Control Freak (Part 2) - Separating is Hard.

Deuteronomy 6:10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

We also must remember whose we are and how we got here. If we are honest, I believe we can all track back to a time in our past where we were enslaved to one degree or another in our lives. Most of us, over time, tend to find ourselves in better circumstances than we were say ten years ago. We may look back on those times as a form of slavery. We were bound to a set of circumstances that limited our freedom. So, we worked hard and now find ourselves out of the set of limiting circumstances (and possibly in new more opressive ones -- but that is another posting). We now have things that we did not have before. We “connect the dots” and conclude that we got these things because we worked hard. The truth is that you were supernaturally delivered out of a set of circumstances that you could have never climbed out of and into a set of circumstances that you could not have attained on your best day. And what does God want in return? Not to be forgotten. What a strange thing to ask for. How could we forget Him who delivered us from the hopeless circumstances? How could we forget Him who blessed us with things that are beyond our abilities to acquire? The answer… we take credit. We take credit in thinking that our hard work delivered us from impossible odds. We take credit in thinking that our dedication and perseverance netted our material gain. But here are a few things to ponder. Do people who work hard, still end up in hopeless circumstances? Do people who are dedicated and who preserver still struggle to gain the necessary things of life? If hard work, dedication and perseverance were all that are needed to deliver one from hopeless circumstances into a life of milk and honey, then only those who are lazy would be poor and down trodden. As we all know, this is certainly not the case.

Next week: Control Freak (Part 3) – You Are a Fraud!

Control Freak (Part 1) – Talent and Riches ... Burden or Blessing

Why do I compulsively try to control that which I have no hope of controlling? I have this belief that I can control things. However, there is little evidence to suggest that this is true. However, my mind is inclined to believe that it is logical to assume that one can control the outcome of situations by controlling as many details as possible. However, this notion is flawed from the standpoint that if you miss just one detail, the whole house of cards comes crashing down. And this is why you cannot control the outcomes of things. You cannot control every detail. Some things I work at actually work out as I expected. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. You were fortunate. Good fortune, luck, blessing … whatever you want to label it, is not very helpful in this regard. It leaves us with a sense that we did it. We controlled the outcome. It is a lie. Ultimately our success was from God. God lined up the circumstances and we knocked it down. But, we tend to believe that we did it by working hard and crossing every “T” and dotting every “I”. This is where the problem is. We do not recognize that were not responsible for the outcome. So why work hard at an outcome? Because it is our responsibility to do so. We cannot control the outcome, but we can control our level of commitment to a desired outcome.

Talent is a two edged sword as well. We get it from God. But, few of us really subject our use of these talents to God. We are selfish and use the gifts for personal gain. Of course sometimes we do use them as we should, but by and large we use them for selfish gain. Just like being rich financially is really a burden more than it is a blessing, so I believe is talent. Both cloak us in the delusion that we are in control. Both deceive us into thinking we are “self” sufficient. Both lead us away from God. The test is if we will allow such a deception to continue, or will we do anything about it. Will we stay trapped in the gilded cage of “blessing” or will we rise up against “self” and put the focus back on God and His intentions. God did have a plan for you when He blessed you. Are you living up to His expectations? Or, are you following your own path enabled by the fuel of God’s blessing on your life? I believe that, for the latter, there will be a rude awakening on that faithful day. To whom much is given, much is required. When you have been given much, God will expect that you will have done something equal to the blessing. The question is, how do you think God will evaluate your success? Do God and man see things the same way? Is it possible that your definition of “success” and Gods are entirely different? When you ponder these questions, think about this, if God views success differently then we do, then, will not God also be looking at the outcomes in a different way as well?

