when choosing...

We all have a choice. We all have a part to play some way or another. However, we need to be willing first. Can we truly be used if we don't want to be used?

I believe everyone should be given a fair chance, and in that, a fair amount of help given and time. If one were to get more just because they did not want to budge in the first place, it's tough. Being merciful if one was not quick to adapt and needed some extra help, but is willing to go the extra mile just to improve, is a whole different story from one who doesn't want to be moved at all.

If there are two bulls in the field, given one is really strong, and has lots of potential to all the work in the field in half the time, versus another which wasn't as strong, but was very obedient, which would you pick? Especially when there is only a day to do the work, no one would half expect the farmer to soothe the bull and ease it into work. Rather than hope something could be done quickly, sure the most logical way out would be to pick the one that is easier to work with.

Sure. We can discuss about compassion, and that this kind of thinking lacks it, but coming back to the bull that has to work the field; if a dredge was attached to it, and it chose to go its own way, the whole field would be messed up.

If we are given important parts to play, and we choose not to follow, will the parts then come to succession into a bigger picture?

Obedience before sacrifice. The last will be the first. Pride to not yield will be opposed.

Will it not?

the reality of it all

What's the truth? What's right and what's wrong?

We've learned so many 'facts', so many 'truths' that it's become what we pick and choose, and then it's our version of the truth, our facts that we hold so steadfastly to. Or something like that.

I discovered another reason as to why I believe in God.

Because He is REALITY.

Waitaminute. You already kinda knew that didn't you?

Look around you. Everything that's made, is made from something by someone, and everything including relationship are held together by something. By what?

I quote this from Velvet Elvis that I really like.
"I don't follow Jesus because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me how to live in tune with how reality is."

In John 1:1, it says
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God.

The word WORD is logos in Greek, to which we get the word logic from.

God = Word, which also means logic.

Logic to which reality is what it is.

Colossians 2:
17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

The reality can ONLY be found in Christ. No where else. And THAT is the reality of it all.

yours or mine?

Who's opinion is right? Who's opinion is wrong?

Mine came from the bible. So, not to say yours is wrong, but mine is simply just from the bible.


First time I read that statement, I myself had not seen anything that was wrong. In fact, isn't that supposed to be the truth? I mean, if the bible isn't right, why am I following it so closely?

Rob Bell in his book Velvet Elvis says that it's wrong.

Wrong? Wait a minute, the bible wrong? He playfully put questions like this back and fourth, but had really asked it out of seriousness.

You see, the bible is really an open interpretation. In the olden days, when each village probable had only one bible, they came together to read and discuss to come up with the best conclusion or about a passage. No single person came up with their own interpretation out of reading solitary. It wasn't a solo effort.

So, quite well put when it says, who are we to tell someone that what they believe in is wrong, when what we believe in sometimes, is also something we had deciphered on our own from the bible? Just because we QUOTE the bible, or a part of it, doesn't make the statement right.

Don't get me wrong, or don't get Rob Bell wrong. The bible is ultimately VERY important. As much potential it has to give answers, we can misconstrue the information, and teach the wrong things.

Jeremiah 17:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

ponder

Who are we, that we question what is fair and what is not?

Who are we to make a mockery of the beginning, the present and the future, when we don't have a hand in any of these?

Who are we to say we are smart enough, that we don't need guidance, and we can truly do what we want, how we want, and anytime we want?


Freedom. Essentially, everyone wants to be free, everyone wants to be able to complete what they want to. No rules applied, no law, no punishments, no restrictions. TOTAL freedom.

My question is then this:
What happens then when the consequences to our freedom are horrible? Who do we then blame? Ourselves? Or do we ask God (in whom some don't believe in), why it is happening to us?

Scratch the itch.

Words someone shared with me, to which, the more I think about it, doesn't quite make sense. (Hehe, sorry to that person who shared it with me) Here's why:
How many times had we all had physical itches? Then, we scratch and scratch, to find some form of relief, but don't get it. We scratch some more, when we are not conscious, or even when we know it. Eventually the skin breaks down. For that temporary relief, we soon find pain ensuing. It bleeds, skin is no longer intact, a scab forms over, sometimes leaving a scar.
We soon question ourselves, why did we not stop scratching in the first place?

True freedom will not leave scars. Will not leave regrets, will not leave pain, hurt, anger, frustration, hate.

