Clue
Disclaimer
Usually the disclaimer is written at the bottom of the document and in font to small to read with the naked eye. But I, being an honest and forthright man, place it at the beginning. To whit…, I haven’t a clue how my brain works. A thought or word or picture pops in and the little synapses’ just start their processes and I can’t stop them until I write something down on paper.
The word “clue” popped into my brain upon waking early this morning about 4:30 am. Soon, I found myself thinking in this vain… Who did what to whom, with which, and where and how and why? Of course I was thinking in regards to the board game Clue.
But then, the question was… Was Mrs. White the victim or the suspect? It was obvious that the Ballroom was the place and it was done with the Candlestick. If… Mrs. White was the victim, then who was the suspect? Or if she were the suspect, then who was the victim? We seem to be missing one other person. As the old radio program stated, “The Shadow Knows”.
I think we go through life with a similar question lurking in the “back of our minds”. Who did what to whom, with which and for what reason? Those who know me know I’m going somewhere with this, others “don’t have a clue”.
Of course I am talking about our relationship with God. There are things that are not fully explained in the Bible. Some things are not revealed so we would trust Him and “walk by faith”. Other things are just because He is God and we are not. My pursuit goes on….
The age old argument about predestination and free will is where I’m going. There are great scholars on both sides of the argument. I am not one of them. I have a simple answer, which is not simple and is not the answer. It is this… God knows the ultimate reasons for what He does and why He does it. I am only guessing. But I will tell you what I think and why I think it. There are Calvinists and Armenians. The Calvinist says, “God does it all and you have nothing to do with it”. The Armenian says, “You have free will and can choose God or not, it’s all up to you”. Well, I am a “Cal-Menian”. I use to think it was a 50% - 50% deal, where God did half and I did half. Over the past 30 plus years, I have slid in my thinking to 95% God and 5% me. Yes, I still have free will, but I see more and more in scripture that God works in the hearts and minds of men to draw them to Himself.
Yes it is obvious that in Genesis 2, God gives man the right to choose, I do not deny that. And as they say, “The rest is history”. We see what the consequences of free will are. But yet, the all knowing God worked His will, in spite of the stupidity of man. He kept calling them to return to Him, which we know as repentance. You’re going the wrong way, turn around, do a 180, come back to Me. Some did, the called, the elect, the chosen. Some didn’t, because of their own free will.
In 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but for all to come to repentance.
Other scripture for your study, if you are interested:
Elect - Isaiah 42:1, Isa 45:4, Isa 65:9, Mat 24:22, Lk 18:7, Rom 8:33, 2 Tim 2:10,
1 Pet 1:2 and 5:3
Chosen – Joshua 24:22, Psalm 33:12, Prov 16:16, Isa 66:3, Mat 20:16, Mark 13:20,
John 6:70, Jn 15:16, Acts 9:15, Ephesians 1:4, 2 Thes 2:13, 1 Peter 2:4, Rev 12:14
Draw – John 12:32
I don’t expect you to be persuaded to my way of thinking. Like I said, it has taken me over 30 years to get to this point in my walk with God, by faith, trusting Him for the things I can not see, the things I can not understand and the things I can not change.
With Love,
Following the Shepherd,
Ron
reskewsquad.blogspot.com
PS: So, was Mrs. White the victim or the suspect?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Head - Heart - Gut
What goes on within a person that determines who they are and who they become?
Thus my title, head, heart and gut. It starts in the head with the increase of knowledge. This knowledge comes from reading, watching, and studying a particular subject, be it math and science, art and literature, economics and government, or medicine and the psycho-sciences. Depending on how you are “wired” (and that’s a totally deep subject of its own), your interests will cause more and more desires, and more and more knowledge of that particular subject.
After you get more and more knowledge, you have a decision to make. What will I do with this knowledge? Is it just random knowledge or will the study lead to new discoveries? Will I create a game like Trivial Pursuit? Will I discover the newest “black hole”? But most of all, who am I becoming by the results of this knowledge? Even though, “It’s not about me” … “It’s about me”. Who I am as a person will greatly determine what I do with all the “head knowledge” I have accumulated.
