For My Good -

Long overdue new post:

These posts are the thoughts and considerations of the great purposes of our lives and why those often become detoured due to our own activity or inactivity. These short parts will become the basis for a book entitled, "For My Good". Your comments are essential, needed, and welcomed.

When speaking with Tomas about becoming a Christian, he just smiled and rolled his eyes as they glazed over.

“Why should I give up going to the disco, chasing girls, drinking and smoking-- just to follow Jesus? I’d lose more than I would gain. You must be crazy. By the way, I’m still too young. I’ll just wait till I’m older.”

“No one really still believes all of that ethics stuff. If you want to get ahead, you’d better wake up and get with the program. Those rules are out of date.”

From the backstreets of Romania to the boardroom of corporate America, there is an undercurrent pulling at our lives. Since the Garden of Eden, we’ve convinced ourselves that we know what’s for our own good, our own best interests, our own safety, and our future. We’ve decided to disregard God’s instructions and commandments, with little concern of punishment, consequences, or damage.

But, the Bible paints a very different picture than our arrogance, naiveté and selfishness would care to admit. Old Testament prophets saw a clear picture between religion and reward, obedience and blessing, and poverty and punishment. It is clear that some things have changed in our relationship to God since man’s demise in the Garden. The veil of sin has forever tarnished our level of trust in God. Our sources for information are incomplete, misleading, deceptive, and inaccurate. Our views of life, history, and eternity are shortsighted due to pre-occupations with pleasure, plenty, and prevention.

Strikingly, there is a Biblical model for self-inflicted/fulfilling prophecies. The measure to which we give will be the measure that is returned to us (Luke 6:38). The punishment and harsh treatment that we dish out to others will in time be returned upon our own heads. There are ample excerpts in scripture that remind us that our reward will equal our service, intentions, actions, and motives.

Reflection:

1) Do you fully trust authority, leaders, and God? If not, why not?

2) Do you think there is a design and method to the Bible's message?

Thanks for reading and listening