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First Quarter
TGP Volume 15
(January/February/March 2015)

Week 13

For the Glory of Spinach

Since research continues to show that spinach provides enormous benefit to our physical health, maybe we should consider a plan to do more to “praise and glorify” the merits of spinach.

It can be done at social gatherings organized into membership clubs meeting several times a week for

  • singing praise to the power of spinach,
  • reviewing and studying the old and new reports about spinach, and, of course,
  • fundraising in order to
    • provide relief programs for those who refuse to eat spinach,
    • increase marketing in the community to increase attendance to meetings,
    • hire staff - finance staff salaries and benefits, and
    • purchase land and buildings (for program administration and staff). 
Or, for an alternate plan, spinach eaters could support others (beginning with family) for eating spinach, who, in turn, would support even others (beginning with family) for eating spinach until the health of the community is recovered, making the first plan unnecessary. :)

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15C26

A Mad Boy in a Man's Body: Why Men Hit Women

An angry wife can sometimes be the aggressor in a disagreement with her husband and even put him in danger. (Many years ago, I remember a woman who would become so angry at her husband because of the support needs he was failing to meet that she would swing an iron by its cord in a serious attempt to injure him.)

But far worse is a husband who is physically aggressive towards his wife. At the root of a man's aggression towards a woman is the same dysfunction (immaturity) that causes road rage or other acts of violence. A bit of sulking behavior and fussing by an unhappy husband is tolerable, but he crosses the line when he becomes aggressive because he is mad.

“When I was a child, I talked (acted) like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I began a man (matured), I put childish ways behind me.” – 1 Corinthians 13:11

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15C24

Week 12

The Life of Christ Living in Us: How Our Values Are Transformed

The Life of Christ living within us transforms our values/priorities about

  • physical health – so that we make wise choices for diet (food choices), regular exercise, lifestyle (sleep, for example), and supplementation in order to have energy for living out God's calling/will for our lives,
  • psychological health – so that we take time each day for research and study (in order to increase essential information/knowledge) and especially for quiet-time worship in order to be renewed in Christ’s love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness (humility), faith (conviction of Truth), and temperance (for staying on course), and
  • spiritual health/eternal wellbeing – so that we trust God’s provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross (instead of our good works) as our only hope for going to Heaven.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15C19

Performance to Please God: A Failed Plan for Happiness

I was taught as a young Christian that God’s blessings (health, happiness, and success) were based on

  • going to church services at least 2-3 times a week,
  • giving tithes and offerings to the church,
  • reading and studying the Bible every day,
  • “praying” for myself and others every day,
  • witnessing to the lost about Christ,
  • dressing modestly,
  • not smoking or drinking or going to the movies or saying bad words or talking ugly about people or hanging out with those who did, 
and when I failed, to tell God I was sorry and to try harder.

I did better than most to comply with those conditions. Still, for many years my Christian life was filled with tension and brokenness.

It was not until 26 years ago that, for the first time, I began to understand how to

  • read the Scripture each day in order to
  • hear God communicate Truth he wanted me to know (mainly about his provisions of grace, beginning with the Life of Christ) in order to
  • experience Christ to a fuller measure in my heart (soul) each day through quiet time worship in order to
  • be transformed and enabled by his values/wisdom to make wise choices in order to
  • manifest Christ (be made holy and competent in redemptive service to others). 
“Come to me/Receive my Life you who are wornout and broken trying to live the Christian life without my enablement and I will recover you.” – Matthew 11:28-30 (GracePoint Interpretive Paraphrase)

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15C17

Week 11

A Rule Book: The Only Guide Religion Has

Christians have the Scripture to guide our beliefs and behavior.

But other religions also have their sacred books to guide them.

The difference is:

  • Religion (a system of rules) only has a rule book. However,
  • Christians not only have a rule book, the Scripture (the Written Word of God), to guide and instruct us, but we also have Christ (the Living Word of God - the Logos/Seed of Life, the Water of Life, the Light of God) living in our hearts (and renewed each day during our quiet-time worship) to increasingly
    • transform our minds and values (to be like Christ) and
    • enable our compliance to the instructions (for making wise choices which establish us in health and happiness). 
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15C12

Prayer: A Place of Exchange

The Bible (Greek) word “prayer” (proseux: pros: “exchange” and euxe: a wish”)

