Tag Archives: alienation

Beginning of the End

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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.
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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!

“Places Everyone!”

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Man is placed in a place remote.  For if his place were among the things of God, Man would try to dethrone Him.

This place of testing, this place of proving, this place of violence or love. 

This place of choices, this place of life or death, this place of time and decay. 

This place of anarchy, this place of treason, this place of hatred or faith.

They refuse to listen.  They despise the one who speaks.  And at every possible convenience, they turn away from knowledge. 

This place of filthy, this place of ludicrous, this place of blood and flesh.

This place of confusion, this place of pride, this place of accomplishment and humiliation.

Lest every man be utterly destroyed, God has set a place for rebellion.

This place of wondering, this hopelessness, place of vile distrust, this place of alienation and rare embrace.

Two doors exit this place.  One is wide to accommodate the masses.  The other is so narrow you cannot point it out.

One is proportioned for the violent fits which company the chaos of rebellion.  The other is only large enough for the soul.

We must all leave this place.  But we do not all arrive in the same Place. 

Every man who owns rebellion alone, will certainly find himself alone. 

But every man who has been stripped of rebellion, to a sort, that which remains cannot die.  Lessened, such men will find good company.

In all things, the endlessly spacious Place of God is utterly unlike ours.

Moment by moment, every man chooses his destiny.  But let us not think that the destiny of man is varied in context.  No!  There is either eternal inclusion, or eternal desperation.

Debate all these things, Oh wandering souls of men.  Or kneel before the Living God in faith.  Plead with him for understanding. 

All that belongs to Man is death.  All that belongs to God is Life in Christ Jesus His holy and Righteous Son.

By His Grace

Victorious in Loss

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Among people, who are those who suffer well?  It is those who own nothing of what they own.

These are prepared to lose everything, even while they have it all.  It is the one who is determined, while in wealth and health, to die penniless and miserable.  This one cannot be held hostage to expectations full of error.  If prosperity of possessions continues to a peaceful death in his own bed, such a one will have lived his life without fear of loss.

Though all he has is taken.  Though sickness viciously tears at his body.  Though the wicked greed of man rips his belongings from his control.  This one will prosper.

Yet is it enough to be stoic in our life?  Is it necessary to pass by the loaf of bread while you have money and hunger?  Is it right to purchase the rust bucket chariot so that you will suffer the pains of upkeep?  Is it required of us to live under a pile of leaves in a part of the forest we don’t, and can’t own?  Such people are not being responsible with what has been given them.

What provokes the Responsible life?  Is it the desire of a man to become completely humble among all men?  That mind-set is produced from the pride of life.  Pride can’t, by its very nature, produce humility.  Such a man might feel pretty proud of himself, after all, he has forsaken what other people crave.   But his humility is crushed by a whisper of pride.

Jesus provokes the true strength of life.  His strength in a man is beyond ALL the things of this world.  Because His teaching and “in dwelling” comes from Heaven; a place which has never entertained the temporary wealth of this place.  And NEVER will.

If we want to be strong.  If we want to endure with stellar conviction.  If we want to live that “over coming” life, we will have to appropriate the teaching and character of the Lord Jesus.  While we live in relative peace, it is best to be prepared for the worst.  Let us not compile “things” so that we will be able to endure hardship.  Let us prepare our heart to be God’s champion, even if the entire world comes after us.

How does cancer become a trophy to be desired?  How does molestation become a crown of joy?  How does losing our job, or place in the family,  become a stepping stone to eternally born victory?  All these things, and the myriad of things that can happen to a person, become glory when we embrace failure.  We love our weakness, because it gives us an opportunity to overcome!  Even our own sins can become trophies of Grace.  Such things  can produce a certain kind of humility that cannot be manufactured by the desire of a man.  Nor can it be purchased by any of our possessions.

We encounter hardship for the sake of Christ.  We encounter hardship for the sake of testifying that God’s love and promise are vastly more, and true, than anything the world can provide.  We testify that life can be lived, even while this world has strapped us to a post in the middle of a raging fire.  We can clap our charred hands, even while the skin of our bodies walks toward becoming a lump of coal.  Thus, we encourage others to love the God who bestows such incredible strength.

Let us testify that God in us, is greater than all things.  Prosperity, health, wealth, sickness, persecution, joy, poverty, alienation, or fame,  cannot take away the riches of Christ in any man!  It is the man who counts any of these things as more valuable or stronger than the promise of God.  This is the one who will likely lose it ALL.