Sunday, February 19, 2006
Getting Up
Karen, newest member of my little pick-up Weblog Fellowship, asks about getting up again after being knocked over. How many times can you be kicked over before you just give up and stay on the ground?
Some people rate the sincerity of a follower of Jesus by the number of times they've gotten up after being knocked over. There's an element of truth to this, except that often they go around looking for ways to get pushed over, and then brag about it.
The goal of life isn't to lie on the ground. Nor is it to get up and go looking for trouble. The idea is to do things, and in the doing sometimes you fall over. There's no need to seek trouble. If you start something you're going to get flack, no matter how small a thing it is.
For some, for part of their lives, it's asking enough for them to just get out of bed. For others, the world is too small and they're constantly adding to their lists of things to do. The latter rarely understand the former, and usually abuse them if only in their thoughts.
Getting knocked over is a sign of standing out. Set up a sand sculpture on the beach and you're sure to get a few people who want to knock it over just because they can. A level beach is, apparently, God's ideal. This is Satan's way of getting people to keep their heads down, which is why we so need God's help every time we poke our heads above the rim of our foxholes.
Somewhere between quitting and volunteering for every available mission is God's path from the comfort of his breast to the rigors of doing things that have never been done before. Only he is competent to guide us on that path because only he is free of our biases, assumptions, silly beliefs and crackpot ideas picked up from other people.
I think that we just don't know how seriously odd God's ways are. We keep trying to cast him and his actions in human terms, and that just doesn't work. I need to quit assuming I know who God is and let him teach me. I carry around 50-odd years' accumulated junk, and I hold to it with a literal death grip because it's familiar. God has to pry me away, finger by finger.
So, it starts with spiritual eye surgery. I have to learn to see. Then maybe getting up will look worthwhile.
Some people rate the sincerity of a follower of Jesus by the number of times they've gotten up after being knocked over. There's an element of truth to this, except that often they go around looking for ways to get pushed over, and then brag about it.
The goal of life isn't to lie on the ground. Nor is it to get up and go looking for trouble. The idea is to do things, and in the doing sometimes you fall over. There's no need to seek trouble. If you start something you're going to get flack, no matter how small a thing it is.
For some, for part of their lives, it's asking enough for them to just get out of bed. For others, the world is too small and they're constantly adding to their lists of things to do. The latter rarely understand the former, and usually abuse them if only in their thoughts.
Getting knocked over is a sign of standing out. Set up a sand sculpture on the beach and you're sure to get a few people who want to knock it over just because they can. A level beach is, apparently, God's ideal. This is Satan's way of getting people to keep their heads down, which is why we so need God's help every time we poke our heads above the rim of our foxholes.
Somewhere between quitting and volunteering for every available mission is God's path from the comfort of his breast to the rigors of doing things that have never been done before. Only he is competent to guide us on that path because only he is free of our biases, assumptions, silly beliefs and crackpot ideas picked up from other people.
I think that we just don't know how seriously odd God's ways are. We keep trying to cast him and his actions in human terms, and that just doesn't work. I need to quit assuming I know who God is and let him teach me. I carry around 50-odd years' accumulated junk, and I hold to it with a literal death grip because it's familiar. God has to pry me away, finger by finger.
So, it starts with spiritual eye surgery. I have to learn to see. Then maybe getting up will look worthwhile.
# posted by Larry @ 10:01 
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Somewhere between quitting and volunteering for every available mission is God's path from the comfort of his breast to the rigors of doing things that have never been done before. Only he is competent to guide us on that path because only he is free of our biases, assumptions, silly beliefs and crackpot ideas picked up from other people.
Reading in Numbers this morning and lamenting my need for a cloud...I would follow you know if I had a cloud...and our inability to HEAR from God....because we won't quiet to hear Him...thanks for your writing this morning.......becky
Reading in Numbers this morning and lamenting my need for a cloud...I would follow you know if I had a cloud...and our inability to HEAR from God....because we won't quiet to hear Him...thanks for your writing this morning.......becky
I'm reading this in a prone position...resting and feeling guilty for resting! You both woke me up with your words. You're so right.
We have to be quiet enough to hear Him and know that He is not like us. Making Him in our terms and trying to understand His work in us in human terms...just doesn't work. I have felt the judgment of others in my journey through my life...in dealing with health and spiritual issues. It smarts sometimes and I stand back and look at myself and my motivations and responses to obstacles. I only have to please Him. I get up for Him.
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We have to be quiet enough to hear Him and know that He is not like us. Making Him in our terms and trying to understand His work in us in human terms...just doesn't work. I have felt the judgment of others in my journey through my life...in dealing with health and spiritual issues. It smarts sometimes and I stand back and look at myself and my motivations and responses to obstacles. I only have to please Him. I get up for Him.
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