I do own the whole street, sidewalk, parking lot, or whatever else comes to your mind. Our need to have ownership of anything brings up the need within us to do just that. We, of course, know that this world is not based on absolutes. For instance, when we put something other than death in the equation, we just set up ourselves and others who are depending on us. More than one person has been in trouble for using n absolute word like always, never and you can identify your absolute word absolutely! There are some statements that are absolute which violate this rule. There are some who would take issue with this but, they would be wrong. For instance, "All have sinned." "God loves you." "He will never leave you nor forsake you." Even "There will be rain in Washington." comes under the absolute rule.
But, in our day to day living we use absolute words and phrases quite often. I can be pretty sure when I hear one of these phrases that the speaker didn't mean their statement to be absolute. The every day statements corner us in our world. "I can do that job by Monday," "You have to give me some time off." "I never break the law." "I will always love you." You get the drift. Using absolutes in this manner is understood to be anything but literal in definition. So, why don't we use appropriate statements in our daily life. Knowing that a statement is not true and won't be true decays our integrity. Yeah, right, you will jump the Grand Canyon on your motorcycle. Doubt follows and of course the more impossible the task, the greater he disappointment.
When we search the Bible regarding this topic, there are lots of stories where absolutes are given. There are also examples of times when absolutes were sought. God is. That's an absolute statement. Even God was or will be end up in the list marked absolute statements. When mankind seek and believe any absolute statement regarding God, they raise the standard and lower the error rate. In the Old Testament prophets were judged by whether or not their prophecy came true or not. If a prophecy did come true, the prophet was given the due respect. If the prophecy did not turn out to be true, they were killed. Now there is an absolute result. If you prophecy instead of God prophesying, the error rate was much higher.
This is what makes Jesus' life, death and resurrection so important. When Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose from the dad he verified over 600 prophecies from the Old Testament. Those actions backed some religious authorities into a corner where there was no longer a defense for what they did or did not do. For the humble and respected, Jesus was, is and will always be Lord. The belief of the former was merely a legalistic sham meant to keep anyone from rocking the boat. The latter one there was increasing faith and reliance on God instead of mankind. It all comes down to our choice to have God living in and through us or whether we are the god of our own world. What is it for you, your circle of friends and family?
God is absolutely sure that he loves his creating including mankind. God is absolutely positive that our sins are forgiven when we ask for them to be forgiven. There is no question (well maybe some) that God continues to do the unbelievable both in small and large ways. I am absolutely sure that my Lord will meet me in heaven. I am absolutely sure that there is a room for me that Jesus has been working on for some 2000 years. I am absolutely convinced, even when I cannot see it, that God always desires the best for me. When we wrestle with these issues, we need someway to measure whether the absolute is true or not. For years I kept a prayer book where I put the prayer requests on the day or hour when I asked God to answer them. When they were answered I put that in the list with the date they were answered. What a wonderful tool to see that God is absolutely desiring to love and care for me and others. Perhaps Christ will become your savior today. He will always love you.
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