Category Archives: parable

The Now.

by

0


A man doesn’t look at his watch to see what time it was.  His watch can only tell him what time it is.  It doesn’t tell him what time it’s going to be.  It tells him what time it is.  You can’t lay hold of the past.  And you can’t lay hold of the future.

Regret reminds him of what time it was.  Perhaps we regret that we cannot have the good times we had.  Or we may regret that we have destroyed joy, for ourselves or others.

What is regret but a knowledge of what is right.  A knowledge of appropriate restraint.  Truth restrains us in “the now”.  You’re not going back my friend.  And as you reach the future you bring the old man with you.  What you did back then, you are doing now. You need a change of heart, not a change of time.

We may look at the past desiring some pleasant time.  Or we may look at the past, regretting abject folly.  But we can only do this looking from “the now”.  The man who lives in Nostalgia does not know what time it is.  Regrettably, this is to his constant loss.

Nostalgia will always be beyond our grasp.  But regret can happily thrive in our house.  All the while, truth says something imperative.  “I am here.  Come live with me.  I am here to offer you life.”

It is impossible to fix a misdeed.  The best we can possibly do is offer reparation.  And the cost of repair is vastly more than a man’s resources will ever afford.  You can’t undo anything, whether good or bad!

Man thinks that by paying for his horrible mistakes, he becomes a righteous man.  Perhaps he thinks if he regrets his past enough, there is some reparation made.  As if suffering  produces anything of value.  But no action on our part undoes the death we have born.

Christ Jesus is in the now.  No matter what clock you look at, there is the Lord holding out his hand to help stop the engine of regret.  Will you reach out and take his help?

________________

One thing I will say about regret, it is a useful tool.  It teaches humility.  And in an odd way, it gives validity to the warnings we offer to those who are as blind as we. 

____________________

The man who climbs out of an open cesspool is happy to warn those who are walking toward disrepair.  Blinded by the darkness of their mind, they stagger toward loss.  And isn’t such a man rather frantic as he tries to help his brother?

Their response doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter if they hate him.  It doesn’t matter if they give him some superficial glory.  He knows from experience they are about to encounter regret.  He busies himself to remind his brother of the now.

Christ is in the now.   And he alone is The Living pure truth.  Listen to him.  His wisdom and strength are ever-present.

As the blind are walking toward the pit.  As they are falling into it.  As the shock of their disrepair dawns on their dull minds.  As they thrash about to release themselves from their present aberration.  As their hands lay hold of solid ground.  As they pull themselves out, covered with stench.  And as they sit perplexed on the edge of the pit, wondering what to do next, or how they could possibly have been so stupid.

Christ is in the now.

Christ is in the now.

He is not just a historical figure.  He is the now.

If you have freed yourself from a certain pit, I promise you, without Christ there’s another one waiting just in front of you.

Answer to yourself, what time is it?

__________________

The usefulness of this post depends entirely on the reaction of those who read it.

Beginning of the End

by

0


Think hard about the following.

Right now I don’t care what the theologian says.  Right now I perceive far beyond my perception.  I write this for my sake (whatever the years may bring).  If it is at all useful to others may the Lord bless as his wisdom dictates.
__________________

It began as a joke; a singular break with eternal love.  A demeaning of another’s position; that which was given to every creature according to the wisdom of God for the fullness of life.  Laughter filled the air in a certain place.  Perhaps, even the one that was demeaned saw the humor for a moment.  But division was born.

A small distortion of truth began the dissension of unity.  A lie gave birth to death.  And didn’t death give birth to laughter?

Who did this?  Didn’t Jesus tell us?  “. . .He is the father of lies.”  Eventually 1/3 followed him.

Do you want to see his handiwork?  Take a good look at humanity.  See how prejudice rules with an iron fist.  See how ridicule is so dearly beloved.  Sarcasm is a breastplate of shining jewels, and how proud is the one who weilds it with a deft mind. [Don Rickles the king of demeaning]

Color, culture, history, ability, social position, economic status, political affiliation, nationality, and doesn’t the list seems endless.  Love does not do these things.

We laugh at one another’s faults because every man is full to overflowing with them.  But how quickly the laughter turns to murder.

BEGINNING OF ETERNITY

See how “the ones” go back to the things of a baby.