True freedom brings true freedom, not just for now, but everlasting. So, be careful in what you choose to believe, or choose to do, for the "freedom" now, may just be for now.

look, if you will

Interesting chat I had with a friend. (Don't bludgeon me when you read this!)

Subjectivity versus objectivity. This topic, is like opening up a can of worms, but one might find gold at the bottom.

We see what we want to see, we allow ourselves to think what we want to think. After all, ignorance is bliss right?
WRONG! (In my opinion that is)
Can we continue to live in a fantasy world, where events are juts a figment of the mind, merely to cover up unpleasantness?

There's always two sides to the coin.

Followed with a response of, "we are perceptive creatures, we only see the side we want to."

If we only see the side we want to, does that mean there IS only one side?
Can we truly live without knowing what goes on around us? If we can, then will it still be bliss? Living in a war torn country and choose to believe that the sounds outside the house, is just the sound of a pot crashing to the ground, hit by a cat.

To live like that, to me, it's like living in an illusion. Then, we live in a dream, not reality.

purpose

This question is something that comes back over and over again.

Said in another way: Why am I here on earth?


Purpose driven life. Pastors preaching. Leaders sharing.

Self help books. Well known gurus. Subtle messages.

Have we truly found out why we are doing what we are doing? In fact, sometimes we think we know we are, but we are deceived and hence we can't live a fruitful life. Constantly keeping busy in battle with the situation/job/studies we are in.

I told this to my friend today, because I believe, like all else, this person needed to find the purpose God has set.

Another excerpt from The Face of Atheism by Ravi Zacharias:

The life of the Scotsman Eric Liddell, who was a devout Christian and a superb athlete, was featured in contradistinction to Harold Abrams in the film Chariots of Fire. Abrams, we recall, underscored his emptiness by finding even winning to be anticlimactic. Liddell's life, and his striving for excellence, was an expression of his love for God - everything mattered because his life was committed to Christ. The lines in the film that capture this best are uttered by Liddell to his sister: "Jenny, God has made me for a purpose - for China; but he has also made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure."

Liddell won the 400 meters gold medal in the 1924 Olympics and later became a missionary to China, where he died. His enjoyment of God in every endeavor and service for Christ was a strong reminder that nothing for the Christian is essentially secular. It can only be secularized by leaving God out of it or by engaging in that from which God, by his nature, must be excluded.

A christian sees life in continuum. Not about yesterday, not just about today, nor does one gaze and hope only for the future.

The christian explains history through the eternal eyes of Christ. By contrast, the traditionalist lives for the past; the existentialist lives for the now; and the futurist or utopianist lives for the future.

It's true. A christian lives in a different mindset. Knowing what his purpose is, it's so much easier (although not easy) to handle ups and downs, or obstacles. A runner in the secular sense, would run to win the next gold medal, to qualify for the next big event, like the Olympics, but then when that runner reaches there, then what? What happens when the days are up, and the runner can no longer run as fast, or compete with the rest of the incoming young crowd?

But the christian runner, runs because he knows of his purpose. He knows that God gave him the body to run, that whenever he does it, he glorifies God, as God's beautiful creation. He runs not to win, but to please God. Simple, yet hard to grasp.

In this so called battle of living, we place ourselves in a dog eat dog world, and when all dogs are eaten, leaving one, then what? We work ourselves so hard, we do so much, but for what?
When we finally come to realization of what's Gods purpose is for us, we can do it with full passion. Just like the footballer who plays beautiful football because of passion, and not out of drive to win the match, we will soon find ourselves no longer in a battle to survive, but fully driven by God's beautiful purpose for us.

logic

"As far as the propositions of mathematic refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality". - Albert Einstein

We are essentially creatures of logic. We love explanations, we love to find out why something happens, and more importantly, it must be something that's tangible or physical enough for plain sight to see. For an object to move from point A to point B, we MUST see it move. If by the blink of the eye, it disappears at point A and reappears in point B, the first question that comes to mind is probably: How did that happen? If we saw it move with our own eyes, then it wouldn't have been a problem.

It's been a tough season this past few weeks. Besides feeling a little de-motivated for whatever reason, I've just been feeling lethargic. Maybe it was just hard for me to see past the many obstacles I see before me, maybe I just didn't think some one like me, could be successful.

Hmmm.

It's all about faith. Faith ends when doubt begins, and faith begins when doubts end.

There is no logic in faith. Or else, as Ravi Zacharias said in his book, kids will never be able to believe.