"Come now, and let us reason together," saith the Lord, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Is 1:18 (KJV)
"Surely our griefs He Himself bore.....But He was pierced through for our iniquities....He was oppressed and afflicted yet He did not open His mouth......like a sheep that is silent to its shearers.....Yet He himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors." Excerpts from Is 53 (NASB)
Anyone who knows me, is well aware of my love for reading. As busy as life can get I always manage to sneak books into my life. I recently started reading 'The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections'. It is a compilation of letters and stories from WWII veterans, the compiler himself is not a Believer, but this book has started me thinking about the difference between the society of that last great generation and the society we live in today. And about why it was the last great generation. And what about those past generations was great.
We live in a it's-all-about-me-and-how-I feel-in-the-moment kind of society. Feelings have become our basis for reasoning, and Christians are not excluded from this.
The great generations of old, yes were sinners and still practised selfishness, but they still had something that we lack in our society today. Reason and Resolution.
(For those fellow dictionary lovers):
Reason is the explanation of an act, idea; cause or motive; the ability to think, draw conclusions, good sense, and the verb is to think logically
Resolution-Resolute is to be fixed and firm in purpose; determined
I'm also currently reading 'Mere Christianity' by C.S. Lewis, this work is a near perfect example of how to live a life for Christ with reason. The same goes for any Biblically accurate theologian, their works beautifully draw conclusions from logical thinking and give an explanation for their acts. This resulting in a powerfully unhindered passion for the Lord.
Not a passion of today which is an outward display of emotion, but a passion deeply rooted in the knowledge of the promises of God.
The perfect display of reason is found in the Lord Himself. As displayed in Is 1:18(listed above) the Lord resolves the question of our salvation through reason. Often the church of today depends upon a feeling to secure the satisfaction of "knowing" they're saved. But this is living in direct contradiction to the word of our great God and Savior. Unless I am mistaken and Isaiah hadn't cleaned his ears in a while and Is 1:18 was supposed to read, "And you will feel like your sins are as scarlet, then you will overwhelmingly feel the power of my spirit and you will feel as white as snow...." since I highly doubt this to be the case, considering God probably would have had Isaiah fix that big of an error, we shall adhere to pondering over the reasoning our Lord has laid before us.
(Do not be mistaken there will probably be emotions, which is not wrong God Himself wove the capacity for us to have emotions, but they fade in and out and can change easily and therefore are not a reliable guide.)
One of my favorite books is Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce by John Piper. It's a pathetic looking book only 76 pages and a dictionary is unnecessary, but none-the-less this book packs quite the punch! As soon as I started reading it I couldn't put it down, the Resolution in this man's life put me in a state of awe and still continues to do so. He was Determined to fight for the abolition of slavery for 46 years of his life (from 21 to 65 yrs old) even though he was defeated 11 times and did not hear of a decisive victory until 3 days before his death. But he fought for the glory of the Lord knowing that in the His eyes slavery was wrong.
But again this is not the perfect example of resolution. For that we must turn our eyes to Christ. Is 53 paints the horror and beauty of Christ's death for us. He was resolved He spent more than 46 years on the cause to save us from eternal separation from Him, He foreknew in eternity past of what He was to do. To know of such great pain and to not avoid it for the glory of the Father.....it is beyond me.
Finally, if God Himself is both Reasonable and Resolute and we are called as Christians to be Christ-like than should we not also be both Reasonable and Resolute in our walk with Him?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Too Busy for a Sunset?-May it Never be!
Hi Ya'all!
I've have been so busy, life crashed down all at once! Some horrible things and some not so bad and others completely wonderful! Thank goodness the Lord is good and has been giving me the perfect mix of horrible and wonderful to bring together a life full of adventure!
I've been working as a nanny, in couple of nurseries, and in an organic clothing store. (My Korozon on Main St. in Ventura: check it out!) And I'm taking two classes at Moorpark-finishing up my AA in Business! The Lord has been so faithful in all these areas. One week the babies are all crying, but then I get a free dress from My Korozon. My computer class may be giving me a hard time, but then I get to have a four year old paint my nails. My law class may be a little boring, but the next day I'm on Main St.
It kinda all comes together to make something spectacular. The Lord knows just how much I can take in day. And even though it is I that am in debt to Him, He continues to pour out remarkable blessings on my life! But sometimes I have to open my eyes up to see them.
