Sorry for the delayed update.
Here's something I've been thinking about: why do we think God thinks like us? Or maybe the better question is, why do we act like God thinks like us? This is going to be a difficult thing to try to conceptualize, but I am going to try nonetheless.
I've had a frustrating week, but it's been the little things that have frustrated me. . .the little things. You all know what types of things I'm talking about: details that are so unimportant in the eternal scheme that when you really reflect on them, you find yourself shocked that you ever even cared about them. I hate that I'm affected by these trivialities!
What I'm getting at is this: our distinction between the important and the unimportant, the trivial and the nontrivial, is our distinction. Take what follows for what it's worth, as I have no concrete theological basis for what I'm about to say, but I don't believe God operates in these distinctions. The basis for that argument is in the way God views sin. We know God sees all sins, big and small, as the same evil that separates us from Him. God does not distinguish between what we see as big and small sins. Why do we think he distinguishes between the big and the small in other parts of our lives? Maybe we don't show this outwardly or even think this explicitly, but do we believe in some corner of our minds that God doles out different levels of generosity, based on the "seriousness" of the situation? Different levels of blessing? Different levels of healing?
I think what I'm trying to say here is that I've been hung up on details lately, yet I've seen God really come through for me. His blessings have been there, even in situations that in retrospect seem so absurdly unimportant. I guess the relevant point for ROL might be that somehow we've got to convince ourselves the way we think about gifts, healings and blessings is probably nowhere close to the way God thinks about them. I think God is so big that what we see as "big" and "small" are pretty much the same to Him. . .kind of like how a billionaire sees another $1M pretty much the same as another $1K.
That took more words than I hoped. Sorry. Maybe you can help me boil down some of these points a little more briefly. And let's keep breaking the ice. . .what's something you do that you feel betrays your age (something you feel either childish doing, or more mature doing)? Mine is the way I drink out of a glass. If I don't put every effort into avoiding it, I will end up with a mustache of whatever substance is in the glass. That of course makes me feel juvenile. :)
Thanks for reading.
Jeff
wanderings, musings, and general commentary on the process of becoming more like Christ
4 comments:
Those are some deep thoughts, Jeff. ;) My dad let me know you had a new post up and I wanted to check it out. I think I hear what you are saying. I think that we tend to limit our view of God and the "big" things he can do. We are missing a lot because we are limiting God to our "small" view of what he can do. I've had a bit of a frustrating week myself and just keep thinking that I know that its not "God's will being done on earth as it is in Heaven" when I'm frustrated. I think He has so much more freedom and great plans that He is just waiting for my "small" ideas of who He is and what He can do to get out of the way. I pray that we can allow God's "bigness" in our lives and to stop letting out minds keep Him so "small".
I like what Andrea said, some real valid points, but my take on your thoughts, Jeff, are a bit different. What I hear you saying is we have a weighted system of what we consider to be important enough for God to care about. It is like we feel that we are troubling God with our small problems as if He had limited time and energy. I think of the hymn, "What A Friend We Have in Jesus." One line goes something like this, "Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
I think some of the times I have felt the most loved by God and stimulated in my faith is when He met my small needs/wants like when he provided a pair of running shoes for me when I was in YWAM.
I wonder if our lack of faith comes from a lack of taking our daily needs to Him so when the really big faith challenges come we don't have the confidence to believe Him for them. Anybody else have any thoughts?
Rod
This is kinda personal to me. finances. really, its hard for me to tell people bout my finances cuz i am so horrible in maintaining it. i spend a lot of money on stupid stuff like going out, when id know it would be a lot cheaper to just go down the street and buy some groceries at Winco. Currently, i ain't doing so well. i need to raise like 400 dollars so i can go
to Alaska and work up there and i really don't now how i am going to do it in like two weeks. in gods eyes he's probably going "haha, i have plans, this is no big deal", but to me its really stressful. so really, i need to put my faith in god and deal with it. if i dont go to alaska then whatever. it's not what i want its all bout gods plan.
i trust god will provide for me.
- nate.
You know how Christians sometimes say stuff like 'that verse jumped out of the Bible at me' - meaning that it really spoke to them loud and clear? I've personally only had that experience once but I will never forget it and I go back to it often when trying to weigh out a problem or frustration - those big or little things that sure can get to me at times.
So the verse that spoke volumes is "BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD". Psalm 46:10
I instantly recognized it was God saying to His out of sorts, frustrated child (me) relax, chill, be still, it's going to be OK; your part is to know Me. (BTW, we all need do a word-study on the word 'know').
I may or may not 'get' what you are trying to say here, Jeff, but what is interestingly noticeable are the comments. Each person relates to your thoughts from their own perspectives and situations. Needless to say, that is what we are most familiar with. In other words, we filter things through the self and the familiar. Trying to filter things through God is challenging because it's unfamiliar - we're all still learning to know Him, His ways, His thoughts and that these are not our ways or thoughts at all. Therein may lie a possible clue to answer the questions in the first paragraph.
So, it's hard for me to feel mature no matter my real age or the length of time I have been a believer, but boy, do I feel childish when, for the umpteenth time, I have to remind myself during a meltdown to be still and know that He is God!
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