In Luke 16:19-31, we have a rather interesting story from Jesus. From the outset, I should say that I take Jesus at His word, so if He tells this story as though it actually happened, I'm going to go on the assumption that it actually did happen. I'd encourage you to read through it briefly before you continue on with this post. (You should be able to move your cursor over the Bible reference and have it pop up for you.)
Over the past few years, I have become very intrigued at how God has made us human beings. We have a dual nature, or perhaps it would be better to say, we have two natures that exist together. We have a physical nature, evidenced by the body we inhabit. We also have a spiritual nature, evidenced by our mind and soul, those things that simply cannot be described or explained. (As a sidenote, I've never heard a scientist come up with a reasonable response to how a "soul" or "spirit" came into being.)
The reason I bring this up is because we live those two natures out at the same time. Understanding them helps to bring some sense to some of the things God says in the Bible, including the topic of equality. So, with no further ado, the question for the day. Does God see us all as equal?
In one sense, yes, He does. We are all His beloved creation. God made every single one of us special, according to His own will and design. Taking that a step further, because we have all inherited a nature from our first father and mother, that of sin, we also are all equal in that we are sinful in the eyes of the righteous God. That one isn't such good news for us, but it does remind us that we are equal in some respects in God's eyes.
However, God does not dole out His gifts in this world on an equal basis. Look at the story I referenced above. It seems pretty clear that God gave good to the rich man, and God didn't give that much good to Lazarus. We also see this in several other places, in regard to things such as spiritual gifts, where we are told that God gives His gifts according to His design, not according to equality. Some were given much, and much was expected. Others were given little, so that those given much might share with them and truly show neighborly love.
We'll dive a bit further into this, but let's just say that God does see us as equal, and yet, at the same time, God doesn't see us as equal. We'll look at this a bit more in future posts.
Over the past few years, I have become very intrigued at how God has made us human beings. We have a dual nature, or perhaps it would be better to say, we have two natures that exist together. We have a physical nature, evidenced by the body we inhabit. We also have a spiritual nature, evidenced by our mind and soul, those things that simply cannot be described or explained. (As a sidenote, I've never heard a scientist come up with a reasonable response to how a "soul" or "spirit" came into being.)
The reason I bring this up is because we live those two natures out at the same time. Understanding them helps to bring some sense to some of the things God says in the Bible, including the topic of equality. So, with no further ado, the question for the day. Does God see us all as equal?
In one sense, yes, He does. We are all His beloved creation. God made every single one of us special, according to His own will and design. Taking that a step further, because we have all inherited a nature from our first father and mother, that of sin, we also are all equal in that we are sinful in the eyes of the righteous God. That one isn't such good news for us, but it does remind us that we are equal in some respects in God's eyes.
However, God does not dole out His gifts in this world on an equal basis. Look at the story I referenced above. It seems pretty clear that God gave good to the rich man, and God didn't give that much good to Lazarus. We also see this in several other places, in regard to things such as spiritual gifts, where we are told that God gives His gifts according to His design, not according to equality. Some were given much, and much was expected. Others were given little, so that those given much might share with them and truly show neighborly love.
We'll dive a bit further into this, but let's just say that God does see us as equal, and yet, at the same time, God doesn't see us as equal. We'll look at this a bit more in future posts.
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