For the fourth and final part of the series, we’re looking at a word with no B but one that fits our world accurately in the present day.
DOOM! Defined, doom is death, destruction, or some other terrible fate.
THE END! GAME OVER! WELCOME TO HELL!
A misconstrued concept in scripture is that of death and punishment. There is a certain message of gloom and DOOM that has been communicated and somehow overshadowed the heart of the truth of the word of God.
So, what is the truth and what do we do with the doom details throughout the Bible?
The heart of God is LOVE. God IS love. Love is patient, kind, not envious, doesn’t brag, humble, not rude, not self-serving, not easily angered; it is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love NEVER ends or fails. (1 Cor 13)
And we read how God SO LOVED THE WORLD that he went to the ultimate extreme to make wholeness of life available. (John 3:16) And how that a self-sacrifice is evident of great love (John 15:13; 1 John 3:16).
Then, we hear about what appears to be the other side – the doom. We resonate with the Psalmist when we read “The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow.” (Psalms 116:2) It feels like life is full of unlimited elements in this sentiment…struggling to see the ALL LOVING GOD in it.
Then there is the whole bit about Hell, this eternal option for those without the love of God inside and God determines have earned it. How is the God of love able to sentence anyone to that forever consequence?
What we fail to realize, and struggle to conceptualize, is that we were NEVER intended to be simply a PHYSICAL BEING. Sure, we have a body and it’s only once we learn the nature of this container that we are able to move beyond it into the spiritual realm where the real story lives.
So, while the world fades, our bodies fail, and everything falls apart, there is one thing that ALWAYS was and ALWAYS remains: GOD! And Jesus came, putting off the divine to embrace the flesh, and SHOW US how to navigate this physical world in human form as spiritual beings.
It looks like CERTAIN DOOM from a human perspective, but throughout scripture, there is a constant motif and evident reality of ETERNAL LIFE, HOPE, and GLORY despite the repetitive death and destruction.
It’s like this rainy day. It feels full of gloom and resembles the unwanted and metaphorical doom. But we know that there is something so profound happening in the weather system and the biological and ecological systems that our human eyes prevent us from seeing anything more. It isn’t until later, after the rain is gone, puddles dry, mud hardens, clouds dissipate, and the sun shines again that we perceive the deeper work. The plants grow, flowers bloom, nature flourishes.
Whether you’re in a dark cloud or the middle of torrential downpour, know that your tale of doom is really a story of bloom!
#bloomNOTdoom
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
0 Comments