The Gospel Of Repentance

  “ His divine power has given us everything we need for godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us great and precious promises, so that through them you may be partakers in the divine nature , having escaped the corruption in the world by evil desires.”                                                                                                                                                           - 2 Peter 1:3-4 I pondered this verse wondering what it means. Can we as sinful humans be partakers of God’s holy nature? Seems impossible. One commentator said that regarding our partaking is “that we do not become God, but we possess the righteousness that comes from God and share fellowship with the Godhead.”              It is true. We who are in Christ are partakers of God’s nature because we are born again. It is the only way we can be accepted as children of God. Without God’s Holy Spirit we are dead hu

 A friend of my oldest daughter was reading the book of Genesis last month. When she reached Chapters 21-24, she had questions, so she texted me what she wanted answers to. Her questions were very challenging, insightful, and honest. I’ll summarize them here. 1) Why did Abraham abandon Ishmael? 2) Why did God say to Abraham that Isaac was his only son when Ishmael was also his son, his firstborn? The reason Abraham had to send Ishmael and his mother Hagar away was because Ishmael was mocking Isaac (the mocking may have been over a period of time), and Sarah became angry and said, “Cast out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” Abraham is distressed over this. God speaks to him and tells him to listen to his wife. Isaac was Abraham’s heir, the son that was promised to them. Ishmael was not the son of promise, but God would bless him for Abraham’s sake because he was Abraham’s descendant (Genesis 21:9-14). Islamic tradition claims Ha