Thus, it becomes a heart issue. You know, that deep “thing” within all of us, that makes us… us; different from all others, that persona, that personality, that ego, that soul. The phrase, “I am what I eat” is better described as “I am what I think”. As I often use the Bible as a reference, because it has so many good thoughts on life, one passage says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. That thinking is not just the intellectual aspect, but that deep seated, inner person.
Which brings us to the gut. What is it, in your life that keeps you going? What keeps you motivated? What deep churning within you seems to have you restless? What keeps you unsettled in your longings? That’s the “gut” issue. I’m not saying you stay up nights worrying, but there is that unrest in your soul, “gut”, that there is more. Then, the term ‘gut check” comes to mind. To me that means, something is not right and I need to take a step back and refocus and rethink all that’s going on. I need to get back to basics and look at the issue from a new perspective. What are the basics that you return to when things seem “out of sorts”?
A few things come to mind.
1. There is a God. The world is too complex to have “just happened”. Some say that random atoms collided and that started it all. Where did the two atoms come from? What would have happened if three atoms collided simultaneously? What was the DNA of those two atoms? Can the DNA of a rock be the same as that of a person?
2. This God has plan and purpose for His creation. Our responsibility is to find this God and find his plan and purpose. Again the Bible, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows forth His handy work”.
3. Man took it upon himself to try to run things and ruined things. Interesting words run and ruin… the only difference is the “ I ” in the middle.
4. God’s purpose was not thwarted. Enter Jesus, “stage left”. And as they say, “the rest is history, His Story”.
What’s your gut telling you?
Following the Shepherd,
Ron
What goes on within a person that determines who they are and who they become?
Thus my title, head, heart and gut. It starts in the head with the increase of knowledge. This knowledge comes from reading, watching, and studying a particular subject, be it math and science, art and literature, economics and government, or medicine and the psycho-sciences. Depending on how you are “wired” (and that’s a totally deep subject of its own), your interests will cause more and more desires, and more and more knowledge of that particular subject.
After you get more and more knowledge, you have a decision to make. What will I do with this knowledge? Is it just random knowledge or will the study lead to new discoveries? Will I create a game like Trivial Pursuit? Will I discover the newest “black hole”? But most of all, who am I becoming by the results of this knowledge? Even though, “It’s not about me” … “It’s about me”. Who I am as a person will greatly determine what I do with all the “head knowledge” I have accumulated.
Thus, it becomes a heart issue. You know, that deep “thing” within all of us, that makes us… us; different from all others, that persona, that personality, that ego, that soul. The phrase, “I am what I eat” is better described as “I am what I think”. As I often use the Bible as a reference, because it has so many good thoughts on life, one passage says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. That thinking is not just the intellectual aspect, but that deep seated, inner person.
Which brings us to the gut. What is it, in your life that keeps you going? What keeps you motivated? What deep churning within you seems to have you restless? What keeps you unsettled in your longings? That’s the “gut” issue. I’m not saying you stay up nights worrying, but there is that unrest in your soul, “gut”, that there is more. Then, the term ‘gut check” comes to mind. To me that means, something is not right and I need to take a step back and refocus and rethink all that’s going on. I need to get back to basics and look at the issue from a new perspective. What are the basics that you return to when things seem “out of sorts”?
A few things come to mind.
1. There is a God. The world is too complex to have “just happened”. Some say that random atoms collided and that started it all. Where did the two atoms come from? What would have happened if three atoms collided simultaneously? What was the DNA of those two atoms? Can the DNA of a rock be the same as that of a person?
2. This God has plan and purpose for His creation. Our responsibility is to find this God and find his plan and purpose. Again the Bible, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows forth His handy work”.
3. Man took it upon himself to try to run things and ruined things. Interesting words run and ruin… the only difference is the “ I ” in the middle.
4. God’s purpose was not thwarted. Enter Jesus, “stage left”. And as they say, “the rest is history, His Story”.
What’s your gut telling you?
Following the Shepherd,
Ron
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Amnesia
I went to sleep praying and woke up with a head ache. I must have prayed toooo hard.
You see, I have a lot on my mind at this point of my life. We’ve just entered the year 2008 and life is going in a different direction than I had imagined.
