For my artsy friends, you are 100% free to use this in part or whole in your art. I just really felt compelled to put my thoughts to verse.
“Some people make a lot of mistakes in life, but most people just make the same few over and over again.” ~Dan Delyon
This may not come as a big shock to you, but I don’t understand God.
I really feel like His trouble would have been better served if he had set up a sin discount program. He went and paid for all of my sin without me having to do anything for it…but imagine if He had done partial payment instead! That way, I could feel better about myself since I chipped in some. I could punish myself for my sins and earn the rest of my forgiveness! Wouldn’t that help me remember not to do it again? I’d think so.
However, the Only wise God seems to think my help in his plan of salvation is tantamount to a three year old wanting to help her dad design a website… Cute, but counterproductive.
It has been said, over and over, and restated and restated, but it’s only… almost true.
The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing
But upon further evaluation,
It’s impossible for good men to do nothing.
I really thought about ending this post with that last remark because I love understating beautiful things, but I’m afraid that the implications of this remark are not altogether clear at first. I can safely say I had the wrong idea for a long time. I had the idea that since I was a good man, I should summon the courage to go out and do good, stop evil, and change the world, and that God wanted my participation in this. This was my mission…
And that’s half true, but half of a true course won’t get you to your destination. He does want my participation…but I was missing a key concept. Seeking Gods kingdom first and His righteousness isn’t about social reform, nor some great mission to see souls saved, nor even about showing kindness to a stranger. It’s about following the only man who is good, and doing what he asks. If you are near Him, He won’t fail to direct you to show kindness to strangers, see souls saved, or help in His cause to see society formed into His image, but the Messiah is patient, and not all of this will happen as soon as I want it to.
In my lifetime, I expect to see persecution for bearing Christs name. I expect the temptation I’m facing in my own life will only get stronger, BUT, As I get closer to Him and His desires, those other desires will become less important, and growing in the fruits of the Spirit, I will find it true that
Again, I just wanted to stop there but couldn’t. You see, I feel I must explain my reason for writing this. It isn’t because I didn’t know all of this.
It’s because I know and forget so often. The Holy One keeps showing me the same things over and over, and I get it for a while, then I get distracted from pursuing Christ and I fall into accomplishing nothing. Then, at some point I convince myself that I need to pick myself up by my bootstraps and get something done for the Lord. Then he lays on me the obviousness of my dependency on Him, and I can only hope that I remember longer next time. So, this post is as much for my sake as all you who read it at a later date. And for those of you who don’t follow Christ… You have no idea what you’re missing out on.
“Half of a true course won’t get you to your destination.” ~Dan Delyon
“Happiness is determined by your contentment level, and contentedness can never be achieved with an empty soul.” ~Dan Delyon
Press on good Christian;
your foundation’s made of granite.
The way may be tough
and your position overran at times;
but the Lord of the hill,
and every hill across the planet
has given you his sword,
His Spirit and commandments.
I originally was going to put this up on facebook only, but decided to move it here because I want to put it out in all the forums I have godly friends in.
In my limited experience, I’ve never seen a novel adaptation of the Bible. I’ve seen plays, and movies, and
portions of the Bible turned into historical fiction, but I’ve never heard of anyone taking the Bible, and going from Genesis to Revelation in story form.
The thought that drives me is this, when I read the Bible in order, the story is slightly out of order, and often whole books written for teaching and historical background, are easy to get bogged down in. I’ve found that reading the gospels side by side can give you a whole new picture of Jesus’ ministry…so imagine if the whole Bible were placed rearranged into a story. I’d put portions of the Psalms in Kings, mix in the apostolic letters with acts, combine the gospels. It’d be tough, but it could be done.
Obviously, there are a hundred ways to do it wrong. But imagine if it were done well! Would that be something you wanted to read, or does it strike you as sacrilege, and what pitfalls do you see for this project?
Marshmallows are pretty, but they aren’t food.
I’m being purposefully vague. I’ll clarify later, but for now, lets just say that I want to have a record of my feelings on this matter.
Just like when I was told to move to RI, I don’t have more than my next step, but enough to get me going on the right path. Of all the decisions I’m likely to make, this isn’t one of them.
Mostly, I’m petrified and completely sure that I’m not up to the task, which means that I must be absolutely sure of my calling, because God will always equip the ones He calls, but the pretentious have no such guarantee.