God,
Sorry your tools are so rusty.
At best, we get a D.
Very few Daniels?!
Few David's, as damaged and corroded as they are!
Too many Diotrophes's and Demas's?!
Discipline my heart.
Direct my steps.
Detour my missteps back into the path.
Defend me against the Accuser, as right as he is?!
I fear there is a little bit of devilry in the best of your tools.
Use me as you can, even if but as a hammer.
Discard not your rusted tool.
 |
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Hebrews 12:1 NIV
What holds you back? What hinders you? What cripples you? What limits you? What stunts you?
I read of spiritual giants, men and women who walk with God, so closely, so intimately, so faithfully ... and I then look back at my life, at my progress, at my reversals, at my ...
Do you not despise the devil for selling you such a pig in a poke? You have been given a bill of sale for nothing. It's worse than nothing, it is poison. He puts an ad before you, but the picture is a lie. But, one buys it, only to be disgusted after a few bites, then nauseated! Instead of hiking upwards, one is barfing behind a bush.
One can never sit on the ridge enjoying the vista ... if he keeps dawdling and detouring ...
What needs to be discarded? What needs to be emphasized? What needs to be prioritized?
Stop looking behind.
Stop looking around.
Look upward!
So many competing stories being told, some screamed, in the marketplace selling realities.
"The world is dying due to overpopulation, fossil fuels, and meat on our dinner plates... and it's now or never ..."
"You are worth it. This the newest, fastest, best ever ... and it's on half-price sale! But, it's only a three day sale..."
"We are the peak of the evolutionary stream, and it is up to us not to destroy all of this ..."
"Vote for me! We care. We will fix this. We will legalize it all, and open it up for all, and we will stop the evil right ..." "No, vote for me, or it will all go up in smoke! We are the party which REALLY cares. We want REAL solutions that are feasible and affordable ..."
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
2 Peter 3:9-12 ESV
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV
Why does the Flesh scream, but the Spirit whispers?
When does the howling stop and only music is heard?
Why is the "bad boy" pursued and the gentleman spurned?
Wow is stronger than wonderful, seemingly?!
New is better than true, seemingly?!
Spice is so much tastier than nice?!
We dance naked around the wildfire, rather than warm at home's hearth?!
When will insight overshadow the glare?
When will peace overcome the chaos?
Maranatha.
I woke up at 2:06 a.m., maybe. I take midnight arousings to be calls to prayer and meditation. So I began a meditation rehearsing the thoughts of the day's waking hours, or was it a dream state insight?
Four old friends sat together, after a twenty year HS reunion, not wanting the evening to end. They were in a beer hall or coffee shop, not sure which?! But, they sat and rehearsed how two decades had taken them down different paths. Matt, Reggie, George, and Jerry had known each other since grade school. They had even gone to church together as teens.
George asked the group, "... do y'all remember old brother Connor, our teen Bible class teacher?
Matt quickly interjected, "yeah, I remember that old hardhead! He used to hammer us about memorizing scriptures and was always so pushy with the Bible..."
Then, George interrupted, "but, I learned so much from that old man. I remember some of the things that he said about scripture not being broken, and scripture being God breathed, and no prophecy being from the will of man, ..."
Matt then objected, "George, twenty years of being a preacher have warped you. 'Inerrancy'?! The Bible is little better than fairy tales. It is a collection of victor-written history, troubled by trying to explain why Israel was such a loser if they were the chosen. And, Jesus, is a rebel who got himself killed. How Christians have spun that one! And, the harsh morality of these fanatics who wrote and collected all that self-contradictory Book, shows it to be only one step above Hell. Moderns have learned to love so much better than those misogynists and homophobes."
"Whoa, Matt!" George countered. "I'd say 20 years as a professor has certainly changed you! Where in the world did you come up with all of that?!"
Matt insisted, "you need to read more, at least more broadly ..."
We all looked at Reggie for his thoughts on the Bible, and he blurted out, "Inerrancy is a modern construct imposed upon the Bible which assumes that the qualitative reliability of an ancient writing, such as the Bible, is determined by contemporary standards. Thus, people get into this game of trying to determine if every little fact such as a place or date is correct with the assumption that the story and message conveyed is only reliable as true if every last detail is without error. I’m not saying that the Bible has any such minute error but even if it does, the message proclaimed throughout the Bible — the entire narrative — is still reliable as truth because it depends not on any modern construct but on the Spirit who enabled this message, which is based on eyewitness testimonies, to be passed along as a living tradition and eventually told in and throughout a collection of writings..."
We all rolled our eyes, but then Matt interrupted, "nah! The scriptures are only man's best attempt to understand the incomprehensible ..."
"Really?!" Jerry exclaimed. He had just sat there quietly through most of the brouhaha. "I spent the last two decades with Uncle Sam. I've seen a lot that would make me question all of this. I'm just a simple man. But at the end of the day, that old Book gives me a lot of peace and hope. The promises. The prophecies. The people struggling to walk with God. The principles of love and holiness and so much more. You fellas need to take your shoes off when you're standing on holy ground."
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
I suspect and I deduce.
I desire and I emote.
I want and I will.
I feel and I sense.
I read and I follow.
To behold the Invisible.
To fathom the Eternal.
To understand the Incomprehensible
To fellowship the Unapproachable.
Jesus.
But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:11-16 ESV