  • is a noun and
  • means “a place of exchange” where we go to exchange our wishes for God’s will. 
God’s purpose for prayer is to provide us opportunity to

  • confess our brokenness and need for him,
  • express our confidence in his faithful love and care for us, and
  • receive his provisions – which begins with the provision of his Son (his Blood/death for our justification and Resurrected Life for our sanctification). 
This means, we should not expect God to meet any need we have that bypasses/disregards our most essential need to experience Christ.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15C10

Week 10

Waiting on God: What It Means

God calls us to wait and to come more than he calls us to go. But waiting on God doesn’t mean to lie down or go to sleep or to be idle; rather, it means to

  • Stop the hyper, heroic active,
  • Take extended quiet time daily to read the Scripture in order to give the Holy Spirit opportunity to communicate Truth to our minds,
  • Open the door of our hearts (mind) to receive the message he communicates (Listen with patience),
  • Connect to God’s appointed resources in
    • creation (elements in the soil and atmosphere),
    • community (leadership in the home and church), and especially
    • Christ (his Blood/death and Resurrected Life)
in order to RECEIVE the flow of his grace provisions into our lives which establish us in health and happiness.

John 15:4-5; Romans 5:17; Ephesians 3:17-19

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15C05

Success: The Sowing and Reaping Result of Our Choices

If we should not expect to

  • pass a test we did not study for (but just “prayed” about),
  • do a job we did not prepare for (but just “prayed” about),
  • operate equipment or a vehicle we did not train for (but just “prayed” about),
  • win a game we did not practice for (but just “prayed” about),
  • harvest a crop we did not sow for (but just “prayed” about),
  • have money we did not work for (but just “prayed” about), 
neither should we expect to have fitness and health we did not invest for (but just “prayed” about).

If success is the guaranteed outcome of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7-8) which God ordained to govern his creation, there is nothing to ask him for except his enablement to study, prepare, train, practice, sow, and work (which we have through our experience of Christ each day - John 15:5; Philippians 2:11-13; 2 Peter 1:3).

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15C03

Week 9

The Heart of Christ in Us: Our Enablement to Hold and Willingness to Be Held

We cannot define God’s needs by our own.

For example, the normal, inborn need of every human heart (the exact measure being influenced by our specific temperament type) is to

  • hold (most appropriately the husband his wife and parents their children) and
  • be held (most appropriately the wife by her husband and children by their parents). 
But God has neither the need to be held or to hold. Instead, he desires only that our redemptive needs are met.

This means, the more we are transformed by the heart of Christ within us to be like God, the more

  • as husbands and parents, we will desire to support the redemptive needs of our wives and children (as Christ does his Bride, the Church) and
  • as wives and children, we will desire the support provided by godly husbands and parents (as Christ does the support of his Father, especially as he did during his incarnation on Earth). 
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B26

The Heart of Christ Renewed in Us Daily: Our Enablement for Speaking Truth in Love

It’s a nice thought that if we don’t have something positive to say, we should say nothing at all. But the question is: Would that include “Your house is on fire!” or “The bridge is out ahead!”?

Man’s religious nature inherently feels judged. Warnings about his unwise choices tend to be hurtful because it can be interpreted as an attack.

So, while we should not want to hurt anyone's feelings, speaking Truth in love in order to support people for making wise choices may sometimes require more than saying “everything is going to be okay” but may include a warning about the sowing and reaping outcome of unwise behavior.

Speaking Truth in love, however, is possible only as the heart of Christ (renewed in us to fuller measure each day during our quiet-time worship) enables it.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B24 

Week 8

Addiction: When Love Feels Like Hate

Recently a father told his daughter that her unwise choices were killing her. “You’re a hater!” the daughter said back to him.

Even a father’s love will feel like hate to an addict.

(I was told years ago by a man in a recovery program that I did not have the love of Christ in me because I would not purchase cigarettes for him. Another thought I should not report his theft.)

Political and theological conservatives are sometimes called haters because we promote policies and programs that

  • support law and order,
  • protect traditional marriage, and
  • encourage personal choices which support health - that don’t promote laziness and build dependence. 
God is an advocate for our good health. That is why he calls us to receive his Provisions in creation (soil and atmosphere), community (support relationships in the home and church), and especially Christ which support our health and happiness needs – physically, psychologically (of the heart), and especially spiritually (for holiness and going to Heaven).

