I have been made aware of an unfortunate reality. It came about as a result of the this abridged version of my mental dialogue.
Hey Caleb,
hey
Do we love God?
probably
Is there a way to tell if we love God?
Love for God is defined by obedience. (John 14:23)
Do we like God?
sure, probably
But do we like God?
Don't be weird.
No, for real, how can we say we love God if you don't like Him? How can we be excited for heaven which is eternal fellowship with God if we don't even enjoy hanging out with Him here?
ummmm well I will think about that.
Conclusion: I don't really like God that much, I don't wake up in the morning excited for a new day full of God's presence. I look forward to being with God because it prepares me for life not because I like just being with God. I obey God because He is my Lord. I honor God because He is my savior. I don't like God because I just don't know him as a very likable person. To me He seems big impersonal demanding and often cold and insensitive.
Click the link http://ask.fm/sirlagan ask me a question.
Someone asked me a question about heroes. My brain got excited because I have lots of heroes. Military heroes(Robert E Lee, Genghis Khan Isoroku Yamamoto) religious heroes (Athanasius, Paphutius, Hudson Taylor), fictional heroes(Gandalf, Reepicheep, Luna Lovegood.) As I was creating this long mental list I had this realization. "Gosh, Jesus is not on this list, shouldn't He be on this list? Why isn't He on this list? What the heck is wrong with me, if anyone is heroic Jesus is the ultimate hero of heroes. Like every conceivable definition for hero applies to Jesus.All the avengers and Batman together aren't worth half of Jesus"
Whenever I think about or read books my heroes my heart goes pitter patter and jumpity bump in my chest. I am inspired and humbled and motivated all at the same time. And now it's like what do I do now? If anyone should inspire us it's Jesus. But the reality is, for most of us He doesn't We read about Him, we watch movies about Him, we hear from other people about Him. We are thankful for Jesus, we praise Him and we try to obey Him but when we right down to it most of us don't really like Jesus. Not that we dislike Him but He doesn't come to mind as somebody cool or somebody we want to tell our friends we want to be like. So what do we do with this obvious paradox. What do you do when a person is a certain way and you just don't see it. Someone tells a joke and you recognize the humor and understand the punch line but it just doesn't provoke a laugh? What does it mean when you're driving early in the morning and you see the sun bloom up over a hill in all it's glorious gold and pinks and somehow your soul is not aware of the beauty you know is present? What has happened to Jesus? What have we done to Him that billions of people across the globe can claimed to have been saved by him and yet very few of them will spend as much time with Him as they will with their video game avatars.
This is conjecture now but I think heroes are heroes to us because they make the decisions that we would or like to think we would make in those same circumstances. So if I was the Norse God of Thunder with no college debt and a magical hammer I'd like to believe that I would choose to save mankind and fight for what's right. Now if most of us are honest with ourselves, we wouldn't do things the way Jesus does. Ask yourself, "if I were God with ultimate power and authority would I really let (inset name) have to deal with such a (insert difficult situation)?" We don't understand God, we don't trust God, we don't like His methods and we most of the time we don't really like Him. Maybe we like the way He made us feel that one time but I'd wager that most every human being if given God's power would have done things differently.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
In the present we are encouraged to delight in the Lord. Delight in the Lord as He is. Not in what He used to do. Not in what He's going to do. Not in what He did for that other guy. God did not disappear when Jesus rose from the dead nor is He on vacation until when Jesus returns. The Holy Spirit is within believers right now, empowering them and manifesting God's power in the world today. Let us delight ourselves in the Lord. Let us learn to humble ourselves, stop presuming we know better than God how to run the world that He created and just enjoy being His children.
I don't know exactly how to do this. Church History seems to indicate that taking delight in the Lord has looked very different throughout history depending on the specific person involved. Essential principles would be similar to the principles we use when making friends. Our friendships with each other are supposed to be reflections of the relationship within the trinity. So things like being respectful, being honest, being a good listener and being willing to work through misunderstanding and hurt feelings are what will allow us to delight in the Lord.
It's difficult to write all this because it's something I'm very bad at. I write as a student seeking to learn how to delight in the Lord. Despite my lack of knowledge and experience in delighting in the Lord I end this post encouraged. Because, whatever else this Psalm teaches and despite whatever nonsense I've said in the last few paragraphs I know that God is a delightful being. I can delight in the God of my salvation. I can be inspired, motivated, encouraged and excited by Jesus. He can be my hero in addition to my king and I can wake up tomorrow excited because He will be there to greet me. He'll be in the sun shining in my window. the chill waiting outside my blankets, the unexpected sibling who needs me to drive them and the unexpected cup of tea that mom brings me when I'm feeling depressed about not having a job.
