(Twelve Tricky Things – is an alliteration — all the “T”s rhyme. Not sure we have 12 things to say, but let’s try.)
Friday, March 11th… 4:35 a.m.
Can you believe we’re up at this hour?
Good morning chosen one,
(Ya know, we’re all chosen for one reason or another… some as vessels of honor, some as vessels of something less than honor…. You know, like toilet bowls, we don’t want to talk about them but they are important after all.)
Good morning, chosen one, chosen to think aloud with me about some little things of God that may be a big deal… or not… no big deal.
Ok, it’s 19º out there.
Later, it will get to a high of 38º.
Dear One … you are in Him, whether you know it or not.
ONE: You see, All are created “IN” Christ. (Col 1:16-20)
And, “IN” God, we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:25-28)
And ALL is out of Him, through Him and for Him. (Romans 11:36.
The prepositions — “IN” – “OF” – “THROUGH” – “FOR” – “BY” – “BEFORE”
Colossians 1:16-20 —
Look at all these prepositions here: in YELLOW.
16 for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him,17 and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him.18 And He is the Head of the body, the ecclesia, Who is Sovereign, Firstborn from among the dead, that in all He may be becoming first,19 for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell,20 and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens.
TWO: I’m trying to think of “twelve” things about God being all in all… because that’s what the subject line says… so far… I’ve only got two things in my mind… but let’s see if we can knock this thing out of the park.
So… item “ONE” was just cheating, kind of… there’s nothing weird or “tricky” about all being of God. So, let’s get to the tricky things…
It’s tricky that we have this innate idea that the universe is all about us. “I, I, I,” — “me, me, me,” And we’re so sure everything is all about us, and then we come along and discover that the Bible says ALL IS OF GOD… oh my. How do we stuff that into our brains. All? Even evil? What the hell, dude?
It’s hard to take our eyes off ourselves, even for a moment. But if we can get out of that solipsistic mindset and come to agree with Paul… then… behold… our forehead crinkles a bit.
So, all is of God, huh? So, it’s not all about me, huh? It takes a while to process that.
But it is “of God” to bring us along to shed the scales off our eyes to see that “all is of God.”
And once we see that it’s not all about US, the neurons in our brains have to rewire itself… and we – hopefully – will become more “slow to speak”… and “slow to anger” and more gracious and kind to others… as the world and it’s meaning starts to take shape.
All is of God, indeed.
THREE: And magically, once our take our eyes off our own navel, and the lint stuck therein, maybe we can look at the pages of history and see a different thing going on.
If we start at the “beginning”… at Adam… we see that “all is of God”…
God created Adam — “of God”
God spoke to Adam — “of God”
God says “see that tree” — “of God”
God says “to die shall you be dying” — “of God”
Adam ate — “of God”
The shit show begins — “of God”
—— let’s keep going:
The flood — “of God”
Babel — “of God”
Abraham — is surely “of God”
Moses — “of God”.
Pharaoh — the dude is “of God”.
The prophets, totally “of God”.
The fulfillment of the prophecy: Christ — “of God”
The godawful Cross — totally “of God”.
The resurrection — “of God”
Your doubt: — “of God” baby.
Your faith: — “of God”
Your expectation — “of God”
Christ’s redemption of the whole world — “of God”
Liars, deceivers, false teachers — yep, “of God”
Every knee bowing — totally “of God”
The abolition of sin and death — why of course, “of God”
FOUR: Now, I suppose we might find it “tricky” (once we come to see and understand that all is of God) to share this big idea with those around us… can they hear it? Should they hear it?
5:22 a.m. Coffee refill time. Hang on.
5:29 a.m. back at it….
So, should we tell everyone we know that “all is of God”… To me, the urgency we felt when we were “hell-fire” believers melts away… now that we see a bigger picture.
It might be helpful to share with someone that all is of God… but it might not.
SIDE NOTE: Remember the old days when we thought “miracles” were “of God”… and we didn’t know that everything is kind of a “miracle” … ???
Remember when we thought “Christmas” was special ??? I’m telling ya… we can open our eyes now and see that “every day is Christmas” now… every day is special… every day is of God.
Years ago, when I was hanging out with the Pentacostals… we saw the Pentecostal “gifts” (like speaking in tongues, divine healing, etc.) as “of God”… But how much better to see that ALL IS OF GOD…
Every day and every thing is a gift, kind of.
Even “evil” is of God…. See Isaiah 45:7.
Every “evil” results in some “good” given enough time to let the effects and results sink in somewhere.
Joseph’s brothers were evil bastards. No doubt.
They were jealous, petty, vindictive, lying, murderers.
11 brothers… Count them.
And yet… with Joseph, we add them up to get… wait for it…
THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL
The 12 tribes… and 11 of them were scoundrels ???
And don’t let Joseph off the hook. “All have sinned” remember..
12 scum buckets… we call “the twelve tribes of Israel”… and yet, “all is of God”
They sold Joseph into slavery… told their father he died… and never said a word of truth about the matter… until they were all hungry from the famine… bastards.
Liars.
Murderers.
Petty.
Vindictive.
Role models for society? LOL.
All is of God. He’s got bigger vision than we do.
Apparently God loves lying, assholes, who are vindictive, murderous, petty and extremely selfish. What’s up with that?
“Christ died for all”??? What was God thinking?
Christ died FOR our sins ??? Is that “wisdom” on God’s part, or plain ole foolishness????
With my mind, I don’t understand God’s wisdom.
But these are matters of faith… and God gives me the faith to believe these matters…
My mind and my faith are not friends in this arena.
They are opposed to each other.
All is of God… does not fit in with my human logic.
I can understand why some oppose our message.
Hell, I opposed this message for many years of my journey.
So, “all is of God” is the ultimate consideration of considerations.
The Arminians don’t get it.
The Calvinists don’t get it.
The civilians don’t get it.
And I say, we barely get it.
God grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the realization of you. (Eph 1:16)
So, we wake up in the morning and realize all is of God.
We lay down at night and realize all is of God.
And when we rest in the sleep of death, we too can realize that all is of God.
And note: Death, the last enemy, is being abolished. (I COR 15:26) “IS BEING” is a really cool verb structure, copied in the CLNT. It shows the process has begun (In Christ’s own resurrection) but has not been completed yet. All is of God.
God has given us so much. Tasty food and rotten maggots. Thrilling things and offensive things.
How lovely to get to the place to where you see that all is of God. You’re not so quick to judge and condemn, then. You’re willing to hold your breath and say “Let’s see where this goes.”
When you hit a bump in the road you no long shout: “IT’S THE WRONG ROAD”….
You realize it’s just a bump.
Thanks for looking over my shoulder…
I’ll try to do a live show in about 2 hours.
Grace to you.
6:03 a.m.
Friday, march 11th,
Bye for now.
Ace.
The Ace Theological Company 