The Grace of God
Some Bible words have been handled and mishandled for so long they've become shopworn and of very little interest to anyone. Not so with the word grace; it still retains its lustre and mystery.
Some Bible words have been handled and mishandled for so long they've become shopworn and of very little interest to anyone. Not so with the word grace; it still retains its lustre and mystery.
The popular notion of God, as if He were a benign, aging grandfather, sitting passively in heaven—affable, lenient, permissive, and devoid of any real displeasure over sin because He loves us—cheapens God's love. It doesn't uphold the value of His love. In truth, looking into God's heart to discover His love is to discover His other attributes as well.
God makes some people large, others moderate in stature. Still others are small in size. We frequently make the mistake of calling small folks “little,” but that is an unfortunate and unfair tag. I’m not picking at terms...there is a great deal of difference between being small and being little.
In the beauty of God's holiness, we see the ugliness of our wretchedness, yet we also find the encouragement to be holy…as He is.
Our belief or disbelief in God adds nothing to nor takes anything away from His glory, any more than our sight or hearing commands the sun and the birds. But if we were suddenly struck by disobedience and self-conceit to steal God's glory, even then He would remain undiminished. God's glory is His and His alone, and with no other does He share it.
I once heard an older person say, “I’m not older, I’m just further ahead of you.” It made me stop and think. And it helped me make a paradigm shift in the way I perceive age and older people.
When the Apostle Paul was alone in Athens, as recorded in Acts 17, he found himself in the busy market place full of idols in the streets of Athens, far away from home and a long way from Christian friends. It’s in that context that we are given an example of the fruit of biblical preparation and compassion as Paul delivered a free-speech platform and proclaimed the God of heaven and earth and His Son, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead.
Ever wish you could reach out to a friend in crisis, but you’re just not sure what to say? Most of us tend either to avoid the person or situation altogether or to rush in and say too much.
We have been learning how to study the Bible for ourselves, through observation, interpretation, correlation, and then application. We observe what a passage says, interpret what it means, correlate what it says elsewhere about the same subject, and then ultimately we apply it.
To combat ageism, we first need to become aware of it in ourselves and those around us. We become informed by reading about aging and talking with older people about ageism.