He who has an ear let Him hear what the Spirit of God is whispering to us.
Hey Caleb,
hey
Do we love God?
probably
Is there a way to tell if we love God?
Love for God is defined by obedience. (John 14:23)
Do we like God?
sure, probably
But do we like God?
Don't be weird.
No, for real, how can we say we love God if you don't like Him? How can we be excited for heaven which is eternal fellowship with God if we don't even enjoy hanging out with Him here?
ummmm well I will think about that.
Conclusion: I don't really like God that much, I don't wake up in the morning excited for a new day full of God's presence. I look forward to being with God because it prepares me for life not because I like just being with God. I obey God because He is my Lord. I honor God because He is my savior. I don't like God because I just don't know him as a very likable person. To me He seems big impersonal demanding and often cold and insensitive.
Click the link http://ask.fm/sirlagan ask me a question.
Someone asked me a question about heroes. My brain got excited because I have lots of heroes. Military heroes(Robert E Lee, Genghis Khan Isoroku Yamamoto) religious heroes (Athanasius, Paphutius, Hudson Taylor), fictional heroes(Gandalf, Reepicheep, Luna Lovegood.) As I was creating this long mental list I had this realization. "Gosh, Jesus is not on this list, shouldn't He be on this list? Why isn't He on this list? What the heck is wrong with me, if anyone is heroic Jesus is the ultimate hero of heroes. Like every conceivable definition for hero applies to Jesus.All the avengers and Batman together aren't worth half of Jesus"
Whenever I think about or read books my heroes my heart goes pitter patter and jumpity bump in my chest. I am inspired and humbled and motivated all at the same time. And now it's like what do I do now? If anyone should inspire us it's Jesus. But the reality is, for most of us He doesn't We read about Him, we watch movies about Him, we hear from other people about Him. We are thankful for Jesus, we praise Him and we try to obey Him but when we right down to it most of us don't really like Jesus. Not that we dislike Him but He doesn't come to mind as somebody cool or somebody we want to tell our friends we want to be like. So what do we do with this obvious paradox. What do you do when a person is a certain way and you just don't see it. Someone tells a joke and you recognize the humor and understand the punch line but it just doesn't provoke a laugh? What does it mean when you're driving early in the morning and you see the sun bloom up over a hill in all it's glorious gold and pinks and somehow your soul is not aware of the beauty you know is present? What has happened to Jesus? What have we done to Him that billions of people across the globe can claimed to have been saved by him and yet very few of them will spend as much time with Him as they will with their video game avatars.
This is conjecture now but I think heroes are heroes to us because they make the decisions that we would or like to think we would make in those same circumstances. So if I was the Norse God of Thunder with no college debt and a magical hammer I'd like to believe that I would choose to save mankind and fight for what's right. Now if most of us are honest with ourselves, we wouldn't do things the way Jesus does. Ask yourself, "if I were God with ultimate power and authority would I really let (inset name) have to deal with such a (insert difficult situation)?" We don't understand God, we don't trust God, we don't like His methods and we most of the time we don't really like Him. Maybe we like the way He made us feel that one time but I'd wager that most every human being if given God's power would have done things differently.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
In the present we are encouraged to delight in the Lord. Delight in the Lord as He is. Not in what He used to do. Not in what He's going to do. Not in what He did for that other guy. God did not disappear when Jesus rose from the dead nor is He on vacation until when Jesus returns. The Holy Spirit is within believers right now, empowering them and manifesting God's power in the world today. Let us delight ourselves in the Lord. Let us learn to humble ourselves, stop presuming we know better than God how to run the world that He created and just enjoy being His children.
I don't know exactly how to do this. Church History seems to indicate that taking delight in the Lord has looked very different throughout history depending on the specific person involved. Essential principles would be similar to the principles we use when making friends. Our friendships with each other are supposed to be reflections of the relationship within the trinity. So things like being respectful, being honest, being a good listener and being willing to work through misunderstanding and hurt feelings are what will allow us to delight in the Lord.
It's difficult to write all this because it's something I'm very bad at. I write as a student seeking to learn how to delight in the Lord. Despite my lack of knowledge and experience in delighting in the Lord I end this post encouraged. Because, whatever else this Psalm teaches and despite whatever nonsense I've said in the last few paragraphs I know that God is a delightful being. I can delight in the God of my salvation. I can be inspired, motivated, encouraged and excited by Jesus. He can be my hero in addition to my king and I can wake up tomorrow excited because He will be there to greet me. He'll be in the sun shining in my window. the chill waiting outside my blankets, the unexpected sibling who needs me to drive them and the unexpected cup of tea that mom brings me when I'm feeling depressed about not having a job.
He who has an ear let Him hear what the Spirit of God is whispering to us.
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