“In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered..."
Anguish is a strong word, but we've all felt it. I feel it right now. I feel it for my personal situation (unemployment, poverty and incessant waiting). I feel it now for my friends and family for many of the same reasons. I feel it for the people of Iraq for what I think are obvious reasons.
But also because they don't know the Lord. They are striving and seeking and fighting but will never know peace. It's sad, but I know that God works through all situations regardless of the view from the outside.
But what good is knowing God when things still go bad? When things blow up - literally or figuratively? Does knowing Jesus get me a job, or save loved ones from death, or give us back what we've lost?
How exactly does God "answer" when we call out in anguish?
"...by setting me free. The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Friday, December 15, 2006
Living Up to Your Potential
Today I am thinking about humility. I have thought a bit about it lately and I have come to realize that it involves a true understanding of oneself. It isn't about making yourself less than you are, it's about knowing that God is responsible for you (and, of course, your gifts).
I am convinced that in the strive to become humble, many people throw off the person that God has created them to be. They do this because they do not understand humility. Sometimes you are the best person for the job, the one with the best and most useful skills, the best looking one, the one with more money, the clean one. Humility doesn't lord this over others, but it doesn't deny the truth.
We are called to "live in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called (Eph. 4)." We have been called with the truth of Jesus Christ. Later in the same chapter of Ephesians we read that Jesus ascended on high and He "gave gifts to men." To deny those gifts is to deny the truth of Jesus. To borrow from another (unrelated) passage, "We make God out to be a liar and the truth is not in us."
I want to live out of a place of right and truthful assessment. I do not want to shirk my responsibilities to my community (of believers, of non-believers, whoever) in a fruitless quest for false humility.
I tend to have a desire to implicate the church, as in "The church is stifling us with teachings about false humility and submission," but this isn't about that. It's a personal call. One which asks us to look inside and examine ourselves. I guess, in this case, myself
I am convinced that in the strive to become humble, many people throw off the person that God has created them to be. They do this because they do not understand humility. Sometimes you are the best person for the job, the one with the best and most useful skills, the best looking one, the one with more money, the clean one. Humility doesn't lord this over others, but it doesn't deny the truth.
We are called to "live in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called (Eph. 4)." We have been called with the truth of Jesus Christ. Later in the same chapter of Ephesians we read that Jesus ascended on high and He "gave gifts to men." To deny those gifts is to deny the truth of Jesus. To borrow from another (unrelated) passage, "We make God out to be a liar and the truth is not in us."
I want to live out of a place of right and truthful assessment. I do not want to shirk my responsibilities to my community (of believers, of non-believers, whoever) in a fruitless quest for false humility.
I tend to have a desire to implicate the church, as in "The church is stifling us with teachings about false humility and submission," but this isn't about that. It's a personal call. One which asks us to look inside and examine ourselves. I guess, in this case, myself
Thursday, November 30, 2006
The Nature of God
I have been fasting for a few days now. I am on day 4 with a couple of breaks - like when someone at work bought me a sub. I've been thinking alot about my future and what God has planned for my life, so I decided to take some time to focus on the nature of God, or at least one part of it.
What drew me to embrace God was His compassion. As I learned about Him, He seemed to be offering me what I needed most; acceptance and love. And that's what he has continued to do throughout my relationship with Him.
I am fascinated and amazed by Genesis 3. After God comes upon Adam and his wife, Eve, hiding after eating the "apple," this happens:
After they defied Him he clothed them and more importantly for all of us, He saved them from eating of the tree of life and living forever in their state of sin.
I am no theologian, but could God make himself any clearer? He loved Adam and Eve. He loved them enough to save them from everlasting life in sin even if it meant expulsion from the garden. He made them clothes, even.
He did the same for us. He sent Jesus to save us from everlasting life in His absence.
And He clothed us.
What drew me to embrace God was His compassion. As I learned about Him, He seemed to be offering me what I needed most; acceptance and love. And that's what he has continued to do throughout my relationship with Him.
I am fascinated and amazed by Genesis 3. After God comes upon Adam and his wife, Eve, hiding after eating the "apple," this happens:
"The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
"Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken."
After they defied Him he clothed them and more importantly for all of us, He saved them from eating of the tree of life and living forever in their state of sin.
I am no theologian, but could God make himself any clearer? He loved Adam and Eve. He loved them enough to save them from everlasting life in sin even if it meant expulsion from the garden. He made them clothes, even.
He did the same for us. He sent Jesus to save us from everlasting life in His absence.
And He clothed us.
Monday, January 01, 2001
About
Flatliner started as a codename; a sort of a nickname. A joke of sorts.
My pseudo-pseudonym based on a movie of questionable greatness and that movie's greatest character. One Mr. Billy Mahoney; the child tormentor in the red hooded sweatshirt.
I had a red hooded sweatshirt.
I took both names, but only the name of the movie stuck.
Flatliners, of course, is based on the premise of med students killing and reviving each other. Each returned from the experience with death with a tormentor or tormentors - something or someone from their past requiring resolution or redemption.
The idea of redemption and rebirth sound good to me.
But the reality sounds even better. Jesus offers us rebirth and redemption both.
Without the fear of those pesky ghosts in red hooded sweatshirts.
My pseudo-pseudonym based on a movie of questionable greatness and that movie's greatest character. One Mr. Billy Mahoney; the child tormentor in the red hooded sweatshirt.
I had a red hooded sweatshirt.
I took both names, but only the name of the movie stuck.
Flatliners, of course, is based on the premise of med students killing and reviving each other. Each returned from the experience with death with a tormentor or tormentors - something or someone from their past requiring resolution or redemption.
The idea of redemption and rebirth sound good to me.
But the reality sounds even better. Jesus offers us rebirth and redemption both.
Without the fear of those pesky ghosts in red hooded sweatshirts.
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