Maybe we think he cannot get it for us..but just ask....ask anyway...
Can you imagine a doting father not wanting to know the desires
of his child's heart?
Then couple your request with, "if it's your will, Lord...."
Ask your heavenly Father! I dare you. Try him. Luke 12:32
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
How's that for a short and sweet devotion?
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Is it a circle or a straight line?
As I was teaching school recently, our class was discussing some native American stories where life is explained by the use of circles. Many have heard the term the "circle of life". One thing that I enjoyed very much was the teaching that if one fails at a task or ability whether social or physical, they will stay stagnant and unable to proceed until that task is achieved. Hence, we can easily find 50 year old teenagers; the Peter Pan syndrome in our society.
In a chemical dependency class I took during college we learned that once a person is depending on a chemical they stop the process of maturation. So you can find a 31 year old woman who suddenly has to deal with issues that she had when she was 16. For at the age of 16 she began to depend on chemicals to live her life. Dealing with issues that a teenager faces when one is an adult can be very difficult and embarrassing. But, to never face the tasks is to be stuck in limbo.
Naturally, I think of scriptures that I have read that certainly shed light on this subject. I think of Jacob, who had to come to terms with his deceptive nature as an older man. He limped the rest of his life after his personal encounter with God, but he limped with a peaceful and matured heart. Now he could proceed on to REAL LIVING. God even gave him a new name as a result of that wrestling match: Israel.
Esther faced the the biggest test imaginable but passed with flying colors on her first try. Had she failed the test, she most likely would have had to deal with her "true" identity at some later date. But by the time she again would be challenged as to her Hebrew upbringing, most of her Hebrew family would have been killed.
I don't agree with all of the teaching of the circle of life theories, for there are non-biblical teachings embedded in them about reincarnation, but I see why the old storytellers began to see the world from the "circle of life" perspective. Our water is provided to us using the hydrological cycle. We watch it rain and then it evaporates, only to rain or snow again.
Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.
We may be made of dust but God breathed into man and he became a living soul. Now we were made in the image of God, not just dust and not to ever truly die. We were elevated from the other creation by the act of God's breath.
So, do you think that life is a circle or a straight line? Let me know....
In a chemical dependency class I took during college we learned that once a person is depending on a chemical they stop the process of maturation. So you can find a 31 year old woman who suddenly has to deal with issues that she had when she was 16. For at the age of 16 she began to depend on chemicals to live her life. Dealing with issues that a teenager faces when one is an adult can be very difficult and embarrassing. But, to never face the tasks is to be stuck in limbo.
Naturally, I think of scriptures that I have read that certainly shed light on this subject. I think of Jacob, who had to come to terms with his deceptive nature as an older man. He limped the rest of his life after his personal encounter with God, but he limped with a peaceful and matured heart. Now he could proceed on to REAL LIVING. God even gave him a new name as a result of that wrestling match: Israel.
Esther faced the the biggest test imaginable but passed with flying colors on her first try. Had she failed the test, she most likely would have had to deal with her "true" identity at some later date. But by the time she again would be challenged as to her Hebrew upbringing, most of her Hebrew family would have been killed.
I don't agree with all of the teaching of the circle of life theories, for there are non-biblical teachings embedded in them about reincarnation, but I see why the old storytellers began to see the world from the "circle of life" perspective. Our water is provided to us using the hydrological cycle. We watch it rain and then it evaporates, only to rain or snow again.
Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.
We may be made of dust but God breathed into man and he became a living soul. Now we were made in the image of God, not just dust and not to ever truly die. We were elevated from the other creation by the act of God's breath.
So, do you think that life is a circle or a straight line? Let me know....
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