Some days they're as simple as taking a beautiful photograph, reading a good book, hearing an amazing song on the radio that always makes me sing along, getting a to-die-for hair cut (which by the way I got this week by my very talented friend Kat!), or seeing the Lord paint a breathe-taking sunset at the day's end.
I used to be in the habit of at least trying to catch a glimpse of every sunset. But being busy has seemed to have drawn me away from that. Well, I believe it is time to cultivate that habit again, and I'd like you to join me!
A sunset is not merely a beautiful painting by our Lord, but look into His character. At each days end He sets the sun, like clockwork, he never tires of doing so, revealing His consistency, organizational skills, and timeliness. The majestic appearance of the sky as it glows with a fantastic display of colors shows the great artist the He is, the way He blends the colors and positions the clouds shows His extraordinary attention to detail. As you make an examination of how this miraculous event comes about His scientific genius becomes apparent. And as you realize how big this sun is and realize that ever movement it makes is in the hand of our Father, can you not help but be in awe of His might and power?
If all this has not convinced you to take part of this gift our Lord gives us every day, than I challenge you to find a sunset that is a complete copy of any before it.
......be amazed.......
I've have been so busy, life crashed down all at once! Some horrible things and some not so bad and others completely wonderful! Thank goodness the Lord is good and has been giving me the perfect mix of horrible and wonderful to bring together a life full of adventure!
I've been working as a nanny, in couple of nurseries, and in an organic clothing store. (My Korozon on Main St. in Ventura: check it out!) And I'm taking two classes at Moorpark-finishing up my AA in Business! The Lord has been so faithful in all these areas. One week the babies are all crying, but then I get a free dress from My Korozon. My computer class may be giving me a hard time, but then I get to have a four year old paint my nails. My law class may be a little boring, but the next day I'm on Main St.
It kinda all comes together to make something spectacular. The Lord knows just how much I can take in day. And even though it is I that am in debt to Him, He continues to pour out remarkable blessings on my life! But sometimes I have to open my eyes up to see them.
Some days they're as simple as taking a beautiful photograph, reading a good book, hearing an amazing song on the radio that always makes me sing along, getting a to-die-for hair cut (which by the way I got this week by my very talented friend Kat!), or seeing the Lord paint a breathe-taking sunset at the day's end.
I used to be in the habit of at least trying to catch a glimpse of every sunset. But being busy has seemed to have drawn me away from that. Well, I believe it is time to cultivate that habit again, and I'd like you to join me!
A sunset is not merely a beautiful painting by our Lord, but look into His character. At each days end He sets the sun, like clockwork, he never tires of doing so, revealing His consistency, organizational skills, and timeliness. The majestic appearance of the sky as it glows with a fantastic display of colors shows the great artist the He is, the way He blends the colors and positions the clouds shows His extraordinary attention to detail. As you make an examination of how this miraculous event comes about His scientific genius becomes apparent. And as you realize how big this sun is and realize that ever movement it makes is in the hand of our Father, can you not help but be in awe of His might and power?
If all this has not convinced you to take part of this gift our Lord gives us every day, than I challenge you to find a sunset that is a complete copy of any before it.
......be amazed.......
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Exercising: the inner and outer
It's truly incredible that God can even use exercising to reflect His truth!
It's obviously important that we exercise, doctors tell us that all the time. It helps us fight diseases, stay healthier, live longer, it even helps us mentally and emotionally. And it's important not only to exercise but to exercise appropriately. But when we take a break from exercising we don't realize that we've gotten flabby and left ourselves open to all sorts of sickness.
Well, I've been taking a break from exercising. I've been convincing myself that I'm too busy, and when I'm not too tired. Then I was telling myself that I'm fine. As the strength of my immune system slowly deteriorates, type 2 diabetes slowly creeps it's way into my body, my bones start loosing their density, and my emotions run haywire!
But today I realized I've been making excuses and now I've convinced myself that I need to start taking good care of my body again, after all God only gave me one!
Then the Lord lead me to thinking about my walk with Him, and how I have been slacking. Convincing myself that I'm too busy, and when I'm not, too tired. And I've been telling myself that I'm fine. As my heart is getting hardened, my eyes are no longer seeing the works of the Lord, and my tongue is losing it's ability to praise our awesome God!
