Ben Shiller Jacob
All of us know what jigsaw puzzle[1] is. In fact, it might be one of your hobbies for some at least. Jigsaw puzzles are irregular shaped pieces, come in a box of 100 – 1000 pieces. A picture is pasted to a wood or paper board, later cut by jigsaw tool into various shapes.
The objective of the game is when the puzzle pieces are rightly assembled, give a complete picture.
The jigsaw puzzle box comes with the original picture as a guide for the player to give an idea what player should look for. If a picture is not given beforehand, it is nearly impossible for a player to assemble the puzzle pieces rightly to produce a complete picture.
You might think what Jigsaw puzzle has to do with Christian faith and relationship with our Heavenly Father. Our Christian walk with our Lord has a lot common with jigsaw puzzle game. Just like a puzzle player, a Christian MUST SEE the COMPLETE PICTURE of what Father God has given to him in the form of various shaped puzzle pieces (His Words) in a box (Bible). Unlike a real jigsaw puzzle, this box doesn’t come with a complete picture which could make the game even more strenuous and troublesome to a player (Christian). However, our Father God in His lovingkindness and mercy has given us a Guide, that is Holy Spirit, Who is better than an inanimate picture in an ordinary jigsaw puzzle box.
‘What is the point, Ben?’ If you ask.
Sadly speaking, majority of the Christians, including men of God, who have been in the ministries for a while still have no idea what they are doing or where they are heading to.
Many of them have no clue or being ignorant with what Heavenly Father has been doing with His all creations. In simple, many of us are missing out the Heart of our Heavenly Father. We are missing out His desire and passion for His beings who are us!
The reason I was telling all these is because the other day I heard a pastor preaching that as a believer we must beg and beseech God for our prayers to be answered. Pastor was quoting Scriptures from the life of various prophets from the Old Testaments. Basically, he was using provided puzzles (Scriptures) alone but wrong places though. However, if we try to fit those pieces according to the picture we created and have in our mind will produce a distorted, awkward looking portrait at the end.
Some of the teachers don’t know where they stand or what they believe. It’s truly a sad situation. If you hear these statements from a newborn believer, totally understandable. I am talking about the shepherds who herd, tend, and guard sheep. There won’t be any surprise if someone notices stunted growth in the flock.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
Hosea 4:6
This is what at the Mount Carmel, prophet Elijah asked king Ahab to summon all the Israel and prophet said to them,
20 So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. 21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.
1 King 18:20-21
This is the question we should ask ourselves now. How long will we falter between two opinions?
Many still don’t know where they belong to, either the Abrahamic Old Covenant and the law of Moses or Renewed Covenant and the law of Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
This brings a lot of confusion among believers and the lead.
Two Covenants, Two perspectives, in simple.
Under Abrahamic Covenant, Yahweh hasn’t revealed Himself to the children of Israel as a Father God though He was in truth. Yahweh hid this attribute of Him from Israel when He revealed to them in various ways such as Almighty God, King of the universe, Yireh, Rapha, Shammah and so on.
Under the Renewed Covenant, aka New Covenant or Covenant of Love which is established through the flesh and blood of Christ Jesus, the hidden attribute or real nature of God Almighty is revealed, which is Fatherhood!
One day when disciples asked Jesus to teach how to pray, He replied,
2When you pray, say: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,
Your kingdom come.”
Matthew 11:2
It must have been a shock to the disciples because in Torah (The Teaching) or Jewish traditions, no one has ever dared to call Yahweh, Father.
Those who come to Yahweh through His only begotten Son, Yeshua, the Messiah, has a privilege to be a son of God thereby able to call and interact with Him as Father.
If a Judaist preaches you should request and plead to God in prayer, it makes sense. But sadly, even among born-again believers use the eyeglasses of Old Covenant to see the Kingdom of God. Since it is old and diminished power, you would only be able to see a distorted image of God even though how hard you look through these lenses.
We all have a father here on earth. Have you ever begged or requested your father to get something? We ask or demand our earthly fathers for things but never once at least we requested. Why we don’t request our father is because of the relationship and liberty in father-son relationship. If we ever beg before our earthly father is when we want something that is unwanted. If we have to request or beg for something in this type of relationship, then there should be something wrong in our father-son relationship, either we must have been adopted or father must be inhumane. Noone is these applicable to our Heavenly Father that we all know.
1See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1 John 3:1
Shiller Inspires
It’s time to see the whole picture rather than looking at one of the many pieces and assuming something else that is contrary to the desire of our Father God when He restored a broken father-son relationship in the Garden of Eden through His Son Yeshua. Some thinks why could Father God have died in place of His Son if He is unconditionally loving Father? The answer to this question is simple if you are a father or mother. It is so much easier for a parent to sacrifice himself rather than sacrificing his child. But our Father God did everything in hardest way leaving no room for any debate because He is a just God and unconditionally loving Father and His throne is established in justice, righteousness and equity. All Glory to our Father God for He is ever loving, and His loving kindness has no end!
Communion with a Contrite Heart
Our Heavenly Father, we pray to open the eyes of our understanding to see and experience Your face full of glory with clarity and make known us where we are standing, whether we are rooted in the Lord Yeshua alone or not in Yeshua’s precious name we pray – AMEN!
Notes: