"He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God." (Psalm 62:6-7 ESV)
My family and I were flipping through the Netflix instant queue on the Wii last night and the kids started expressing their thoughts on what they wanted to watch. Picking movies is always challenging in my house and sometimes leads to arguments. So I listened to God (finally my wife might add) and said I would make the decision on what to watch.
As I flipped through one title caught my eye. "What If? "
The description was of a man that gets a chance to look back at what could have been after making a bad decision to follow the temptations of this world. I made my decision. Wow, what a good decision it was. We all enjoyed the movie. Good, family entertainment with a message of God's grace. It doesn't get better than that, not today. The bonus was we got to see John Ratzenberg as an angel. He's been one of my favorite people since the days of Cliff Claven on Cheers and it was good to see him in a movie like this.
The movie reminded me that no matter what is in my past, God loves and forgives me. No one, no government, no earthly pleasure will ever supersede that fact. Their is also a terrific point in the movie where the importance of marriage and the commitment that is made between husband and wife is emphasized. That was important as today my niece, Stephanie, gets married to Andrew. Please pray with me that Stephanie and Andrew will always remeber God's promises and the covenant they are making with God today. Pray for strength and faith to handle all the challenges and opportunities in front of them as they start their lives together.
Also, please pray for the people of Norway in this time of great sorrow.
God bless you on this Saturday.
John:
ReplyDeleteI get what you're saying. However, confessional Christianity needs to always be aware of the real danger of becoming generic. God's grace to us is always and only through Christ. So, to say: "...no matter what is in my past, God loves and forgives me" needs to be continued with something like "because Jesus died for all my sins and gives me His righteousness in Holy Baptism." Our faith is not generic at all; it's very particular--in fact, it hinges on what is sometimes called "the scandal of particularity." Just some thoughts. BTW, I'm glad you've come back to your blog. Thanks.