WHAT LOOKING DEEPER HAS MEANT
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
From the time we began teaching again on the parables of Jesus, and in particular since sharing the story of my childhood encounter with God's Spirit I have been asking myself the question of what has happened to me in the years I have been seeking spiritual wisdom?
As in all pursuits for me this started out as a kind of natural process of interest in life as I was trying to find out the meanings to things around me. My quest has never been toward getting a worldly education, but more of a spiritual one where I would have something important besides my own ego to carry with me in life. Without ever realizing it I have never been drawn to competition with others but to the use of whatever understanding or talent I have had to communicate with others and to create. When I was young my greatest desire was to create something within a day. It may have been a piece of art work or something musically, and later in life I began to realize that I could create emotions and do that through writing or speaking to others.
I have been known where ever I go to create Napkin Art for a waitress whenever I ate somewhere, and then to leave it with them as a part of a "Thank you" for good service. I don't know how many people have remembered me after one or two visits at a restaurant. My point in saying this to set a stage for what I need to say to you today...here and now. From the time I had that conversation as a small child with God looking at the cloud formations until now my life has not been easy. I have tried (as we all do) to find something to blame this on and yet there is not one thing other than the fact I still believe that God has been preparing me all of my life for what is taking place right now. In that preparation I believe that I have been supposed to have all of what has happened in my life take place as a part of the training. All that has been both good and bad which has occurred within my life has been somehow over seen by God's Spirit within me to fulfill a purpose. I do not believe that I could have gained the spiritual wisdom or have been able to absorb the information I have needed to help others today without God somehow leading me through each and every mistake I have made in my life or trial that I have had. In many ways my life has been made up of many sorrows for I have lost people and situations that should have broken me, and in fact has broken me at various times of my life; but within that experience there has somehow always been a purpose.
Just tonight I was looking through the beginning of Proverbs 1: 1-7 and realizing that the same kind of thinking was in his struggles to find answers just as mine has been. Much of what my life has been is found in the understanding of what was going on for him as he started writing. Contrasting, comparing, and complementing were the areas that God placed within Solomon's life, and even though it has been extremely painful for me I am only now beginning to understand how my life too has had those elements in it.
As we continue perhaps I will be able to share more of that process with you. The contrast between what I have always wanted to have in life and the differences that life itself has brought to be has been like living out a proverb in my life. As I have compared my life with what I thought life should be I have found a definite change in it's application to a simple solution; which has been obedience. The complementing parts of this are rather simple too in that these two areas of contrast, and comparison have become a key for me to understanding people and the problems we all have...thus developing spiritual wisdom. It's also true that Solomon got so deep into this process that it drove him insane toward the end so it is important to know when to let things go. Believe me when I say that this whole rant from me today does make sense as we will begin to apply it to our lives in future blogs...I hope you stick with me long enough to get the real meaning...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
From the time we began teaching again on the parables of Jesus, and in particular since sharing the story of my childhood encounter with God's Spirit I have been asking myself the question of what has happened to me in the years I have been seeking spiritual wisdom?
As in all pursuits for me this started out as a kind of natural process of interest in life as I was trying to find out the meanings to things around me. My quest has never been toward getting a worldly education, but more of a spiritual one where I would have something important besides my own ego to carry with me in life. Without ever realizing it I have never been drawn to competition with others but to the use of whatever understanding or talent I have had to communicate with others and to create. When I was young my greatest desire was to create something within a day. It may have been a piece of art work or something musically, and later in life I began to realize that I could create emotions and do that through writing or speaking to others.
I have been known where ever I go to create Napkin Art for a waitress whenever I ate somewhere, and then to leave it with them as a part of a "Thank you" for good service. I don't know how many people have remembered me after one or two visits at a restaurant. My point in saying this to set a stage for what I need to say to you today...here and now. From the time I had that conversation as a small child with God looking at the cloud formations until now my life has not been easy. I have tried (as we all do) to find something to blame this on and yet there is not one thing other than the fact I still believe that God has been preparing me all of my life for what is taking place right now. In that preparation I believe that I have been supposed to have all of what has happened in my life take place as a part of the training. All that has been both good and bad which has occurred within my life has been somehow over seen by God's Spirit within me to fulfill a purpose. I do not believe that I could have gained the spiritual wisdom or have been able to absorb the information I have needed to help others today without God somehow leading me through each and every mistake I have made in my life or trial that I have had. In many ways my life has been made up of many sorrows for I have lost people and situations that should have broken me, and in fact has broken me at various times of my life; but within that experience there has somehow always been a purpose.
Just tonight I was looking through the beginning of Proverbs 1: 1-7 and realizing that the same kind of thinking was in his struggles to find answers just as mine has been. Much of what my life has been is found in the understanding of what was going on for him as he started writing. Contrasting, comparing, and complementing were the areas that God placed within Solomon's life, and even though it has been extremely painful for me I am only now beginning to understand how my life too has had those elements in it.
As we continue perhaps I will be able to share more of that process with you. The contrast between what I have always wanted to have in life and the differences that life itself has brought to be has been like living out a proverb in my life. As I have compared my life with what I thought life should be I have found a definite change in it's application to a simple solution; which has been obedience. The complementing parts of this are rather simple too in that these two areas of contrast, and comparison have become a key for me to understanding people and the problems we all have...thus developing spiritual wisdom. It's also true that Solomon got so deep into this process that it drove him insane toward the end so it is important to know when to let things go. Believe me when I say that this whole rant from me today does make sense as we will begin to apply it to our lives in future blogs...I hope you stick with me long enough to get the real meaning...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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