The truth of the matter is that I've been lying to myself: There has never, is never, and will never be a day where I'm too busy for the Lord, or too tired, or fine without Him. He's is my King and therefore the most honored guest that I can ever have the privilege of being with, of praising, of honoring. He is the organizer of my day and He has already scheduled Himself into every day of my life, in your life. He is my Savior, and there's never a day that I could declare Him unnecessary, I need Him, you need Him. And He knows that, and as our loving God He has provided what we need----Himself.
Just like our outer being needs to be properly taken care of, so does our inner being. I am now convinced that I need to focus on exercising my inner being. Because as much as I never want to look like a body builder physically, I want to be as sturdy as one spiritually, if not more so.
But we now face a problem: we might not be able to spiritually lift as much as we would like, but that's just going to take diligence, and the tearing and building of our 'muscles'.
To put it bluntly: it's going to be hard.
"Ready to face this challenge with me?"
It's obviously important that we exercise, doctors tell us that all the time. It helps us fight diseases, stay healthier, live longer, it even helps us mentally and emotionally. And it's important not only to exercise but to exercise appropriately. But when we take a break from exercising we don't realize that we've gotten flabby and left ourselves open to all sorts of sickness.
Well, I've been taking a break from exercising. I've been convincing myself that I'm too busy, and when I'm not too tired. Then I was telling myself that I'm fine. As the strength of my immune system slowly deteriorates, type 2 diabetes slowly creeps it's way into my body, my bones start loosing their density, and my emotions run haywire!
But today I realized I've been making excuses and now I've convinced myself that I need to start taking good care of my body again, after all God only gave me one!
Then the Lord lead me to thinking about my walk with Him, and how I have been slacking. Convincing myself that I'm too busy, and when I'm not, too tired. And I've been telling myself that I'm fine. As my heart is getting hardened, my eyes are no longer seeing the works of the Lord, and my tongue is losing it's ability to praise our awesome God!
The truth of the matter is that I've been lying to myself: There has never, is never, and will never be a day where I'm too busy for the Lord, or too tired, or fine without Him. He's is my King and therefore the most honored guest that I can ever have the privilege of being with, of praising, of honoring. He is the organizer of my day and He has already scheduled Himself into every day of my life, in your life. He is my Savior, and there's never a day that I could declare Him unnecessary, I need Him, you need Him. And He knows that, and as our loving God He has provided what we need----Himself.
Just like our outer being needs to be properly taken care of, so does our inner being. I am now convinced that I need to focus on exercising my inner being. Because as much as I never want to look like a body builder physically, I want to be as sturdy as one spiritually, if not more so.
But we now face a problem: we might not be able to spiritually lift as much as we would like, but that's just going to take diligence, and the tearing and building of our 'muscles'.
To put it bluntly: it's going to be hard.
"Ready to face this challenge with me?"
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The making of my blog title
Every girl loves flowers, and most girls have their favorite. Well, my favorite flower of all time is the sunflower. Not necessarily because it is the most beautiful of all the flowers but beacuse it is to me a great example of how I ought to b as a follower of Christ.
The sunflower's gaze follows the sun all day long. It's never broken, it's constant, steady, and never takes a day off. It knows the light from the sun provides life for it, causes it's roots to grow deeper. It has even been named after the sun and it's petals imitate the color of it's beloved son's rays. The sunflower all the while radiates with the simple joy of being in the light of the sun.
And I as a follower of Christ wish to take up this unknowing example that God has lovingly placed in front of us. I too want my gaze to never break away from the Son who provides the Light that sustains my life. I too want to want to display the joy from being in the Son's Light.
God has blessed me with a neighbor who has a garden that flourishes with sunflowers, I take it as His constant loving reminder to me, 'Keep your gaze on Me, I will sustain you'. Then it's up to me to take His reminder to heart.
"Will you take His reminder to heart with me?"
The sunflower's gaze follows the sun all day long. It's never broken, it's constant, steady, and never takes a day off. It knows the light from the sun provides life for it, causes it's roots to grow deeper. It has even been named after the sun and it's petals imitate the color of it's beloved son's rays. The sunflower all the while radiates with the simple joy of being in the light of the sun.
And I as a follower of Christ wish to take up this unknowing example that God has lovingly placed in front of us. I too want my gaze to never break away from the Son who provides the Light that sustains my life. I too want to want to display the joy from being in the Son's Light.
God has blessed me with a neighbor who has a garden that flourishes with sunflowers, I take it as His constant loving reminder to me, 'Keep your gaze on Me, I will sustain you'. Then it's up to me to take His reminder to heart.
"Will you take His reminder to heart with me?"
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