Something to think a about.
The Anthem of The Lost
And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."' 20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' Luke 12:19-20
This so thoroughly describes the mindset of modern America. We are directed, persuaded, and encouraged to obtain an education. With this education, we can then acquire sufficient wealth to allow us to eat drink and be merry in our later years.
God says to all of this you Fool!!!!!!
He is not raging against proper planning for future events. He is saying without Him all of your future planning will lead to naught. He is saying there is so much more to our existence. Do you want to waste your life with the worthless goal of attainment, constant entertainment, and temporal pleasure?
We have an eternity to live. God is saying wake up, this is not all there is. There is an entire universe of adventure, knowledge, and pleasure on the other side of the door of this life. You can attain wealth and all of your dreams, and still, you will die. All of your accomplishments will end up belonging to someone else. After eating drinking and being merry, you will still have to stand before God and give account.
Living life as if this is it, is foolishness. If you have been sucked into "this is it" worldview I pity you. I can't fathom a life where we are all there is. Where humanity is the pinnacle of existence. We are slowly self-destructing and maybe not so slowly. If I look at the world and see the only hope being the combined intelligence of man it makes me cringe. Humanity throughout its existence has repeated the same sin. We have never learned and worse than that we have not changed. We are still trying to become God. Some of us actually believe we are the solutions to the problems we don't understand.
Our lack of ability to see every repercussion of every solution has within it the seeds of the next problem. Because we can't know every effect of our actions, our action as well-intentioned as they may be will always lead to another problem. Even those who appear to have it all, have problems. They have challenges and failures and regrets and pain. Appearances are but a facade covering the pain within.
Without God, the hopelessness of human supremacy will not bring peace, but ultimately it will bring despair. We were not designed to live independently from God. We were never intended to be the pinnacle of existence. We were not given the ability to resolve all of the world's problems. We were created to be dependent and in a relationship with God. God the pinnacle of existence can resolve all of humanity's problems. We were designed and intended to be His.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
The Anthem of The Lost
Monday, December 18, 2017
So You Want to be Loved
Something to think about.
So You Want to be Loved
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:18-19
This is the conundrum the juxtaposition of Christianity. We want to be loved in a world that doesn't want to love us, yet we are commanded to love this world. In Mattew 5:44 Jesus said," 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Our need and desire to be loved is a basic need of our lives.
The sad reality is if you look at the world you will see that it is not understanding, intelligence education or intent that is lacking it is love. The world as it is today produces enough food to feed itself, but people are still dying of starvation. There is more than enough wealth around the world to eradicate poverty, but people still live in desperate need. There are medical advances that will benefit humanity, but they don't reach the impoverished of the world. That is not to say there aren't problems we don't have solutions for, but we do have available to us solutions to some of the worlds basic needs. So why don't we employ these solutions? Some people say it is because of capitalistic greed, some say because we are too different, Some believe that those who are impoverished somehow deserve it. Some see it as a problem they are not responsible for. Some see it as a fatalistic reality; they must exist it is a cycle of life.
All of the reasons or excuses mask the real culprit; it is a lack of love. We love our families and close friends. We in a sense may love our country. But do we love our neighbor? The solutions to the world problems are not going to be resolved by a redistribution of wealth, or further medical advances, or reimagined or newly created ideologies. Not by advances in education or academic achievement. The world's problems can only be alleviated when we really learn to love and care for each other. When we learn to love one another as Jesus said: "Love your enemy."
In our world"s culture and ingrained mindset love your enemies is not included. The love of the world does not include your best interest. The love of the world will always be what is best for me at any cost. Because the love of the world is self-centered the solutions to the problems of the world will never be implemented. For any solution of any of the world's problems, we must first,
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ then, 38 "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:36-40