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B19

Faith and Trusting: Understanding the Difference

We are not increased in our faith by our experiences of God’s faithfulness; rather our faith is increased in us by the Seed of Truth (Christ) sown into our hearts by the Holy Spirit during our quiet time to read the Scripture.

But our experiences of God’s faithfulness helps to increase us in our willingness to TRUST him/his provisions of grace.

That’s because,

  • faith (a grace enablement produced in our hearts by the Holy Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23) and
  • trusting God (an action or attitude enabled by faith) 
are not the same. The One enables the other. This is an important difference to understand.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B17

Week 7

God Doing His Work Through Us: The Grace Explanation for Success in Christian Life and Service

It is a popular religious notion about Christian life and ministry that, while we can trust God to do his part, we must also do our part.

That’s sounds right and good to our performance-based, religious nature, but it suggests a joint effort by God and man, the same as two people carrying a piece of furniture – with God, of course, carrying the heavier end.

This notion, however, misses understanding the grace message that God’s part is to provide supports which flow to us through his appointed resources (in creation, community, and especially Christ) and that our part is to connect to those resources in order to receive the flow of his provisions into our lives, which, in turn, effectually enable us/make us competent for the work he is calling us to do.

This means, it is really not we doing our part of the work in joint effort with God that makes good outcomes possible in Christian life and service, but God doing his work through us.

Psalm 104:27-28; Philippians 2:12-13; 2 Peter 1:3, et al

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B12

Petitioning God for Support Already Provided (Instead of Receiving): A Misunderstanding of Prayer Resulting in Stress

We have no redemptive need (for going to Heaven, holiness, health, and happiness) that God has not already made provisions for. We only need to connect to the resources through which they flow into our lives (to the door of our hearts) in order to receive them.

For example, justification (salvation from the judgment against us because of Adam’s transgression) comes through Christ (his Blood/death on the cross for us) to everyone who trusts in (receives) him. This is in the same way water is God’s provision to satisfy our hydration needs. We only need to drink it.

So there is no reason for us to “ask” God for our redemptive needs in the sense that the word “asking” is usually understood – that is, for us to petition God for a need we have with the hope he will give it to us – especially if we praise him enough, perform good works we think will please him, pray long and hard enough, get enough other people to join with us in asking, and fast to show God how sincere we are. This misunderstanding of the meaning of prayer leads to tension and bondage and is not Truth which sets us free.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B10

Week 6

God: Two Opposing Views, Both Hurtful

There are two opposing schools of thought about God in his relationship to us:

One: He created us but then removed himself from us so that outcomes in our lives are solely the result of our choices.

This view disregards God’s provisions of grace which flow fully, faithfully, and freely to the door of our hearts and lives, from his resources in creation, community, and especially Christ, to enable us for making wise lifestyle choices which establish us in health.

Two: He created us and also governs our lives by decree – that is, he decides who succeeds, gets sick or injured, etc. (and even who goes to Heaven) for reasons we don’t know. (Or, perhaps somewhat as a third view, God decrees outcomes as rewards for / judgment against our behavior or attitude towards him.) We must not question! He is God. We prosper or suffer for his glory (“to bring honor to him”).

This view discounts/minimizes the law of sowing and reaping and releases us from bearing the full “cause and effect” responsibility for making wise choices – which our fallen human nature does not want to do anyhow.

I personally have never known one person from either school of thought who was spiritually or theologically free – i.e., who did not suffer tension.

Consider:

The Message of Grace: “If by the disobedience of the one man (Adam) death reigned (over all creation) because of that one man, how much more certain and unfailing will those who (by the act of their free will – that is, not imposed upon them by decree or “irresistible grace”) receive God’s abundant provisions of grace reign in life (including here on Earth) through (because of) the one man, Jesus Christ.” – Romans 5:17

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B05

Plan, People, Purity: Essential Support for Making Wise Choices

You will need support for making the choices that establish you in health – most importantly and essentially the following:

1. A Plan

This is a recipe/blueprint/formula/map to guide choices - a track to run on. It is called “God’s Will.” God gradually unfolds/reveals the certainty of his Will to us over an extended period of time by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture, mainly during our quiet time. 

2. People

These are grace leadership resources mainly in the home and church (parents, husbands, and pastors), but include also teachers, employers, and government. (Government is a resource from God to protect our freedoms to comply with his Will. Its purpose is not to circumvent/offset the sowing and reaping outcome of people who make unwise choices.)

