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.

Wickedness is unfavorable

For we do not war against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

-Ephesians 6:12

I am not your enemy. You are not my enemy. He or she is not your enemy. It is the situation, the attitude. The evil that controls men's actions. Hatred and disgust of a person is not necessary nor should it be allowed to pervade the mind. The person is a spiritual host to be loved, knowing that if the characteristics which are so bothersome, so tedious, so offensive- if they could only be eradicated, made to not exist, to be vanquished, what you would be left with is a shell of a human being ready to be filled with love. Ready to be covered and lavished with acceptance and understanding. Knowing that we are, that I am, one behaviour away from being the source of all the aforementioned negative qualities: evil, hatred, disgust, bothersome, tedious, offensive. But I am not your enemy. Empty me of all offending qualities and I am you. You are me and I am to treat you as I would be treated. To love you as myself.

Above the law?

The instance where a non-violent, otherwise inactive citizen is found to be in possession of illicit materials is still the observance of criminal activity and the self-serving disregard for what a law-making nation may deem as preferred behavior.

Such as in a family setting, the alcoholic significant other may say, "what are you giving me grief for, I wasn't doing anything wrong," when confronted with the contentive act whilst truly harming no one other than themselves, the same may similarly occur in the aforementioned circumstance. The person was minding their business, pursuing their happiness.

But do we really want to excuse this type of behavior to just exist around us, unscrupulous individuals working outside the norms of society? We may resign to say corruption is too widespread and therefore the inclination presents to just give up. All the while such individuals and behaviors mock the very system that we subscribe to, at whatever level we reluctantly or submissively choose to do so.