All of that brought me back to the lifelong question, “Who am I”? Which reminds me of several movies I have seen which depict people who have suffered accident or loss, or injury or disease and have lost their identity. They can’t remember who they are.
Many methods are used to help them try to regain their true identity. Some are seeing old friends, hearing favorite songs, eating favorite foods, visiting familiar places, going back to childhood surroundings and the worst, shock therapy.
What will it take for me to regain my true identity? Would I even know if I found it? How will I begin the journey? Do I even want to find out?
I started out life at an early age and close to my mother. Life began in a small mid-west town and at a time when the streets were still dirt roads. When you got off the highway which ran through the town, you were on a dirt or gravel road. Things like this are part of who I am, good, bad or indifferent. The two room school house that housed six grades, three in one room and three in the other. One teacher for each room. Many moves from our small town to the capital city and back again and as a child, never knowing why. This is a part of who I am. Amnesia would have been preferred to some of the memories, but … it’s part of who I am.
I’m going to take a large leap to another dimension, that of a spiritual nature. I must never forget or have selective amnesia about who I am spiritually. The price was too great and the suffering too intense for me to forget. The Crux of the matter, is the crux of the matter. The Cross, an instrument of death. We wear it around our necks with the glimmer of high polished gold or sterling silver on a chain to match. As one of our Pastors said last week, “Would you wear an “electric chair” around your neck, or a “hangman’s noose”, or a “guillotine”? Where do I find my true identity? How do I find my true identity? Who am I? Who’s am I?
God gave us an incredible gift, that of free will, an ability to choose. If you have ask Jesus Christ to be your Savior, you still have choices. The choices are, to obey or to disobey. You can never say, “Oh, I forgot”, or “I didn’t know” or have “selective amnesia”. You are accountable from day one of your spiritual journey about the choices you make. You can’t blame it on your parents, or your teachers, or your boss, or your spouse. When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes to live within you and He will lead you into all righteousness. No Excuses. Now the choice is yours. Shock therapy or obedience?
Jan. 4, 2008 Ron E.
I went to sleep praying and woke up with a head ache. I must have prayed toooo hard.
You see, I have a lot on my mind at this point of my life. We’ve just entered the year 2008 and life is going in a different direction than I had imagined.
All of that brought me back to the lifelong question, “Who am I”? Which reminds me of several movies I have seen which depict people who have suffered accident or loss, or injury or disease and have lost their identity. They can’t remember who they are.
Many methods are used to help them try to regain their true identity. Some are seeing old friends, hearing favorite songs, eating favorite foods, visiting familiar places, going back to childhood surroundings and the worst, shock therapy.
What will it take for me to regain my true identity? Would I even know if I found it? How will I begin the journey? Do I even want to find out?
I started out life at an early age and close to my mother. Life began in a small mid-west town and at a time when the streets were still dirt roads. When you got off the highway which ran through the town, you were on a dirt or gravel road. Things like this are part of who I am, good, bad or indifferent. The two room school house that housed six grades, three in one room and three in the other. One teacher for each room. Many moves from our small town to the capital city and back again and as a child, never knowing why. This is a part of who I am. Amnesia would have been preferred to some of the memories, but … it’s part of who I am.
I’m going to take a large leap to another dimension, that of a spiritual nature. I must never forget or have selective amnesia about who I am spiritually. The price was too great and the suffering too intense for me to forget. The Crux of the matter, is the crux of the matter. The Cross, an instrument of death. We wear it around our necks with the glimmer of high polished gold or sterling silver on a chain to match. As one of our Pastors said last week, “Would you wear an “electric chair” around your neck, or a “hangman’s noose”, or a “guillotine”? Where do I find my true identity? How do I find my true identity? Who am I? Who’s am I?
God gave us an incredible gift, that of free will, an ability to choose. If you have ask Jesus Christ to be your Savior, you still have choices. The choices are, to obey or to disobey. You can never say, “Oh, I forgot”, or “I didn’t know” or have “selective amnesia”. You are accountable from day one of your spiritual journey about the choices you make. You can’t blame it on your parents, or your teachers, or your boss, or your spouse. When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes to live within you and He will lead you into all righteousness. No Excuses. Now the choice is yours. Shock therapy or obedience?
Jan. 4, 2008 Ron E.
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