3. Values/Purity

The most powerful support for making wise choices is the heart of Christ renewed to fuller measure in us daily during our quiet-time worship and manifesting as a growing and abiding desire for godliness/holiness (purity and usefulness to God in redemptive service to others). 

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15B03

Week 5

Heaven: Where Our Best Dreams Come True

“Falling dreams” may have something to do with a suffering conscience, the result of a conflicting moral behavior. “Flying dreams” may have something to do with personal growth and increase - in employment, finances, or influence, but especially in Christlikeness (holiness: physically, mentally, emotionally, morally, and spiritually).

Dreams can seem so real! Several times in recent years I have woken in the morning certain I could fly and eager to go outside to lift myself off the ground, not to fly like a bird or superman, but to float upright just above the trees to my destination. As reality slowly set in, it was hard to accept the disappointment that I could not fly. 

But it occurred to me recently that, in Heaven, while we will of course walk, I believe we will mostly lift ourselves into the air to quietly and softly float to our destinations – effortlessly whenever we desire at the command of our wills.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A29

Leadership By Investment

Leadership in the home and church can err in two extremes. Samson’s appeasement of Delilah (to satisfy her whims and desires) in order to be with her (codependence) illustrates the one extreme.

An authoritarian parent, husband, or pastor imposing hard rules illustrates the other extreme.

The outcome of both leadership extremes is brokenness.

The ministry of Christ represents grace enabled leadership - to:

  • Identify God’s Redemptive Plan for the home and church,
  • Increase in personal experience of God through daily quiet-time worship in order to be increased in personal holiness (competence and usefulness) to
  • Invest in the redemptive (health) needs of those God’s calls us to serve. 
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A27

Week 4

A Broken Theology: Considering the Root of a Broken Life

1. Interest in God’s redemptive plan from a grace theological perspective will increase when the “shaking” comes – that future event or "cause and effect" outcome when nothing is left standing except what cannot be shaken – when the “bubble” bursts, when worldly kingdoms (versus the Kingdom of God) implodes, when the “high” is over, and when that which entertains, stimulates, excites, and feeds our addictions has been exhausted. 

2. For years, I held to the hope that the message of grace would in time prevail in the Body of Christ against the performance-based message - in the way light prevails against darkness.

But that has not turned out to be true - mainly, I think, because

  • the message of grace (as revealed to the Apostle Paul [2 Corinthians 12:1-7; Ephesians 3:3-6; Colossians 1:26-27] and summarized in Romans chapters 5-8) is not widely presented or heard (“All that is necessary for error to triumph is for Truth not to be heard.”), while at the same time,  
  • the performance-based message dominates 
    • Christian books sales,
    • teaching/preaching in the evangelical/entertainment church, and
    • “Christian/Charismatic” radio and tv (led by TBN, CBN, TCT, and Daystar Television), and 
  • the message of grace does not appeal to man’s carnal/addiction need to perform, to be in control, and to be entertained. 
On the same subject:

The recent news report that public schools and colleges increasingly continue to halt Bible studies may not be a bad thing – for the following reasons:

1. Healing for broken lives and homes begins with recovery from bad doctrine. When the theology is wrong, health and happiness is absolutely impossible.

2. It is not true that any teaching of the Bible is always better than no teaching of the Bible. (Neither is “any counseling always better than no counseling.”)

3. At the core of broken physical or financial health, a broken home, marriage, or business is a broken philosophy. And at the core of a broken philosophy is a broken theology.

For example, misunderstanding about

  • obedience - that it means performance to go and give,
  • worship - that it means to express adoration to God,
  • belief - that it means to think positive about a subject, and
  • forgiveness - that it means to “get over” the hurt of an offense 
is at the root of the tension that wreaks havoc in the hearts of broken people.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A24

Evaluating Our Resources

Traditionally-trained medical doctors may not have the same appreciation for your health regimen as you do and may even seem offended if you suggest diet, exercise, lifestyle choices, and supplementation are the reason for your good health.

(As someone has said, “We tend to be down on what we are not up on.” Or the issue may be the need of care/service providers to be significant or even to be in control.)

The information we need about any regimen or treatment is…

1. Does it work? Is the adherent healthy and happy?

2. Is the prescriber of the treatment healthy and happy (the same as we would expect pastors/ministers to have healthy homes and marriages, finances, and personal health)?

