The love, grace, and very character of God the Father and Jesus Christ are revealed at the foot of the cross...

Lately, over the last two or three weeks, I have been trying to get an MRI, ordered by my doctor due to an obstructed bile duct in my liver, where the growth of a cancer lesion has closed off the bile duct, causing my digestion to be impaired, and a lot of pain and discomfort day and night that accompanies the condition. 

The backlog in getting the MRI, so the doctors can see what they will have to deal with in surgery, has been horrendous, as the administration of these facilities possibly seem to be choosing greed over patient comfort, by not administering prompt services based on the growing demands of the area where these services are supposed to be delivered, and seemingly not really caring that patients have to endure the pain and suffering of delayed procedures not being performed in a timely manner.  

In addition, once the MRI had been performed, the physicians and support staff are so backlogged, apparently due to the same assumed greedy administrative management of the medical facilities, it suggests to the natural man that they don't seem to be hiring the number of doctors and support staff that would enable quick procedures to be performed on patients who are enduring pain and suffering from their conditions, seemingly in favor of what would be naturally perceived as greed and profit over compassion and empathy for suffering patients.  

Over the course of these delays, I had started to develop a hatred of these administrators, not the doctors or support staff, as they have always seemed to want to provide quick and effective measures to alleviate pain and suffering, but due to the backlog of imaging services, inadequate numbers of physicians and support staff availability. It became evident that patients, doctors, and support staff also assumed it's the fault of administrative staff, insurance companies, etc...in our increasingly greedy society.  I suppose it should not really be a surprise, as is foretold to be the case as history progresses toward the end times. 

When requests for performance reviews of how their system was performing, I commented on their shortcomings, sometimes in words that reflect my growing hate of the administrative actors in their system, pointing out their lust for money, and accusing them of greed at the expense of patient's pain and suffering. My assumptions may be true, and likely are. But, if true, that truth doesn't excuse my own Christian responsibility.  

These assumptions cause a resentment, and almost an elevated level of hatred toward administrative officials and insurance companies that is inbred in a natural man's human psyche, assuming a blame, which is not really verifiable with facts, but assumed to be greed, and there is an assumed fore knowledge that these administrators and insurance companies, etc... are purposefully aware that their actions are causing additional pain and suffering of patients in favor of profit without remorse.  

But, it has occurred to me in a moment of reflection, perhaps divinely delivered, that this natural man's assumption had been gaining a foot hold in my own being, naturally, and so much so that the natural man's reaction toward the medical profession begins to cultivate a level of hatred and cursing that perhaps our Lord and our God would not approve of.

When this realization hit me, I speculated that perhaps the Holy Spirit had brought this error of realization to my attention subconsciously, as we as Christians are supposed to be progressing toward the essence of Jesus Christ, as we are over time regenerated in the direction of His perfection while we are still in the flesh, never to actually achieve the perfection of God the Father and Jesus Christ, but to move in the direction of Their perfection according to, and to the extent that it satisfies the will of God.  

This realization brought me back to Jesus upon the cross, when He said, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do, found in Luke 23:34 of the scriptures.  It is our Christian duty to forgive "them," the members of the medical profession, and their short comings, as after all is said and done, they also do some good work as well. But, that we are to forgive them their shortcomings, just as Jesus forgave his murderers from the cross. 

Imagine the physical agony and humility that a totally innocent Jesus Christ had to endure when He said those words. I believe that the physical agony Jesus endured did not approach the spiritual and emotional agony of Jesus' separation from God the Father, as he took the sins of the world, past, present, and future upon himself, as a sacrifice. so that the transgressions of believers would be forgiven by the Father in heaven, and so a believing natural man could again have a relationship with God the Father, and whose spirits could be once again united with the Father in heaven upon physical death.  

If this passage of scripture doesn't reveal the deity of Jesus Christ, and it does not reflect the Father's grace toward believers, nothing ever will.  To proclaim forgiveness upon your murderers, without them even asking for forgiveness, which natural man is commanded to do with repentance, while they are in the process of mocking him, humiliating him, gambling for His clothing, etc...demonstrates the deity of Jesus Christ, and the depths of God's love and grace toward mankind as a whole. It also demonstrates that the Father's forgiveness of the unrepentant who are unaware of their transgression at the request of Jesus Christ demonstrates the glory of God the Father, and the close relationship of Jesus to God the Father, and further demonstrates that Jesus is God incarnate in the flesh of man on earth.

This level of grace and forgiveness is something the natural man is incapable of doing, except through the urging of the Holy Spirit, and the direct intervention by God into the lives of believers, something that simply could never be conjured up in the psyche of natural man. The natural man's inclination toward hate and loathing of injustices aimed directly at him or her simply would not result in unrepentant forgiveness, where the perpetrators of horrendous deeds do not even repent or ask for forgiveness, perhaps not even recognizing the sin in their reckless unrepentant deeds. 

The character, love, and grace of God the Father and Jesus Christ for believers, much less for unrepentant natural man, is revealed at the cross of Jesus Christ, and it is something not to be ignored, or overlooked by both believers and non-believers, if we want to understand the character and high level of perfection of God the Father and Jesus Christ.