Teacups and Toasters

This post is a little personal. However, I was reading a passage in 1 Corinthians recently and it re-enforced something that I already knew. It was something that I needed to hear again and I know that I’m not the only one that can directly benefit from it.

When I was in middle school and high school, I had some serious self-image issues. This is not an uncommon thing for girls and perhaps guys experience it in some ways too. Media bombards us with images of what is considered beautiful, attractive, sexy, etc. etc. And unfortunately, it seems that a lot of people base their opinions of others and of themselves on what the media says is hot. It’s hard not to. I never really based my opinions of others on what the media said, but it sure didn’t help me when I looked at myself in the mirror.

I’ve always been tiny. I think perhaps the Scottish based legends and myths on the appearance of my ancestors. People used to think I was about five years younger than I actually was. I remember specifically, an instance wherein, I went out to eat with my parents and one of my friends. When we were seated the waitress brought my parents and friend regular glasses and she gave me a kids cup with a lid. I was around fourteen.

(Embarassing, but true!)

The issue with being a tiny person never went away. I struggle to maintain a healthy weight even though I eat like a shark. I just have to deal with it and I’ve learned to deal with it. Yet, I didn’t learn to deal with it via some self-promotional, inner-awareness book. I didn’t learn to love me. I’ve learned to deal with me and work to make myself more like my Creator. In doing so, I’ve learned a very very glad thing.  One day my Creator, Jesus Christ, will give me a new body, that He has designed just for me. Certainly, He designed the one that I reside in now, but it’s only a temporal one. He’s got an eternal one for me and for all who call on Him.

“But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?”

³⁶You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;

³⁷and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

³⁸But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.

³⁹All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.

⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.

⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

⁴²So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;

⁴³it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

⁴⁴it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

1 Corinthians 15

When we die, we will shed our earthly bodies, as if shedding a coat and with Christ we will reside. We have a spiritual body. Though it may resemble the former, it will be heavenly and is not the same one that we now wear.

***NOTE:  (DO NOT SEEK DEATH! If you are unhappy with your body image, death is not the answer. God holds the plans for our life here on Earth and He has given us our earthly bodies for a reason, whether, or not we like them. Believe it, or not God wants us to enjoy being in them. Check your five senses. He gave them for good reasons.)

We should take care of the bodies that we have because they are to be a temple to the living God, but don’t take care of it in vanity. Don’t spend much time worrying over the size and shape and complexion. Be content and know that your Creator has made you beautiful.

Here’s another response to a prompt given to me by my beloved. The prompt was ‘Predestination.’ Heavy subject indeed.

Man has long pondered the question of destiny. Are we indeed traveling through a story that has already been lain out for us, in which we have no power to change the ending? Perhaps we create our steps, action by action and word by word. I cannot fully answer the question of destiny and predetermination because I do not know what the span of the universe is like. I merely know a glimpse of what its Creator is like and will base my answer on such.

God is the author of all creation. He was before all things and holds all things together. See the first letter to the Corinthians for more on that. Jesus Christ, Himself, is the Word. The Word, which is mentioned in the very first chapter of the book of John, who brought all things into being and apart from Him, nothing has come into being. We were all placed here on Earth by God’s design and intent. The Creator, God, is merciful, loving, and passionate. He is good. He creates good things. However, we cannot deny the existence of evil. Evil is the force opposing the characteristics of God. I believe evil exists because freewill exists. Freewill means that we are free to make choices. God created Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and gave them freewill. He told them not to eat of the tree and yet because of freewill, they did. Eve had the choice of listening to God, or to a serpent. She chose wrongly, still she chose and listened to the serpent. Was it predetermined that Eve would choose wrongly? That all her descendents would be in a sinful state and need a Redeemer? I only know for certain that, He is before all things and through Him all things hold together.

Given that we have freewill and we can make choices does not mean that God does not know what choice we will make. God knows all things. However, just because He knows all things, does not mean that He forces them on us. Otherwise, what would be the point of having Christ die and rise again, so that we might believe in Him and spend eternity as His brothers and sisters? A gift is not a gift if it is forced upon you. Often the verses Romans 8:29 and Ephesians 1:5 are debated as scriptural evidence of predestination because they contain the word, “predestination.” Romans 8:29 states, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” Ephesians 1:5 states, “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” If you look at both of these in context, perhaps you will agree, that what I believe they are saying is that God has predetermined that those who choose to believe in Jesus, as the only Son of God, who died and rose again, will be with Him in a glorified state in eternity.

Concluding, I would say that predestination exists in the sense that we are all born with our final destination leading us to deaths door. Along the way we can choose to overcome death through Christ and live eternally with Him, or we can choose to try and control things ourselves. No matter how much we think we are in control, we can only choose between two final outcomes. Our Creator has lovingly made us and knows our true natures. Though He knows what we will choose, He does not force us to choose it. Freely, His love is ours and free are we to accept it.