3. Is the support provided redemptive (an investment in our health – that is, for our gain, illustrated by a vine supporting a branch) or codependent (manipulating, using, abusing, controlling for the provider’s personal gain – including wealth).

Jesus is our example: He said (Matthew 11:28-30 paraphrased), “Come to me all you who are broken and worn out. Open you heart to receive my support and you will be recovered to health. I do not have a hidden agenda. Your healing is my only goal.”

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A22

Grace and Appeasement/Compromise: The Difference

1) Evil/Darkness

  • entered into the world through our inherited brokenness – the result of Adam's transgression and our separation from God (Romans 5:12-18);
  • cannot prevail against God’s Light/Provisions of Grace for our healing and recovery (John 1:4-5);
  • loathes and aggressively seeks to destroy the gospel of Christ (grace);
  • thrives
    • in society/culture when appeased and accommodated (Psalm 12:8; Proverbs 27:18) and also
    • in individuals through “sin” (choices that disregard God’s Provisions for health);
  • must be rooted out and purged – by
    • the entrance/experience of God’s Grace (his Provisions, Light/Truth)(Romans 5:17; Psalm 119:130), 
    • the judgment of God (when Grace is refused/rejected so that the heart becomes hardened - Romans 1:18-32). 
2) For simple illustrations:

  • A cancer can be starved (through cellular nutrition), but if nutrition is neglected so that the cancer progresses, it must be removed.
  • A healthy stock of grass (not poisons) is the best prevention for weeds.
  • Good bacteria (probiotics – not antibiotics) are the body’s best first defense against bad bacteria. 
3) It is the Scriptural work/calling
  • of the Church (the Body of Christ) to serve as a resource/conduit/vessel for the flow of God’s Provisions of Grace into the world (to sow Seed/the Gospel of Christ), but when Grace is refused so that evil prevails,
  • of governments ordained by God (not individuals or terrorist groups) to militarily root out and purge evil from the world (Romans 13:1-4).
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A20

Week 3

The Character of Christ: Support for Choosing Resources

Religionists, authoritarians, tyrants, etc. and terrorists are cousins. (A religious terrorist is a religionist gone bad.) They share the following profile:

  • Offer benevolence but with condition/expectation of blind loyalty, gratitude, and servitude,
  • Impose ownership, control, and isolation, and
  • Intolerant to rejection, non-compliance, confrontation, interrogation, exposure, or insult. 
But about Christ, we observe the following:

  • Unconditionally provides essential needs to all who receive for the purpose of supporting their freedom (health and happiness),
  • Not offended by rejection, non-compliance, confrontation, interrogation, exposure, insult, or attack – even to death on the cross. 
These characteristic guide us for choosing our resources (ministers, physicians, service providers) and support women for choosing a husband.

Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 2:5-11

NEXT TIME: Grace and Appeasement/Compromise: The Difference

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A17

Free Speech: Constitutional Protection to Help, Not Humiliate

The right of free speech is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution - but it does not protect hate speech (condemnation, mockery, ridicule, slander), obscenity, sedition, public nuisance, or violation of classified information, copyright material, trade secrets, right to privacy, or public security.

The right of free speech protects our freedom (and calling) to provide/disseminate information that promotes health, including to identify behavior and attitudes we believe are harmful. But it does not protect speech to deride, demean, or humiliate people who reject it. For example, bashing homosexuals (or others whose lifestyles and beliefs are different from ours) is not protected free speech.

Condemnation helps no one (does not heal) but hurts. Plan B (performance-based) type counseling and condemnation preaching from the pulpit may guilt and fear motivate/intimidate temporary change in behavior, but will not heal the brokenness at the root of the behavior.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A15

God: The Surpassing Experience

God was good to create us with the ability to enjoy experiences of life – including,

  • the smell and taste of food,
  • the fragrance of an orange blossom,
  • the sight of a sunset,
  • the sound of music,
  • the warmth of sunshine,
  • the feel of a hug or kiss,
  • romance and companionship,
  • success to perform a duty or feat,
  • recognition, approval, acceptance, and support,
  • learning new information, and
  • helping others. 
But more powerful and enjoyable by far is

  • hearing God communicate Truth to us (especially his unconditional Love/Value for us) by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture and
  • experiencing Christ during our quiet-time worship. 
Psalm 119:103; Ephesians 3:18-19

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A13

Week 2

Passion for God: A Sanctified Value

We may possess a combination of superficial (sensual), secondary (worldly), and sanctified (spiritual or eternal) values.

