Are You a Baby Boomer?
Friday, October 25, 2024
"Never forget that to keep strictly to the path of your Savior's command is better than any outward form of religion; and to pay attention to His precept is better than to bring animals or other precious things to lay upon His altar.” – C.H. Spurgeon
My upbringing was similar to those of my fellow Baby Boomers. My dad was the authoritarian figure as well as the disciplinarian, while my mom was the more nurturing of the two. That’s just the way things were in the 1960s.
When it comes to our Heavenly Father, He fills both roles. First and foremost, He is the Sovereign Creator and Maintainer of the universe, completely holy, just and righteous in both His character and His behavior. As such, He demands and deserves absolute and immediate obedience.
However, God is also a loving Father who exercises limitless mercy and compassion towards His children. “God is love…” we are told in I John 4:16 and three verses later we read, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
The marvelous complexity of God is this: His holiness demands that sin be judged and punished, but His boundless love provided a Sacrificial Replacement to bear the brunt of that judgment. Kind of like a 1960s Boomer family!
In closing, let’s take a look at the two “sandwich verses” between I John 4:16 and I John 4:19.
“In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.” I John 4:17-18 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