I saw this hawk in our backyard waiting and watching for a meal to pass by. One never did. Eventually, he flew on.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mark 8:36-37

Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands. They stand this day according to your ordinances, For all things are your servants.

Psalm 119:89-91

Here it is!!! The post that I’ve been super excited to write all week long!  Today is indeed Easter Sunday. For some that means getting dolled up and heading out to church, and for some it means snuggling up on the couch with a yummy chocolate bunny, and for some it means both!  (I like the both category myself, though I wouldn’t say I get “dolled” up.)

Whichever category you fall under, I hope that you take some time to reflect on why in the world we celebrate this awesome day. Spring is here, but if you’re facing the snow, or tornadoes, or just a fine chill in the air – spring isn’t enough to celebrate. New life is though.  Through the death and resurrection Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made it possible to surpass death and live forever with Him. Imagine how astonishing it must be to dwell in the presence of God!

Jesus was turned over to be crucified by His own people. They thought that He was coming as a warrior and they wanted Him to rebel against Rome and do things their way. He did things His way and we are blessed to this very moment because of that.  Pilate gave way to the demands of the crowds to crucify Jesus foregoing a warning from his wife who had been disturbed in a dream that day. Peer pressure got the best of him even though he found Christ innocent. He had Jesus flogged, which meant that He was whipped with scourges trimmed in sharp bone and glass that literally tore out His flesh. (Rome did things to the extreme.) He was taken to a hill in Golgatha (place of the skull) and nailed to a cross. A nail was placed in each hand and then one nail was placed through both of His feet. It was gruesome and unimaginabley painful. Though He did not step down from that cross, though He could have at any moment, He saved a theif  who was hanging next to Him by promising him that he would be in paradise with Him that very day. Jesus gave up His life and for many that was the end of the story.

It wasn’t the end. Three days later He rose from the dead. Even other saints were raised and speaking His praise in the streets. Jesus appeared to His disciples, to Mary Magdalene, and Mary His mother. He showed doubting Thomas the scars in His hands and then very shortly thereafter comes one of my favorite parts of the story.

Peter, James, John, Thomas, Nathaniel, and some other disciples went out fishing on the Sea of Tiberias. They had been fishing all night and were catching absolutely nothing. As the day was breaking they were about to give up and go home.  Someone on the shore shouts out to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They shouted back to the person on the beach, “No.”   The person then told them to cast their nets off the right hand side of the boat to find a catch. They did and indeed they caught so many that they were not able to haul in the net.

John realized that this person was indeed The Lord. Jesus had presented Himself in such a way that the disciples did not recognize Him. (I don’t know if He appeared differently, or just made their eyes so that they saw Him differently.)

John immeadiately tells Peter, “It is the Lord!” and Peter throws on his outer garment and jumps into the sea and begins to swim to shore. The rest of the disciples bring the boat and the catch to the shore. When they reach the shore they find that there is a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed upon it with bread. Jesus tells them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.”   Why would He do this if there’s already fish on the fire? Well, when they went to get the fish out of the net they saw that though there were 153 fish (a very large amount for their net) that the net was not torn!

Jesus then says, “Come and have breakfast.” No one questioned Him about who He was. He fed them the fish and the bread.  He had breakfast with them.  The Son of God raised from the dead came to have breakfast with His friends!!! If only, we truly realized that this is the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us. He wants to care for us.  The breakfast was already prepared. He provided and allowed them to see who He really was by the miracle of catching so many fish without a tear in the net.

This story fills me with the kind of excitement that caused Peter to jump over the side of the boat and swim to shore. Breakfast with the Lord. Imagine. Breakfast with the Lord.

Happy Easter and may God bless you. Seek Him. He will prepare fullfilment for you in eternity. He will provide. You can find the scripture about the above in the book of John in the New Testament.

Lately, I’ve been reading a bit more than the norm. In a weeks time I read Twilight & The Shack, both of which I would recommend- even though neither are new favorites. The Shack caused me to analyze myself a little, which is in part the purpose it’s author intended and he did quite a nice job of succeeding in that goal. There’s actually a similar goal in a film called The Kingdom of Heaven. Basically, that particular goal is to smack Christians in the face and wake them up. I don’t agree with everything in the film, or even everything in the book, but I do agree on certain points.

The points that I agree on are as follows:

A.  We cannot delude ourselves with our versions of what God should be like.

B. We cannot ignore His presence.

C. We cannot ignore His Word.

D. If we do not do what His Word commands, we’re ignoring His Word.

E. ” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” John 1:1-3

Ignoring God’s Word equates to ignoring Christ. One who considers themselves a follower of Christ can’t just read the Word. They have to actually live it, if they are indeed actually following Him.

I’ve also been reading through 1 and 2 Samuel and am now in 1 Kings and it was completely mind boggling at first to wonder at how these kings could actually ignore God after the awesome things that they were witness to and the awesome things that God imparted to them.  Yet, that’s exactly what most followers do. We get so wrapped up in the things of this world and the influences that are just constantly bombarding us that we place the the awesome things that we have been witness to, into the back of our minds. We shut them off.

