“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,” (John 5:22 NASB)
I hear people say, "I know I shouldn't have a bad attitude, but..." In the next few minutes, you are going to hear how they rationalize their bad attitude! Attitude seems to be based on a combination of experience and expectation.
As human beings, our experiences vary from great to horrible and everything in between. As we go through an experience, we place a value on that experience. Everyone's perspective about an experience varies. Two people can go through the same experience and have totally different perspectives on the same experience.
When I am deciding on a large purchase, I will research other's comments about their experience with the product. I'm always amazed at the differing comments I read. Keep in mind, these people are experiencing the same product, but their expectations preceding the experience seem to be different.
If you go into a particular experience with a certain expectation, and the experience doesn't measure up to your expectation, you may end up with a bad attitude. These attitudes, of course, can be directed at other people, or even God. I see this every week in my ministry here at CFT. People who have certain expectations about their relationships find themselves disappointed and bitter when the other person doesn't live up to those expectations.
What is God's attitude toward us? What does He base His attitude on? God has the right to have a bad attitude toward humanity. He created man perfectly and placed them in a perfect environment where all their needs for life and godliness were met (2 Pet. 1:3). There was never a need for man to look outside his relationship with God for anything, yet, Adam and Eve decided to seek for more (Gen. 3:6-7). As far as God is concerned, He had every right to reject His creation. Praise God, however, He did not reject us!
God being omniscient and omnipotent was not caught off guard by Adam's and Eve's choice that cost them their Life. God could have scrapped the plan and started over as a result of "foreknowing" Adam and Eve would sin, but He did not. As I mentioned in my last blog, God purposed to reveal aspects of His nature through the fall that otherwise would not have been experienced by His creation.
I believe the Son volunteered to experience Their creation as one of Their creation. Out of this experience He could make a final judgement call that would be respected and honored by God. When you think about it, it is quite amazing! The eternal creator lowered Himself to our level to experience our world. It was out of this context that the Son would decide the final fate of creation. From our perspective, that was quite a risk. It doesn't take long living among a bunch of human beings before you develop a bad attitude! We're a contentious lot!
Even though the Father knew what the Son would decide, He had to give the Son the choice while the Son had laid aside His divine nature qualities of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence (Phil. 2:6-7). I think we can all agree that the darkest moment in Jesus' life on earth was while He hung on the cross. He was stripped and shamed publicly, He was falsely accused, He was abandoned by most of His friends, and He bore all the sins of humanity (2 Cor. 5:21). And yet, it was at this darkest moment Christ said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34, NASB)
Jesus didn't wait till His horrible ordeal was over to decide; He didn't make the call while sitting peacefully around a campfire, enjoying the company of His disciples. Jesus made His judgement call while at His darkest moment. I believe in that moment, His Father smiled in the middle of His grief for His Son. Our Father has declared that what His Son has said is final. There is no more negotiation or talking about it; it is finished!
"'And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.' Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin." (Heb. 10:17-18, NASB)
God being omniscient and omnipotent was not caught off guard by Adam's and Eve's choice that cost them their Life. God could have scrapped the plan and started over as a result of "foreknowing" Adam and Eve would sin, but He did not. As I mentioned in my last blog, God purposed to reveal aspects of His nature through the fall that otherwise would not have been experienced by His creation.
I believe the Son volunteered to experience Their creation as one of Their creation. Out of this experience He could make a final judgement call that would be respected and honored by God. When you think about it, it is quite amazing! The eternal creator lowered Himself to our level to experience our world. It was out of this context that the Son would decide the final fate of creation. From our perspective, that was quite a risk. It doesn't take long living among a bunch of human beings before you develop a bad attitude! We're a contentious lot!
Even though the Father knew what the Son would decide, He had to give the Son the choice while the Son had laid aside His divine nature qualities of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence (Phil. 2:6-7). I think we can all agree that the darkest moment in Jesus' life on earth was while He hung on the cross. He was stripped and shamed publicly, He was falsely accused, He was abandoned by most of His friends, and He bore all the sins of humanity (2 Cor. 5:21). And yet, it was at this darkest moment Christ said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34, NASB)
Jesus didn't wait till His horrible ordeal was over to decide; He didn't make the call while sitting peacefully around a campfire, enjoying the company of His disciples. Jesus made His judgement call while at His darkest moment. I believe in that moment, His Father smiled in the middle of His grief for His Son. Our Father has declared that what His Son has said is final. There is no more negotiation or talking about it; it is finished!
"'And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.' Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin." (Heb. 10:17-18, NASB)
