When our church studied Galatians several years ago, I had an image stick in my head that helped me understand the overall message of the book and I'd like to share it with others.
Imagine that our good work as Christians on earth is an amusement park. "Woohoo, I'm riding the tilt-a-whirl (insert Christian good work here)." Or, "I just paid for Johnny to ride the Ferris wheel (insert mission trip to this country or charity here)." Not that we are boasting about it, but that we are being what we would call obedient and following the rules of the amusement park. After all, isn't that what they are for? Ride the rides, eat the food and enjoy the time.
But the catch to this amusement park is that the only people that can enter the park are those that have blue hair. Obviously we are not born with blue hair, so something has to be done in order for us enter the park.
Those of us that are called by God into His kingdom through a saving faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, upon acceptance of this gift will automatically have our hair turn blue, thus gaining entrance. But not only does our hair turn blue--from that point on our heads will continue to grow blue hair.
Those that don't understand the gospel of Jesus Christ but know that they should be good, want to do good works and/or be a good person end up going to the Blue-Hair-Dying Shop where they dye their hair in order to gain entrance. They still can enjoy the benefits of the park while on Earth, but they are fakers, and it is often hard for us amusement park enthusiasts to tell the difference between the two.
Some people don't care about amusement parks and have no interest in having Blue Hair.
And some of us that have the imputed Blue-Hair follicles still go to the Blue-Hair-Dying Shop to dye our hair blue-when it is already Blue. Just stop that, ok? We already have Blue Hair!
And that's my summary of Galatians.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
God and a treasure map
My pastor gave a sermon this past Sunday entitled, "Curios Case of Love." One of his sermon points was "God is love," from 1John 4:8 which says, "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." He went on to say that we can't base our entire view of the character of God by only one of his attributes, such as love; this would not be an accurate frame of reference in which to base our understanding of God.
For the Bible also says that God is spirit: John 4:24 "God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
God is light: 1John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."
God is a consuming fire: Deuteronomy 4:24 "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."
My pastor likened these other "God is" statements as lenses, such as when getting an eye exam, through which we must also view God and it made me think of the movie National Treasure. I thought of the scene where the treasure hunters find Benjamin Franklins glasses that have different colored lenses. The lenses had a swivel so you could move them up or down, thus forming the key/ color through which to view the invisible treasure map.
So if we take the lens of Love, Spirit, Light and Fire and put the each of them on a different "colored lens"- and try to look through this new multi-lens frame in order to gain understanding into the character of God- I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around what I would see. God certainly reveals who He is to us in different ways. And sometimes it's easy to understand Him. Often for me, it isn't. I wonder if it is because only when I view him through all of the lenses will the mysteries of His treasure reveal themselves to me. And I wonder if my treasure map looks different from yours. But what I do know is that it could be dangerous to use only one lens. And that without any at all, our treasure map isn't revealed at all and our journey is in vain.
For the Bible also says that God is spirit: John 4:24 "God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
God is light: 1John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."
God is a consuming fire: Deuteronomy 4:24 "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."
My pastor likened these other "God is" statements as lenses, such as when getting an eye exam, through which we must also view God and it made me think of the movie National Treasure. I thought of the scene where the treasure hunters find Benjamin Franklins glasses that have different colored lenses. The lenses had a swivel so you could move them up or down, thus forming the key/ color through which to view the invisible treasure map.
So if we take the lens of Love, Spirit, Light and Fire and put the each of them on a different "colored lens"- and try to look through this new multi-lens frame in order to gain understanding into the character of God- I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around what I would see. God certainly reveals who He is to us in different ways. And sometimes it's easy to understand Him. Often for me, it isn't. I wonder if it is because only when I view him through all of the lenses will the mysteries of His treasure reveal themselves to me. And I wonder if my treasure map looks different from yours. But what I do know is that it could be dangerous to use only one lens. And that without any at all, our treasure map isn't revealed at all and our journey is in vain.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Welcome Home
I started this blog 5 years ago. I wrote two entries. I had high hopes. Then life happens. Funny thing about life, it keeps happening...
I moved last weekend into a beautiful..no scratch that.. quaint little farmhouse about a 30 minute drive from all of my normal daily activities. I moved because the rent on the two bedroom townhouse that I was renting would have exceeded $1000.00/month if I had decided to stay upon notice. So the next day, I searched on the web again and boom/bang we are now in a new place.
This new place- there is nothing new about it. In fact, I think it might be held together with duct tape. The night before the big move, I gained access to the cute little farmhouse and drove out to inspect what would become the place we call home. The first thing I noticed was that the deadbolt locks on the doors are extremely hard to use-- because the door/wood is so old, and the lock is so new? Perhaps the wood has warped so much since the locks were installed that they rub too much. I don't know, but at any rate, the handle on the door--that is what one would call a doorknob, is in fact just that- a knob on a door. It serves no other purpose than to be pulled- not turned- very hard in order to open the doors. In my mind, I have determined to make this feature an additional safety feature of the home. At least when the door is locked, no one is getting in and sometimes or out for that matter. I now know why the landlord said, "The house is unlocked, keys in the kitchen cupboard."
I glazed over the cobwebs and cracks in the walls as that is to be expected. I was a little surprised to find two dead mice in the basement, but glad they were dead. I did not expect to find the shower head held together with duct tape. Since we have moved in, I now see that our kitchen table doesn't really fit in the kitchen, as we can't open the refrigerator door. I have realize again that it sure is hard to ascertain the condition of a home with a 10 minute walk through, while the previous tenant's belongings still in the home and I continue to wondered how we are going to unpack our own stuff in this little place.
Well, I hope to share more of our adventures with you. Hopefully sooner than 5 years.
Blessings.
I moved last weekend into a beautiful..no scratch that.. quaint little farmhouse about a 30 minute drive from all of my normal daily activities. I moved because the rent on the two bedroom townhouse that I was renting would have exceeded $1000.00/month if I had decided to stay upon notice. So the next day, I searched on the web again and boom/bang we are now in a new place.
This new place- there is nothing new about it. In fact, I think it might be held together with duct tape. The night before the big move, I gained access to the cute little farmhouse and drove out to inspect what would become the place we call home. The first thing I noticed was that the deadbolt locks on the doors are extremely hard to use-- because the door/wood is so old, and the lock is so new? Perhaps the wood has warped so much since the locks were installed that they rub too much. I don't know, but at any rate, the handle on the door--that is what one would call a doorknob, is in fact just that- a knob on a door. It serves no other purpose than to be pulled- not turned- very hard in order to open the doors. In my mind, I have determined to make this feature an additional safety feature of the home. At least when the door is locked, no one is getting in and sometimes or out for that matter. I now know why the landlord said, "The house is unlocked, keys in the kitchen cupboard."
I glazed over the cobwebs and cracks in the walls as that is to be expected. I was a little surprised to find two dead mice in the basement, but glad they were dead. I did not expect to find the shower head held together with duct tape. Since we have moved in, I now see that our kitchen table doesn't really fit in the kitchen, as we can't open the refrigerator door. I have realize again that it sure is hard to ascertain the condition of a home with a 10 minute walk through, while the previous tenant's belongings still in the home and I continue to wondered how we are going to unpack our own stuff in this little place.
Well, I hope to share more of our adventures with you. Hopefully sooner than 5 years.
Blessings.
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