Haters gonna hate will be continued...

Thanks for some classics Bekah!

Haters gonna hate Pt. 2

Some may call this the misgivings of an ignorant reality, but I continue to believe  that the reality in which they deem real is nothing more than the habits of historical survival or the historical necessities of the human body.  Given the plain audacity to assume that all human beings share similar “necessities” is quite ignorant.  However, I believe it’s safe to assume that the human condition has become religious.  Religion in the sense that it becomes our culture through ideas, truths, values, and belief systems that emanate into the daily living of our lives and shape what we call faith.   

We all have faith in something that is certain and has been proven.  However, the act of putting forth that faith into daily living is something else entirely.  It seems easy to have faith, but we constantly underestimate its nature.  Faith and works are inseparable.  Works are the inherent nature of faith.  We’ve heard it said by those before us, “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”  How condescending when our lives are perpetually perpendicular to that of Christ.  We have fallen under the idea that living as Christ in the moment is sufficient enough to be considered like Christ. 

Many of us have already declared our profession or job that we choose to seek for.  Do we ask ourselves how much of our lives it will take? Do we consider the cost of taking a job that requires all your physical, mental, and social abilities?  This job will become your center in life, whether you have a family or not.  It will give you reasons not to quit and provide many comforts for you and your family.  This job may not be your dream job, but it’s a necessary step to go through to achieve that dream.  It’s the sacrifice of your time and energy of your youth so you can live as you want to live.  Is this really the reality we live in?  Must we believe that this is path that is ahead of us regardless of our passions and hobbies?  I just want to ask a few questions.  Could Matthew have followed Christ and been a tax collector?  What about the other disciples?  We tend to forget the cost of following Jesus is Jesus.  Yet many of us only see Jesus on a Sunday morning.  Christ has shown us how to live spiritually.  Why can we seem spiritually stagnant and idle during the week and on Sundays feel revived?   Why do we live in a cycle of mediocrity?  

 I believe that when following Christ truly becomes the center of your existence the answers to these questions become evident in various ways.  What is most important in your life?  Not in your dreams, but in your daily life.  How can a Lord be called “our” Lord when His commands are disobeyed?  Following Christ is following Christ.  There is no looking left or right when your goal is to follow.  If you look left or right you may end up lost in a false reality of what is “necessary” and what seems to be “important”.    

On old conversation I once had with The Buffalo

The Trolling Lure

Oh how easy it is to miss the point.  To have a cave full of knowledge that ceases to reach the surface.  To be secure in the comforts of our daily routines and bask in the predictability we hold on to.  We seem to believe our lives are predictable and worth clinging onto as if the crutch's we use have a grip on the ground besides our feet.  A lure is named precisely for it's purpose.  They come in many different shapes, colors and sizes for each selective catch.  Some are shiny, while others are dull.  A lure is a lure.  Like Judas, we hold our lure in one hand and take communion with the other.  We're unassured that we can trust Jesus with both hands in receiving the body and blood of Christ.  Believe that Jesus is worth more than the shiny lure that once hooked your hands and continues to float while you troll down the current of your sinking boat.

 Lord, keep our minds on things of God and not of man.

A short story

This is a short story that I recently read.  There's many more stories like this one, but this is one of the shortest ones in the book.  It's an addition to a story that many have heard, but may not have understood. Anyways...here it goes. 

A Miracle Without Miracle 

     After Jesus had descended from the mount of Olives he came across a man who had been blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he cannot see?" 

     Jesus answered, "it was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but the works of God might be displayed in him.  We must carry out the works of him who sent me while it is day, for night is approaching, when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

     Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva.  Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "My friend, go, wash in the pool of Siloam."  So the man went and washed and returned in jubilation, shouting, "I can see, I can see!"  

     The neighbors and those who knew him as a beggar began to grumble, saying, "Has this man lost his mind?  for he was born blind."  Some said, "It is the same man who was blind."  Others said, "No, it is not, but he is like him."  In response to this grumbling, the old man kept repeating, "I am the same man.  Jesus anointed my eyes and said, 'Go to Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and now I can see everything."  

    To ascertain what had happened, they brought him to the Pharisees.  "Give glory to God,"  they said.  "We know that this man Jesus is a sinner."  But the old man answered, "Whether or not he is a sinner I do not know.  One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."  

     But the Pharisees began to laugh.  "Old man, meeting Jesus has caused you to lose your mind.  You had to be carried into this room by friends, you still stumble and fall like a fool.  You are as blind today as the day you were born."  

     "That may be true,"  replied the old man with a long, deep smile, "as I have told you before.  All I know is that yesterday I was blind, but today, today I can see."

The fear of silence

 Volume up, awareness down.  Phone out of pocket = safety net.  Over chatter, the awkwardness avoided.  Phew…glad that's over with.  I can now go back to my living room, sit back and enjoy some time with the T.V. It doesn't talk back, and I have full control of it.  Unless the batteries run out of course.  What then?  If my phones dies, how can manage my time?  If I don''t speak more, the awkwardness begins to emerge.  Why is this true?  Why do we fear the silence.  What is in the silence that's so frightening?  Is not our entire culture focused on keeping us from entering silence. 

Most all of us (those who might be reading this) have been acculturated to avoid silence at all costs.  Unless of course we're experiencing an emotional experience that's acceptable according to your circumstance and your surroundings.  Yes, yes there are times to be silent and a time to speak, but who draws that line and to what is the angle drawn at  in our lives.  We are not only physical.  Our society loves to preach the gospel of material existence, but is that all we are.  Is the human body simply an organ? Are we only what we can dissect with a scalp and see in a mirror?  No, No! We are more. However, we are partly blinded.  Somewhere between what we see and what we feel determines what we are.  Are we not spiritual? 

As Christian's we should understand what we are.  We are spiritual beings.  This shouldn't come as a shock!  The problem is simply the fact that it does, and our culture rejects this notion.  Of course it does!  Why wouldn't it?  The use of rejection is only applicable if something is there to be rejected.  In our case it's spirituality and it's being rejected by television, movies, phones, and games.  These are not the only forms of distractions either.  What about financial success, reputation, pride, image, and comfort.  The list is continuous and will continue to grow without restraint or thought.  What then is the point of silence?

In order to see you must first hear.  The disciple's saw Jesus with their own eyes, but this didn't ensure understanding.  Your eyes can deceive you. In order to hear you must read.  Read, think, and listen.  Maybe then our eyes will adjust to see reality and not just its shadow.  "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you."  James 1:19-21 (Just read the whole chapter)