Closer To Heaven
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By sustainable energy professional and AT board member Cherri-Ann Farquharson I first encountered Adventist Today (AT) on Facebook. What stood out immediately was the boldness—the willingness to ask hard questions and explore ideas that many platforms shy away from. As someone deeply rooted in the Adventist tradition and working at the intersection of science, policy, […] Source: https://atoday.org/why-i-support-at/
Daily Lesson for Monday 14th of April 2025
Ezekiel 16:1-63 shows us an astonishing picture of God’s regard for His people. He describes the nation of Israel as an abandoned baby, left in a field to die. He takes her home, cleans her up, and when she is fully grown, he marries her. It is a powerful picture of an unlikely marriage.
Image © The Classic Bible Art Collection – Formerly Standard Publishing at Goodsalt.com
God told Israel that, under His care, she grew “ ‘exceedingly beautiful’ ” (Ezekiel 16:13, NKJV). When God first found her, nobody found her beautiful; she was a reject among other children, cast aside in the hopes that she would die. But as God showered His attention on her, she became more and more beautiful, until she was the talk of the world. In the earliest days of the Hebrew kings, under David and Solomon, this was particularly true. The queen of Sheba even made a special trip in order to see the splendor of Israel for herself!
Israel’s beauty, however, was entirely the gift of God. She was beautiful—the talk of the nations—precisely because she was His bride. God says that her beauty “ ‘was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you’ ” (Ezekiel 16:14, NKJV).
This is a recurrent theme in the Bible: God’s bride is beautiful, not because of anything she has done but because God has showered His favor on her and made her that way. In a similar way, believers appear beautiful in the estimate of heaven, not because of anything we have done to earn it but because of the favor of God, the salvation that He has showered on us. We are beautiful because we are covered in His righteousness, the “righteousness of God” Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21).
All was good, however, until the next verse in Ezekiel: “ ‘But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it’ ” (Ezekiel 16:15).
We were created to reflect the goodness and glory of God. When God’s creations assume that their beauty is their own, that beauty is cheapened, and trouble awaits.
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What are the dangers of us trusting in our “own beauty”? That is, how might we think that there is anything in and of ourselves that gives us merit with God or makes us deserving of His love? How can we always guard against spiritual pride? |
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https://wkf.ms/3DBuapQ Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2q0ID75PD4
La última sesión completa de la Asociación General (AG) se celebró en 2015. La culpa fue de Covid, que nos arruinó los planes que teníamos preparados. De modo que llevamos diez años preparándonos. Pero apuesto a que tú no. Me dirás: Loren, ¿de qué estás hablando? No voy a asistir a la Asociación General. ¿Por […] Source: https://atoday.org/como-prepararse-para-la-ultima-sesion-de-la-asociacion-general-de-2025/
Después de sufrir «abusos sexistas» y «condiciones insoportables», la pastora Lerato Makombe ganó un caso histórico por despido injustificado en el tribunal laboral de Ciudad del Cabo. Makombe comenzó sus prácticas en la Asociación del Cabo de la Iglesia Adventista del Séptimo Día en enero de 2014. Una vez que se convirtió en pastora, la […] Source: https://atoday.org/pastor-adventista-gana-un-juicio-por-discriminacion-y-abuso/
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