Colossians 4:2-4 (the message)
"Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude..."
5-8 "Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out."
Friday, July 16, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Words to Live By
This struck me this AM while reading Colossians 3 in "The Message":
~v5-8 "... make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
*ouch!*
and
v12-14: "... dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on , wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it." (It's like American Express:never leave home without it - gh)
and
v15-17: "Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ-the Message-have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives-words, actions, whatever-be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way."
~v5-8 "... make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
*ouch!*
and
v12-14: "... dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on , wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it." (It's like American Express:never leave home without it - gh)
and
v15-17: "Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ-the Message-have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives-words, actions, whatever-be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way."
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Was God bored?
Or lonely?
I'm talking about before he created the universe. Think about this in human terms. What if "you" was all there was. No other people, no "stuff".
Talk about claustrophobia!
That would actually be my definition of hell. Nothing else existing but me. Of course, I'm speaking from a human perspective.
But then why did God create? Maybe to relieve the endless boredom and loneliness, he extruded himself into this universe of diversity where he could get lost in the drama and forget once in awhile about being all there is.
Maybe it's like a kid playing with toy soldiers (army men, we called them) only ones he imbued with free will and the ability to function independently of himself.
People question endlessly about why God permits evil and injustice. Really, if I made a pot out of clay and decided I didn't like it and broke it up and threw it back into the scrap bin to be reconstituted into usable clay, would you question my right to do it? I paid for the clay, I created the pot and it was my time that I expended. It's not as if I broke somebody else's pot. I'm not saying God does the evil. But I'm thinking, he set the stage, introduced the players and now he wants to see what's going to happen.
Christians I know talk a lot about wanting to be in God's will. There's this concept of God's perfect will versus his permissive will. I personally think that's a bunch of hogwash. As if God's playing a guessing game with us. If we pray (beg) him to tell us what his perfect will is, maybe he'll tell us. But he's not going to make it easy. If we don't figure it out and do the wrong thing, maybe he'll give us a pass. That's his permissive will.
I mean, we're not talking about right versus wrong here. We're talking about "Should I take the job at the car wash or stay at Burger King."
Rather than saying "let's see if he can figure it out", I think God is saying "let's see what he will do". Then when we pick something, even if it's disastrous from a human point of view, I think God says, "Yeah, I can work with that." Everything is all coming back to him no matter what anybody does. Hitler, Pol Pot, Charles Manson, Hurricane Katrina, World Wars. It doesn't matter. God can and does use everything but he doesn't do everything. He left some of it for us. That's the point.
So anyhow, in the realm of permitting evil to exist, if it's all God's anyway, and he'll more than make it right after we die at least, who are we to question? That was God's response to Job: "Who are you to question me? Did you create all this? Do you sustain it?" Even if he were to try to explain it to us, we could never understand it.
I realize this is all very glib talk when faced with the suffering of innocents but that's how I see it right now from the comfort of my living room.
I'm talking about before he created the universe. Think about this in human terms. What if "you" was all there was. No other people, no "stuff".
Talk about claustrophobia!
That would actually be my definition of hell. Nothing else existing but me. Of course, I'm speaking from a human perspective.
But then why did God create? Maybe to relieve the endless boredom and loneliness, he extruded himself into this universe of diversity where he could get lost in the drama and forget once in awhile about being all there is.
Maybe it's like a kid playing with toy soldiers (army men, we called them) only ones he imbued with free will and the ability to function independently of himself.
People question endlessly about why God permits evil and injustice. Really, if I made a pot out of clay and decided I didn't like it and broke it up and threw it back into the scrap bin to be reconstituted into usable clay, would you question my right to do it? I paid for the clay, I created the pot and it was my time that I expended. It's not as if I broke somebody else's pot. I'm not saying God does the evil. But I'm thinking, he set the stage, introduced the players and now he wants to see what's going to happen.
Christians I know talk a lot about wanting to be in God's will. There's this concept of God's perfect will versus his permissive will. I personally think that's a bunch of hogwash. As if God's playing a guessing game with us. If we pray (beg) him to tell us what his perfect will is, maybe he'll tell us. But he's not going to make it easy. If we don't figure it out and do the wrong thing, maybe he'll give us a pass. That's his permissive will.
I mean, we're not talking about right versus wrong here. We're talking about "Should I take the job at the car wash or stay at Burger King."
Rather than saying "let's see if he can figure it out", I think God is saying "let's see what he will do". Then when we pick something, even if it's disastrous from a human point of view, I think God says, "Yeah, I can work with that." Everything is all coming back to him no matter what anybody does. Hitler, Pol Pot, Charles Manson, Hurricane Katrina, World Wars. It doesn't matter. God can and does use everything but he doesn't do everything. He left some of it for us. That's the point.
So anyhow, in the realm of permitting evil to exist, if it's all God's anyway, and he'll more than make it right after we die at least, who are we to question? That was God's response to Job: "Who are you to question me? Did you create all this? Do you sustain it?" Even if he were to try to explain it to us, we could never understand it.
I realize this is all very glib talk when faced with the suffering of innocents but that's how I see it right now from the comfort of my living room.
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