Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

We have a few salmon colored Fall iris plants.   In a way, they are special and catch the eye because they are late bloomers.  They rejoice the heart!

His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility…For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit

Ephesians 2:16 – 18

Anna Ruth, my dear wife of 68 years of married life is a full human being.  I am also a full human being, her loving husband.  I have a family history, she has a family history.  I have a male body, she a female one.  I try to solve problems in one way, she another. We often have different responses to what is happening or what is before us.  I want things my way, she hers.  How in this wide world are we able to live together in peace, a peace that surprises even us?

His name is Jesus!  He, in some miraculous way, by living within us by the new birth, He not only enables us to love one another, really love one another, but enables us to love others with a love that defies logic.  I stand before this miracle of God’s grace every day.  It is not a man/woman relationship only, but two individuals united by the Blood of Jesus Christ.  It is hard to understand but as real as the morning light.

We prayed together this morning in our devotional time, as usual.  We take it for granted that we will be one in prayer.  We might not think alike, but we love alike!  That love is the deepest and most precious gift of God, I do believe.  May I love with His love, the best.

Growing along our chimney is the Fall beauty – the orange Pyracantha.  The berries are small but huge in their glory.  They punctuate our Fall, that is for sure.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,  and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Ephesians 2:14 – 18

How can it be possible for Jews and Gentiles, or other groups or tribes to live together in peace, a chore that has perplexed people from the beginning of time?  All experiments have been tried, some rather successful, others not.  I think of forging a unity by political means, like in ancient Greece.  Try as they will, they ended up fighting one another (Athens vs Sparta, for example) until they ceased to exist as a unified nation.

How about a common philosophy?  Athens was the center of this hope.  What happened?  The Greek philosophers were helpful in laying bare the issue but no one came up with an answer that suited everyone.  Philosophy produces many answers, few ways to live!

Then Jesus arrives on the scene.  He did not teach self-help or philosophical statements.  He destroyed the enmity that is the base of all strife and opened an entirely new way to walk with God together.   Paul’s description of how Jesus accomplished that is not at all easy for our minds to grasp.  He wrote, “Jesus set aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.”  To be honest, I have never felt that I had fully grasped the meaning of this expression, set aside in flesh the law.  I can try to explain many things to satisfy myself, but I have never fully grasped the depth of the meaning of this, in my own mind.

Could it be that Jesus absorbed into his own self, his mind and flesh, the enmity and fear and hate that people groups or individuals have toward one another and then, by absorbing these dreads into his own being, slaying them or taking them away, actually erasing them completely?   How true it is if that which divides us is removed from us, we can live in peace with one another, as pleases God.

Now, For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  Equal access to the Father!  All in one Spirit!  Here lies the answer to all human hostility.  Jesus is the way.  What he paid to take away our hostile feeling is there for all who believe.   ALL!

We need only bow, repent, and receive the new life of God by faith.  So simple. So profound!

Just now our purple beans, whatever they are called, are blooming and forming six-inch long dark purple beans, truly marvelous.  Yesterday I snapped this cluster of blossoms.

At our Bible Study on Saturday at our quarterly fellowship at Forest Hills Mennonite Church. we concentrated our attention on the meaning and generosity of the Blood of Jesus Christ.  May I suggest that we pause a bit and think of the meaning of Christ’s spilled blood, human blood, common blood.

Paul stood in the place of some of the world’s great orators of his day, Athens in great Greece.  Listen to Paul, anointed by the Spirit of the Lord.

And [God] hath made of one blood all nations.” Acts 17:26

Paul made this statement before the Athenian Senate, made up of white, Greek philosophers who stress the unity of mankind.  Their army was victorious in fending off enemies to a degree. Some of the other Greek City-States were much more militant like Sparta.  The Athenian elders preferred dialogue to war.  They clearly preferred peace to war.  Their philosophy was based on that hope.

Interestingly enough, the Apostle Paul also preached, lived and promoted peace as what God wanted all along.  When he was offered an opportunity to speak before the foremost promoters of peace in Athens, he spoke directly to their concerns.  Paul, too, was a man of peace.  Many philosophers wanted to hear from him.

He reminded them of the fact that all human beings, (remember, he is a Jew) no matter from where, had the same blood flowing in their veins, the basis of human life itself. Human blood binds all humans together, no matter what race, language or nationality.  We have what we might call interchangeable blood.  I find that amazing. I found that my blood can be transfused into an African, for example and vice versa. There are billions of people on the earth today.  There is one thing that is indisputable, we share a common blood.  We may differ in a lot of things but not on that.  We are of the same blood.  The blood that flows through my veins right now is like that of every other human being!

That is absolutely amazing and pregnant with meaning.  There is not a blood for white people, another for black people, etc.  Act as different as we may or believe as different as we may, we have a common blood, with small differences, perhaps, but my blood which is “O,” the largest category, can be injected into the blood system of any other human being.  And it is the same for all of us.

Paul cites this as something we should be aware of and think about.

I took this picture yesterday, October 8.  It is a perfectly formed Fall rose, dainty, strong and truly marvelous to look at.  Our yellow rose bush produced only a few blooms this Fall.  That makes this beauty such a precious thing.  In a few days it will be gone.  Now it is pleasing to the eye and all the senses.  Thank you, God, for this reflection of your heart.

Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.  

Ephesians 6:24

I read again these words as Paul closes his letter to the believers of all cultures in the great commercial city, Ephesus.  He appeals once again to the bond that binds us to Jesus and he to us, and that holds us together in the brotherhood of believers – love!

We love the Lord Jesus with a love that we cannot fully explain, except to say that since we believed and since we gave our heart to the Lord we know that love which is as real and even more powerful than the morning sun.  Who can fully explain that love?  Certainly not me.

Is it not strange that the most powerful bond in the universe is God’s love for those who love him?  It is love that will never fade or die.

I embrace, once again, the full extent of that love, even though I have no idea of its extent!  I bow in awe and thanksgiving as I open my heart and mind, again, to the love of God that will never wane or die.  May I love with God’s love, not my human love that chooses whom to love and how to love them.  May my love resonate with the love of God, extending to all peoples forever, including myself!

Anna Ruth in the Fall sun, absorbing the beautify of the wildlife along the river.

One of the first plants to change leaf color is the wild but beautiful somac.  We saw these early dazzling reds on the hill that overlooks the mighty Susquehannah on our outing yesterday.  What power!

Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Ephesians 6:23, 24

I love this final phrase, closing one of the deepest and warmest letters ever written, a prayer for us all.  We hear the words, Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.  Our deepest need is for grace.   We do not hear this word much now.  It is a gift of God to all who believe in the saving, keeping and rewarding work of Jesus Christ.   It is not just a tangible gift like an item, it is nothing less than divine favor.  For us who believe and experience the love of God in all things this word expresses so much!  It is indeed an unmerited gift from the heart of God.

May the Grace of God rest mightly on those who love Jesus with a love that does not shift or change.