{"id":9630,"date":"2022-10-23T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/?p=9630"},"modified":"2022-10-21T13:04:36","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T19:04:36","slug":"if-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/?p=9630","title":{"rendered":"If Only … ?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sunday, October 23, 2022<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All Greatness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In, Around, and From Us,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Always a Mere Reflection of God\u2019s Greatness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Water Reflects Sunlight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to Be Gloriously<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold and Precious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalms 50:16-17<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to the wicked God says: \u2018What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James 1:25<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act\u2014they will be blessed in their doing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words of Grace For Today<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only it were so simple that we could be lookers into the perfect law, the law of liberty, <\/em>who <\/em>persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, life would be so simple. And damnedable for us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So James and a host of other biblical writers and writers since, reminding us that humans are so fallible, even and especially when it comes to describing God\u2019s attitude towards humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We just want it to be that we are in control and we can choose and those who do not so choose as we have are damned and we are blessed forever. That\u2019s a simple if demanding perspective on God\u2019s attitude towards us, and it\u2019s a simple way to deny the reality of one\u2019s own ongoing sins, and a handy way to make demands of others, trying to control them, since we cannot control ourselves in the least, as it seems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God certainly does hate our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank God that is not the end of God\u2019s story with us. God\u2019s story actually begins with our sins and ends with God blessing us with such an abundance we cannot imagine it, and in between God forgives, renews, and sends us out to provide that same Grace to others, which brings hope to an otherwise seemingly lost world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we confess the reality of our sins and God\u2019s Grace that sustains us, then we certainly can and should do our best to look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But God blesses us long before we even make that attempt. Our reward is already given to us undeserved. Our actions may bring God\u2019s blessings to others, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s worth the effort each day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday, October 23, 2022 All Greatness In, Around, and From Us, Is Always a Mere Reflection of God\u2019s Greatness, As Water Reflects Sunlight to Be Gloriously Gold and Precious. Psalms 50:16-17 But to the wicked God says: \u2018What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate … Continue reading “If Only … ?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,21,23,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-holy","category-lake","category-sunset"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9630"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9634,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9630\/revisions\/9634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}