Learning To Die (Part 3) -The Mystery of Life

Life is an interesting thing. On one hand, we who have it hold onto it like it is our last refuge. It is understandable. After all, this life is all we have known. We intellectually ascend to a life eternal, but the way we live out this life shows that we do not fully embrace eternity. After all, if this life is, as James says, but a vapor and Jesus has promised us a glorified body in eternity, then this body is merely a temporary shell. In fact all of life as we know it is temporary. Heaven and earth shall pass away and a new heaven and a new earth will be created. Therefore, all we see is destined to parish. We see this atrophy in nature. All things die. Therefore, all things are temporary. The physical law of attrition kicks in in such a profound way that there is no one of sound mind that denies its truth. Everything is dieing. God has promised to replace this temporary existence with a permanent one at a date to be announced. With all that in mind, we still cling to this life (actually life in general – not just our own) like a drowning man clings to a life preserver. We see it as our last hope. Even Christians view this life as their last hope. We Christians hold on to the things of this earth with to tight a grip for people who believe that their hope is in eternity.

We see Jesus kill (or curse, but the effect is the same) a fig tree for no apparent reason and we are appalled. Why? Are we members of the society for the prevention of cruelty to fig trees? Do we owe a debt to fig trees? Or trees in general? Why is it disturbing to us that Jesus killed a fig tree? Our senses are shocked at the indiscriminant or senseless destruction of life. Life is, to us, a precious gift. We cannot make life. We can nurture. We can sow life. We can water and feed life. But, we cannot create life where none existed. Even a seed is the promise of life. Try making a seed from stuff in your kitchen. Try creating a seed with all the science and chemicals know to man kind. Try making a baby with out an egg, a sperm or a cell. To “make” life, we first must start with life. Therefore, we cannot truly create life. We can only foster and nurture the life that is already there. This is why death is such a shock. It is the end of a mystery that we cannot understand. The magic of life, in death, is gone and cannot come back. When we see people (or even Jesus) kill something that is alive, part of us (at least any warm blooded person) senses loss to some degree. Even if it is a flash, we all feel the finality of the loss of life.

But, when God takes life, it is different. For him, He is the creator. Life is not a mystery. He created it and knows how to created it from the stuff in your kitchen. He has created life in many forms. For many purposes. Some life is created to supply us with food. Some life is created to help us work. But ultimately, God gives life. We can take life away, but God is the only one who can truly give life. Therefore, when God takes life, it is a different thing, then when we take life. It is the difference between us destroying a Michelangelo marble statue with a sledge hammer, and Michelangelo destroying his own statue with the same hammer. We would be absolutely horrified if someone did that. But, I am sure that the master did destroy some work of his for his own reasons. And why not, he created it.

Learning To Die (Part 2) - Death, end or beginning?

In order for anything to live, something must die. It is a law of nature. We all must eat to survive. We eat things, in most cases, that are or were at one time, alive. Their life was transferred to us to continue our life. In order for me to live, something somewhere must die. It is a picture of the process that God is taking us through. In order for me to live eternally, something must die. In ancient times, the lamb was slaughtered to represent this in the spiritual realm. Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins. While Jesus was on earth, He told us to lay our lives down. Why? The answer is all around us. For something to live, something else must die.

When we eat meat or vegetables, we do not consider the sacrifice of the animal or plant we are consuming. Why? Because they did not give their lives, we took their lives from them. Thus their death was not sacrificial. We took their lives to sustain our own. There is something truly special about anyone or anything putting it’s life up as a sacrifice. Animals will struggle to survive. They will eat other animals or plants to do so. Plants strain to find the sun and consume the nutrients of the soil to live (nutrients that are from other things that have died). No where in nature will you find living things lining up to be consumed. It is a high calling indeed that causes us to lay down our own lives. This is not a natural occurrence and goes against the flow. Why then is it so important?

I believe it is a battle, setup by God, between the flesh and our soul. The outcome will determine if we are fit for the kingdom of God. If we lay down our lives, we will be with Him in eternity. If we hold on tight to our lives, we will lose what we so dearly love.

Tune in next week for the thrid and final installment of Learning To Die.