See how the colors of red and blue are new.

See how innocence begins to develop.

Because they heard the whisper from You.

Discord dissipates.

Acceptance is embraced.

And how the faithful hateful lie,

Is by Love replaced.

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4)

By His grace;
By His grace,
By His grace!

Water and Fire

by

0


Who can explain with words, those things that come from the Living God’s Holy and Righteous Son Jesus?  Yet haven’t we been given that “perfection” of words among us to testify?  And isn’t the testimony also given, more accurately in our doings?  Thus is the language of Heavenly Things among us and forever.

Water and Fire combine to provide Life.  They are deadly alone.  But with the Holy Wisdom of God, He has prepared a place where they become one.

How can that be explained by the words of man?  How can the mind of man understand these things without God’s revelation to his soul?

He has spoken the Words of Life to Man.  But the doing of those words requires that Man should enter the Fire of war against the flesh.  Water and Fire.  Who can explain it without the “Doing”?

The Coming Consumption

by

0


Inheritance is the wine.
Social order is the aging wine skin.

It’s nearly time to pour out the contents.
Lest the wine skin burst in a great torrent.

Grapes do not drink wine.
It is the caretakers who consume.

The wine does not know it is contained.
It only perceives itself as preeminent.

Still, the delicacy of human tradition will be poured out for consumption.
Each caretaker to consume his portion.

Who, among men, give this considerable thought?

Dogs or Brothers

by

0


The dog is an amazing creature.  No better friend on earth can be had than a faithful and obedient canine.   They are a great source of joy and comfort to their owner.  A well trained dog will do anything to please its master.

But a dog is a dog.  It will eat it’s own vomit.  Often the dog will even eat its own feces. 

It cannot be trusted to make business deals. 

It has no concept of a clean the floor or carpet.  You will never see a dog naturally wipe its feet before it comes in the house.

Its welfare must be constantly maintained.  And it requires a rather watchful eye over its habits. 

Once it has developed a taste for blood, the dog is either to be destroyed or heavily restrained for the rest of its life. 

Stray dogs are no companion for the children.  They are unpredictable and dangerous.

Most dogs have a hard time understanding friend or foe in regard to those who come to visit its master.

The dog will understand certain commands.  But it does not fully understand the language of man.  It might pick up on our habits, but it doesn’t understand the reason for them.

A dog will be loyal to its own detriment.  It can love with a fully open heart.  It’s always glad to see its master.  And the only time it makes any judgment regarding its master, is in the matter of food.

Think of all the things that dogs are by their very nature.  Then consider Man.

Look at all the things that men do.  Unless we are specifically trained by God, we have no stability or faithfulness within us.  Take all the things I have said about dogs and apply them to Man.

Some dogs must be killed because they are a threat.  Some dogs are fit only to be restrained outside.  Some dogs are companions on the couch.  But they are still dogs.

Christ has come to transform us from potential pets to brothers. 

A brother understands the language of his father and siblings.  He is able to differentiate between the things of carnal behavior and those of responsibilities in the family.

It’s good to consider the following.  Have we allowed ourselves to become good and restrained pets?  Or have we sought the full transformation into the family of God as brothers of Christ?

Are we busily over coming sin by the power of Christ presence?  Or are we seeking release from the triggers that give temptation its strength?  Isn’t the latter like being placed on a leash?

I did not write this to shake the faith of anyone.  But consider what it would be if, instead of trying to be rid of temptation, we were to embrace the power of Christ to overcome it.  There’s a distinct difference between the brothers of the household and the pets.

There’s a great deal more to say about this.  What I’ve written is a good start.

Worthless Parents

by

0


Sin is born of chaos and ignorance.  Chaos is the careless mother who dropped her child on the way.  And ignorance is the worthless father who does as he pleases regardless the needs of his children.

Every man is born of these.  But Christ offers adoption into a Holy, righteous, faithful, loving, and eternal family.  Within this family there is opportunity to learn what is true.  Within this family there is forgiveness and grace to accomplish Life.

Are you tired of your sick and worthless old mother?  Are you weary of wondering where your father is?

Chaos and ignorance have nothing to offer anyone.  They simply produce and abandon.  But if you want salvation from worthlessness, cry out to the Living God in the name of Christ Jesus.