An awesome thing to witness doesn’t have to be a visual instance (think parting of the Red Sea type instance). It can be simple. Isn’t accepting Christ into your life simple and yet – awesome? Why then do we shut these witnessed moments off?

My theory is this:  We shut off the amazing because sometimes amazing involves frightening. We don’t like things that we can’t explain.  It may be the same with some of you, but I know that I’ve encountered things in my life that I could not explain and continued about my day and then when I would think back on those things I would wonder how it was possible for me to carry on normally. If I hadn’t carried on normally, I probably wouldn’t have known what to do with myself.

What am I getting at?  We should be careful about how we carry on normally. Our normal should involve living in and of His Word. We shouldn’t fear what we can’t explain and we shouldn’t try to explain it away. There is indeed a spiritual battle going on around us all the time. Sometimes we refer to it behind the veil and often we like to think of it as being behind something so that it doesn’t actually concern us, even though it does very much. It actually kind of comforts me though. When I witness something that I cannot explain I know that it’s just part of what is always occurring, yet is unseen. I’m glad to know that God is in control and His Word will guide me in how to deal with what would otherwise be frightening.

Live the Word. Love the Word. Be of the Word.

This is a post about faith and what faith can do. There will be more posts about cakes, cookies, and other such things soon enough. Today though, I need to relate my morning reading to you – my readers. Before my feet hit the floor this morning I read the words from Romans 8:31-39. They, my friends, are powerful words.

Verse 31 begins, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

Verse 32 continues, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

Verse 32 relates that God sent His Son, Jesus, to die and to rise again for our salvation (an act that is so completely full of selfless love) and that since God would cause the ultimate sacrifice for us, He will also give all things freely to us along with the salvation through Jesus.

Why? How? Our world is an absolute mess. Sure, our nation is a mess, but it’s not just about our nation. Our world needs, craves, and calls for salvation. The world-wide economy is in shambles. Famine, disease, natural disasters, mass slaughters against innocent lives; the list could go on and on. Our world is in need of repair.

Verse 35 states, “Who will seperate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

People cry out that God must have left us long ago because it makes no sense that a loving God who is full of mercy would allow such things to occur against His creation. The truth is that God never left. He never stopped loving His creation. We, His people, turned our backs and walked away. It’s been happening since the days of Moses. We get distracted and turn to things that we can get a better grip of. We get immediate satisfaction by making believe that material goods can truly fulfill our lives. At the end of the day though, we’re going to come up empty.

Imagine.

Imagine what could happen if we let a little bit of faith slip back into our daily life. Jesus said that all we needed was faith the size of a mustard seed in order to move mountains. A mustard seed is so incredibly tiny. With a small portion of faith we could move the mountains of famine, disease, depression, and so on. If we truly included God in our daily lives and truly sought after Him and His plans we would see a difference beyond our imaginations.

It’s okay to seek. God wants us to seek Him. It’s okay to ask God, “why?” Check out the book of Job. It’s all about asking God, “why?”

The people of all nations must come to the realization that selfish pursuits and desires lead to nowhere. They lead to barren, dry, and hurtful places. I know I sound preachy, but I am passionate about this.

Verses 38-39 read, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to seperate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There is absolutely nothing in this world that can come between His love for us and His gift of eternal salvation, so long as we accept it. Our world is a mess, but there is a solution.

A day past Christmas, but the story doesn’t stop in the manger.

I encourage you and even implore you to read the rest of Luke 2. The first 20 verses are about the Christmas story. Pick up with verse 21 and read to the end of the chapter. It gives a little insight to parts of Jesus childhood. Also pick up in Matthew 2:13 and read to the end of the chapter for other parts of His childhood.  Here’s a link to Luke 2 via BibleGateway.com and a link to Matthew 2 via the same source.

Then if you’re feeling motivated and maybe even curious – read to the end of the book of Matthew, or Luke, or both. Remember that Matthew and Luke though both followers of Jesus during the same time are two seperate people giving accounts of what they were witness to. Pretty awesome.

The third chapter of the book of Proverbs speaks so soundly and clearly as to how we should live. The advice given therein cannot be disputed. Stress kills people. Folly and self-love kill people. How much smoother would we exist if we really took this proverb to heart? How much more at ease would we be? Imagine how much healthier our physical bodies could be if we let go of the things that anger us and bring on the migraines, backaches, and sleepless nights.

“My son do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments;

For length of days and years of life

And peace they will add to you.

Do not let kindness and truth leave you;

Bind them around your neck

Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways

acknowledge Him.

And He will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.”

Proverbs 3:1-8

This scripture isn’t just a suggestion. I’ve learned that part of following Christ is having to actually attempt to walk in His way. Kindess and truth. Some days I fail, but I acknowlege Him and His infinite wisdom and know that with guidance He will make a path for me.

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, You save me from violence.”

2 Samuel 22:1-3