
Born to be a Savior. Is He your Savior? If not, ask Him to be right now

It's A Dog's Life - 2

Certain parallels are usually made when we talk about communicating with another species such as God did when He came to earth and became human. But there is one big difference. No animal was made in our image, while we were created in the image of God.
While we are nowhere near the infinite God, we have been given the ability to "think God's thoughts after Him". We can understand and be in harmony with God much more than a dog can with us. That is why there are differences.
We are not an animal. Whatever evolution may say about human existence, it always comes back to the belief that we are just "higher animals". There is always a "looking back" at where we "came from". It looks down at our "origins", and tries to understand humanity through the study of animals and other lower life forms. Ultimately we are "just another animal". Or are we?
Lessons can be learned from all created things, but never forget that humans were created in a different manner than everything else. We were created in the image of God. His nature and character were reproduced in us, we were in perfect harmony with our Creator. We were created with the ability to enter into God's plans, understand and reflect His glory as nothing else in the universe.
We chose to rebel, and sin has almost completely erased the divine image. We have degenerated almost to the level of brute beasts. But the plan of salvation was devised to restore in us the image of God. The plan of salvation is a plan of restoration. Far more than just making it possible for us to live forever, we are to be fully restored to the status God originally intended for us.
This restoration begins now. Far more than we do we need to understand the moral heights we can reach in this life. The change, the metamorphous, that is our privilege needs to be worked for with every energy of our being. In taking our nature on Himself, God the Son has shown what plans God has for us.
God has pledged Himself to give us all the power necessary to overcome sin and become the person He originally created us to be.

It's A Dog's Life - 1

Today I learned some spiritual lessons from my dog. That is not unusual, but I wanted to write it down this time. I have been thinking about starting the blog again and this seemed a good way to do it.
We (my wife and I) have a little "dorky dog". He is a cross between a yorkie and dachshund. The long low body of the dachshund, but the color and hair, especially around the face, of a yorkie. When he goes outside to do his business, he usually comes in with a few leaves or "stick-tights" in his fur.
Today he was full of the stick-tights. Removing them involved a lot more pulling than usual since there were so many. As careful as we try to be, I know it was hard on him. By the time we were done he was opening his mouth as if to say: "I am going to have to bite you pretty soon if you don't stop." Of course we were not being mean, we love him. We were just doing what needed to be done to help him.
I thought about God and how He treats us. He loves us and never needlessly hurts us. But we have all this sin in us and attached to us. Because our Heavenly Father loves us He has to do whatever it takes to remove that sin. It will kill us and cause eternal separation if it isn't removed.
However, removing sin is a very painful process. It was infinitely painful to God. We will never fully know how much He suffered. And of course it is painful to us. That is the part we focus on. We think our loving Father is being mean and we just cannot understand why we are being "mistreated". You know the routine: "how can a loving God...?" or "why did this happen?"
Now God could try to explain, and He has in His word. But just as when I tell Porter (the name our dog had when we adopted him) what we are doing and why, he can never fully understand. He understands a few words here and there, but his focus is on himself and what he is feeling. He can't understand me.
So it is with us. We understand a few words here and there. We can't comprehend what God is doing and all the ramifications involved. We are focused on ourselves and usually cannot see the bigger picture.
However, there are some differences. But that will wait till next time.