Superficial values include our need to/for
  • look good,
  • feel good,
  • recognition, and
  • approval. 
Secondary values include our need for
  • happiness,
  • security, and
  • safety. 
Sanctified values include our desire/passion for
  • God’s Provisions of Grace for our redemption (recovery/healing),
  • wholistic health (especially holiness), and
  • the wholistic health/holiness of others. 
Superficial and Secondary values can be God-given, but may also be rooted in our carnal nature (fear, pride, arrogance, etc.).

Sanctified values are possible only by Christ living and manifesting his Life in and through us to fuller measure as we take time each day for quiet time worship in order to experience him.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A10

God’s Plan for Your Life: How It Is Accomplished

God absolutely has a Plan with regard to your life. It is

  1. to secure you for going to Heaven, but also to make possible your experience of Heaven while here on earth (your health and happiness) and 
  1. to identify and make clear to you his Plan (by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture),but also to effectually accomplish it - not by mystical power (which has no cause and effect explanation) as a reward for your religious performance to please him/make him happy, but by his Provisions of Grace which flow into your life as you connect daily to his appointed resources in 
    • Creation (nutritious elements in the soil and atmosphere),
    • Community (support leadership in the home and church), and especially,
    • Christ (the Death/Blood of Christ for us and his Resurrected Life in us). 
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A08

Considering God’s Plan in the New Year

Electronic social and communication devices may have their place to serve some good purposes. Providers promise they will free and empower us, but the further they take us from God’s Plan, the more broken and in bondage we become.

For example, tv many years ago was supposed to enrich relationships, even bring families closer together. It did not. Neither have social media and texting, etc. - evidenced by the dad glued to his phone while walking in the park with his child (the same as he would with a pet) or family members glued to their phones while sitting at a meal.

Consider God’s Plan – that, just as he created us (wired our bodies and brains) to

  • walk more than ride,
  • breathe fresh air more than conditioned air,
  • eat fresh food from the garden more than processed food from a can or box, and
  • read print from a book we hold in our hands more than from words flashed on an electronic device, 
he also created us to interact with people in their presence (with opportunity for touch and other senses) more than with their cold image or words on a screen.

“I will walk about in freedom, for I have followed your guiding principles.” – Psalm 119:45

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A06

Week 1

Creation, Community, and Christ: Provisions of Grace to Protect Us

In response to reports of a tragedy that took many lives, a grieving young man said on tv recently, “That’s life; you never know what to expect or what may happen.”

But that’s not true for us who “live under the shelter (trust/rest in the presence) of the Most High.” We can say with confidence, “no harm will befall us.”

However:

In the Bible sense, “trusting/resting in God’s presence” means to open the doors of our hearts to his appointed resources (in Creation, Community, and especially Christ) through which his Provisions of Grace flow into our lives to protect us.   

The support God provides us empowers our minds, emotions, and wills to be in the place we need to be every hour of the day and to make wise choices that establish us in health.

Psalm 23:1-4; 91:1-16; Ephesians 1:18-23

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 15A01

Understanding “The Message of Grace in Truth”

Religious Christianity teaches about God that he

  • is “in charge” (in the sense of a dictator),
  • sends diseases and adverse weather events on the earth as judgment/punishment for our “sins” (misunderstood as behavior that displeases/offends him), and then,
  • miraculously intervenes to withdraw the judgment when we humbly repent of our offensive behavior, promise to do better, and fast food to express our sincerity.  
New Testament Christianity (“the message of grace in Truth”) teaches that God

  • is all knowing and powerful and everywhere present, sovereign and immutable,
  • values (loves) every person unconditionally (without weighing their worth), and
  • makes provisions, consistent with the law of cause and effect (sowing and reaping), for the full and complete redemption of anyone who will connect to (trust in) his appointed resources in Creation (life-supporting elements in the soil and atmosphere) and Community (support relationships in the home and church), but especially and beginning with Christ (his Blood/death on the cross for us and Resurrected Life birthed and lived in us) through which those provisions flow into our lives. 
Colossians 1:6; John 3:16; James 1:5; Romans 5:17; 6:17; 8:11; Galatians 6:7-8; et al

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14L29

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