Wrath vs Love

Sadly today, more than ever, there is a divide in the church; on one side you have those who want to hear more of the wrath of God. 

On the other side you have those who want to hear more of the love of God. 

For the new Christian it can be a confusing division when strong sentiments are voiced on both sides. What are they to do? What should they believe? 

As for me, I look through all scriptures through the lens of Mark 12:29-31, 

"Jesus said, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second like it is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

There is no other commandment greater than these."  

  To clarify how this is to be walked out I've listed some New Testament scriptures. If you obey these you will not err by much. 

   

 

  "Imagine if you will, that you should see a man that had a large pond of water, yet lived in continual thirst, not allowing himself to drink half a glass for fear of lessing his pond. 

If you should see him always thirsty, yet always carrying a bucket of water in his hand, watching early and late to catch the drops of rain, gaping after every cloud, and running greedily into every mire and mud in hopes of water, and always studying how to make every ditch empty itself into his pond. 

If you should see him grow old and grey in these obnoxious labors, and at the end of his life he ends his anxiety ridden, thirsty life by falling into his own pond; would you not say that such a one was not only the author of all his own disquiets, but was foolish enough to be reckoned amongst idiots and madmen? 

But yet, foolish and absurd as this character is, it does not represent half the follies and absurd disquiets of the greedy, covetous man." William Law.

 Rev. Dr. Tuckerman

"His success in winning the lost lie in his perpetual recognition of the spiritual, immortal nature of the poor, and it gave to all his intercourse a character of tenderness and respect. He spoke plainly, boldly, but still as to the children of the same infinite Father. 

He trusted in man's moral nature, however bruised and crushed; he was sure that no heart could resist him, if he could but convince it of his sincere brotherly concern. 

One rule he observed, he always spoke encouragingly. He felt that the weight under which the poor man’s spirit was already sinking needed no addition from the harshness of his spiritual guide. 

He went forth in the power of brotherly love, and found it a divine armor.

 He proved how much can be accomplished by a generous, affectionate mode of speech and action among those classes of society which it has been thought can only be reached by menace, sternness, and terror. 

Dr. Tuckerman and his successors in their labors with seamen, have taught us that men, in the most unpromising conditions, are to be treated as men; that under coarse jackets, and even rags, may be found tender and noble hearts; and that the heart, even when hardened, still responds to the voice of a true friend and brother. His words were steeped in his heart before they found their way to his lips. And flowing warm and fresh from this fountain, they were drunk in as living waters by the thirsty souls of the poor. 

A great secret of Dr. Tuckerman's success lay in his strong interest in individuals. It was not in his nature to act on masses by general methods; he threw his soul into individual cases. Every sufferer whom he visited seemed to awaken in him a special affection and concern. I remember well the language which he once used in regard to a man who had gone far astray. He said to me with deep emotion: “I want that man's soul; I must save him."

 He made the worst feel that they had a friend, and by his personal interest linked them anew with their race. 

  Let me add another explication of his success. He sought for something to love in all. 

He seized on anything good which might remain in the fallen spirit; on any domestic affection, any generous feeling, which might have escaped the wreck of the character. If he could but touch one chord of love, one tender recollection of home, one feeling of shame or sorrow for the past, not mater how faintly, he rejoiced and took courage, like the good physician who, in watching the drowned, detects a flutter of the pulse, or the feeblest sign of life. His hope in such cases tended to fulfill itself. His tones awakened a like hope in the fallen. "He did not break the bruised reed, or quench the smoldering wick." William Ellery Channing.  

 

The Search for Father: 

How Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, search for his father is a picture of one of the most formational aspects of a man's life. 

In ancient times a man's name was connected to the man who fathered him: Achilles, son of Peleus; Agamemnon, son of Atreus; Hector, son of Priam, Odysseus, son of Laertes; Telemachus, son of Odysseus.

In the Home:

But today it is not so, father and son have often been severed from one another by work, divorce, neglect or abuse. It seems the very social structures of our culture are working to separate men from their sons and one another. Many men have grown up without fathers and disconnected by distance or distraction from their grandfathers, uncles and cousins.

In Education:

The age old concept of a teacher instructing students face to face has been reshaped in such a way to further isolate people from one another with distance/online education and ‘independent’ study. 

In Work:

The idea of apprenticeships has been diminished with the push of technology and entrepreneurial pursuits. 

In Friendship:

Men searching for Mentors often come up short these days. Content learning has displaced character formation and the idea that a man would have a relationship with another man to grow into maturity is becoming a rare experience anymore. Google is the new Gandalf. 

In Sexuailty: 

Men no longer need to commit to a woman in marriage to experience aspects of the delights of the sexual life. Even the sex act has been reshaped by the porn and hook-up culture, men can independently indulge without having to be placed into a real relationship with a woman.

In Spirituality:

Our churches have followed the patterns of this world and now provide platforms of media consumption that replace a pulpit or a pastoral relationship. Men can "go to church" and never enter a circle of meaningful relationships that facilitate the difficult work of transformation.

All of these issues have a profound influence on the soul of a man and shape his relationships with others." Eric Blauer.

 "Encourage the exhausted and slack of hands, and strengthen the feeble. 

Say to those with anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not. 

Behold your God will come with vengeance, the recompense of God will come, but He will save you." Is. 35:3-4

We must broaden our understanding of evangelism: we evangelize when we help the weak in faith stand; when we restore the struggling Christian and encourage the doubting brethren. 

 

Mamma's,

“Don’t feel sorry for or fear for your kids because the world they are going to grow up in is not what it used to be.

God created them and called them for the exact moment in time that they’re in. Their life wasn’t a coincidence or an accident. 

Raise them up to know the power they walk in as children of God. 

Train them up in the authority of His Word. 

Teach them to walk in faith knowing that God is in control. 

Empower them to know they can change the world. 

Don’t teach them to be fearful and disheartened by the state of the world but hopeful that they can do something about it. 

Every person in all of history has been placed in the time that they were in because of God’s sovereign plan. 

He knew Daniel could handle the lions den. 

He knew David could handle Goliath. 

He knew Esther could handle Haman. 

He knew Peter could handle persecution. 

He knows that your child can handle whatever challenge they face in their life. He created them specifically for it! 

Don’t be scared for your children, but be honored that God chose YOU to parent the generation that is facing the biggest challenges of our lifetime. 

Rise up to the challenge. 

Raise Daniels, Davids, Esthers and Peters! 

God isn’t scratching His head wondering what He’s going to do with this mess of a world. 

He has an army He’s raising up to drive back the darkness and make Him known all over the earth. 

Don’t let your fear steal the greatness God placed in them. I know it’s hard to imagine them as anything besides our sweet little babies, and we just want to protect them from anything that could ever be hard on them, but they were born for such a time as this.”

 -Alex Cravens Michel Maza