This pic, which I've posted before, is Bunratty castle. I believe the
pic is from freefoto.com. I found another site with history on the
castle. I promise I'll be brief, at least here, since I'm on a soapbox today. Here's a
small piece of history from
http://www.shannonheritage.com/Bunratty_Day.htm
The
site on which Bunratty Castle stands was in origin a Viking Trading
Camp in 970. The present structure is the last of four castles to be
built on the site. Robert De Muscegros, a Norman, built the first
defensive fortress (an earthen mound with a strong wooden tower on
top) in 1250. His lands were later granted to Thomas De Clare who
built the first stone castle on the site. About this time Bunratty
became a large town of 1,000 inhabitants
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OK, now onto the soapbox.
Two things are on my mind today: God's will vs our will, and God's thoughts and ways vs our thoughts, aka "human reasoning."
For centuries, we have bought into the mindset that because the OT says
God's thoughts are higher than ours, and His ways higher than ours, and
Paul talks as thought he is putting down human reasoning in the NT,
that human reasoning is corrupt, malicious, and dangerous. We look at
the reasoning capacity of those "in the world" as even worse and often
treat "them" with condescension and disrespect as a result. These
things ought not to be so.
In addition, we place a wedge between "God's will" and "our will" in a
way that sets us up for unnecessary skirmishes with ourselves and
others, and even with God. There are people who teach, and too many who
believe and preach to others, that if it's something you want, if it's
something that would be pleasant, if it agrees with your general
inclinations and desires, it cannot be God's will. On the other hand,
if it is totally disagreeable to you, if it involves pain, sacrifice,
self-denial, it must be God's will. These things ought not to be so.
When God approached Abraham about His plans for Sodom and Gomorrah, He
invited Abraham to input his will, his reasoning, his ideas. I have
never - ever - heard anyone in Christian circles point out the
possibility that God wanted to get Abraham's input for the sole reason
that He wanted Abraham to think, thereby honoring human reasoning and
human will. Never! Da nadda!
Our relationship with God is to be one of loving partnership in the
created world. It is not Master/ slave, nor is it Sugar Daddy/ spoiled
brat. But these poles are what we see, and how we approach God, too
often. Our relationship with God is to be one of loving partnership,
the Loving Creator/ the beloved creation, with God remaining sovereign.
And sovereign does not mean to the exclusion of all that we are or all that we think and feel.
Comments (10)
I'll second that notion, and add another one.
Yesterday, I was talking to a friend (PastorJ) about the idea that if God never changes, then God is stagnant, and He seems to be anything but that. We've taken the idea of God remaining rock steady (go No Doubt) to an extreme when it was really just Him talking about His own character. Like you said, Abraham, and later Moses, changed God's mind on things when He was ready to be done with a certain group of people.
Following that, last night driving home, He began to tell me things about how I didn't have to stay a virgin and He really was never telling me to anyway. Not that I want to go out and have sex with everybody or anything, He was just saying that this wasn't right and that wasn't always wrong. There basically isn't much right or wrong because of perspective. However, He did say there's the best way of going about something, such as sex, that it's best when one does wait.
What if God went with your will? What if He trusted His own work enough to put His confidence in the decisions that free will being would make. Hasn't He already? We have His name, the authority that is second to none, can we be more trusted than that? That's a heavy weight, the weight of Glory both in us and others around us.
Basically it's not about being in 'the will of God' but enjoying the life that He's offered us, whether abundant or not. I told Him friday night that I didn't care if I lived every day for Him just so long as I wasn't living everyday for myself. And He seemed quite pleased with that in itself. Finally, a son that can think for himself.
"Our relationship with God is to be one of loving partnership, the Loving Creator/ the beloved creation, with God remaining sovereign."
Thanks...that puts a smile in my heart today.
...Jim
I'm just gonna amen all this and the comment on my site. No, I'm not lazy. 'Tis all that need be said has been said, except some gratitude. Thank You.
No, I be off to bed. I feel mys thoughts becoming sleep-deprived-induced which may soon to myself ramblin on about how I love hashbrowns and have shoulderblades and other such random things....
This would not be a pretty sight.
Nah, I've never relied much in human reasoning, mainly because I find it weak and at some points destructive. I have always based mine in faith and optimism.
Amen, sister.
two texts come to mind we'll see if I can remember both. First is from John. Joh 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. Through the Holy Spirit, God does make Himself known to us. The second is from Psalms. Psa 37:4 Delight yourself also in Jehovah, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. When we are following God with all our hearts our minds become as His mind. Jesus said "Ask and you will receive" and this is true when we ask according to His will. I think the biggest problem is that most of us (at least me) are too often working in the "flesh" not in the "Spirit" and therefore our thoughts are truly not close to God's.
Tim
There may be some truth to this, but fortunately these are not the words of Jesus Christ. If they had been, He may have reasoned that He really didn't need to go to the Cross, or come to earth, or go through what He went through because of His unchanging Love.
Sounds to me like maybe you don't really want to truly identify with Christ. The idea of crucifixion just doesn't sound reasonable does it? I'm glad you are not my Savior.