The goal

I only gripe and complain because I haven't yet learned to overcome the difficulties and discomforts in life. Phil 4:11 is the goal and the introduction to the solution.

Another not a bible verse

A patient man will lean in and consider, with a desire to understand, while the haughty will scoff and turn his head.

obvious-ism

I consume my day at the expense of my day. To try and hold onto my day is grasping at the wind. I can't have my day and live it, too.

Sin is so sticky

That is how I see the scenario involving a man who seemingly has achieved abundance, reaching heights far above and rare for any member of humanity ever (see Ecclesiastes), and then they say something about being miserable. The more self-involved a person gets, the further away from God he feels. When the man begins to notice the separation from the Father, from the one who can be professed as Savior, he begins to feel the absence of peace, and he is reminded that he is human, and mortal, and something pulls at him in that lack of abiding, and he begins assessing the abyss, and assessing the distance between God and himself.

Does this distance provoke the man to give up their previously mentioned earthly pursuits?

The sin is so sticky. Like flypaper. It operates with an enhanced strength. Like a glue trap we can be stuck to our sin, to our greed and selfishness, to our achievement and ambition, to our entertainment and frivolity, to whatever we are doing which is not for the glory of God -because how could it be?-, when it is clearly for the glory of SELF. For everything we do should be done for the glory of God (1 corinthians 10:31). Where is the glory in all that oneness? Where is the glory in all that self sufficiency that disregards the existence of time and chance? Did man wake himself up one day and say, "I am conscious."? Did man put himself to sleep by anything other than biological function?

From what I can tell, Jesus Christ is held at "arms length" to be simply said, and true peace remains absent. Because the closer we get to worldly peace, the less we acknowledge God and the substance of His provision. We are closest to Him when we fully rely on His presence, and are fully aware of His gifts. Every step, every movement, every breath.

Therefore the richest, most successful man in the world can remain miserable, because the sin is so sticky. Jesus told the rich young man to sell everything he owned and give it to the poor (Matthew 19:21-24), but it was so sticky. And he walked away, miserable.

Where thoughts exist

If you will, imagine, inside the tiniest speck of matter inside your physical brain there is an ocean. It extends across the horizon, from east to west, all ocean, no beach,… well, some beach... where you stand and look out as far as you can see. The skies above change; the surface of the water, static. This is where thought lives. And rolling beneath it all, deep, deep, under the sometimes murky, sometimes gorgeous water is an undercurrent that glows a phosphorescent aqua-blue where all ideas exist and roil, calm and contained.

To be is to be

What is it about God and choice? God knows who are the called, His called, and He has seen the consequences of all choice made by such and not such. It is against His perfection to control the man who makes the choice or else there would be no free will. Are we guilty of asking (so often), "Why doesn't He do anything?" during our trials and suffering without acknowledging we have made the choices that have placed us here? He sees the choices of the uncalled and works them together for the good of those who love God and are the called. In His omnipresence He has seen past, present and future, all at once, and in His omnipotence has held complete control, knowing in His omniscience the entirety of them all.

The uncalled will continue to act out their free will without accountability, because they do not acknowledge God. He is not a reality and hell will be no surprise. Such would be the contents of a particular package, inside the box is the same which is printed on the outside.

However, the called will be shepherded through the valley of their own creation (because of free will) according to His plan and purpose. They do acknowledge Him, and they give Him complete ownership of their lives, over both their obedience and their rebellion.

To be one of the called is a choice, one that is already known by the Creator. For God knows who are His even before they are created. The moment one makes such a choice has no bearing on their life, for God already knew the choice would be made, down to the second. Just as God knows in the free will of the uncalled no such choice would ever be made. Those who commit this unpardonable sin are oblivious to sin itself. It is when sin is acknowledged, and repentance begins to emerge, that the knock comes at the door. He does not force love on us; is there anyone comfortable knowing their admirers are there by favor of request? No, He offers His inexorable love to us with the hope we will accept it deeply and desirously, not out of obligation. He is a jealous God, and oh what a heart-wrenching feeling it is to know that God Almighty wants me for Himself.

One true constant

There is no choice above the soil
There is task and there is toil;
Boil the bread and bake the oil
Always task and always toil.