Is your comfort a fair exchange for the truth?

Today's entry is rather long, but I pray that you'll spiritually benefit from the essence of its content.

Pilate asked, "What is truth" as if to suggest the consideration at hand is left up to individual providing the interpretation in order to discern the truth.

How will such an opinion meet with the realities within the scope of eternity?

I suppose one could momentarily satisfy this seemingly mysterious consideration based solely upon their belief as to what takes place after their body is pronounced lifeless.

However the question still remains, "Will such a conclusion satisfy the reality that awaits all mankind"?

Deception in the moment is the continuation of the greater deception regarding the eternal consideration.

Disregard for righteous considerations in this life will prove to be the deception which then performed as the intention(s) from day to day.

Much could be said with respect to paying "Attention", yet paying attention to the availability of a specific freedom which truth presents at every turn as the Mercy and Grace of God comes with the reward which is eternal.

A man can make the claim that he was touched by a God and that be a true statement having accepted the minimum that God created all things. Is that the requirement though in terms of also truly "Knowing" the one and only God?

It is my opinion of one making the claim to also know the one true God which has touched them, first requires believing the words He spoke in the beginning.

Words which are received, judged and proved to be true by way of the righteous evidence that He did touch them with the light of the truth.

Otherwise wouldn't that person have had to have been with God since time began having come forth from the truth?

John 1:1-2
In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. 
NIV

John 18:37
"You are a king, then!" said Pilate .

Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.
NIV

These were the words spoken from the Apostle Paul which I think express just how convinced he now was of Christ as well the promise of Christ revealed in him.

Gal 1:15-17
But when God, who set me apart from birth  and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
NIV

Today within Christianity, where does the consideration for being a pagan and or gentile fit? Could it be more than those which are not of Jewish decent? Further to mean those (unbelievers) which are presently outside of Christ?

What I believe is that it took Paul many years to live out (through) the dynamics of his revelation en route to finding himself able to script the essence of his "Great Revelation" as the Gospel Jesus preached.

I believe what we read today as his testimony can be read just as clear as he suggested when he wrote it, yet what some find difficult is interpreting the essence of his message which compliments the Gospel Jesus preached as he (Paul) attempts to point us towards the "Man" Jesus the "Christ" (the savior of man).

I can see where said believers today that would like to move deeper into the realm of righteousness Jesus presented could find themselves struggling with essence of Paul's instructions to follow (imitate) him in that same effort.

 2 Cor 7:10
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
NIV

Why? In part because he (Paul) too was just a "Man" upon which their focus remains because of what they know all the more about themselves. More precisely to mean, "claiming and then blaming the sinful nature as if the dominate voice they then respond to".

Where is the claim of victory through "Faith" in Christ within this approach if we're continually blaming what he came to rescue us from? Basically, where is the beginning, middle and net result(s) of having become more mature (in Him)?

How will such a confession of immaturity fair if judgment were to begin with those considered to also be righteous (family/household of God)?

This struggle which appears to have become more "Common" is due mostly to the controversy concerning the entire consideration as to who the man Paul was. There in resides the problem. This man Paul/Saul at one time also straddled the fence of the eternal much like the forward slash does above between his two names.

Today among believers when his person gets discussed the use of the name Saul sets apart a specific understanding which then fixes the context of what's being said as if on a time line.

In the instances where further clarification is required in order to discuss the man Saul/Paul, his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus is brought front and center.

Scripture expresses not only Paul's spiritual life transformation, but he also experienced a name change as if an ear mark. I invite you to revisit the origins for the purpose of "Ear mark" if you're not familiar with that term.

The earmark was used long ago to symbolize much more than proof of ownership, yet more clearly to be understood as one that's willing to be owned.

Deut 15:16-17
But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant.
NIV

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmark_(agriculture)

Paul/Saul not only went through a transformation spiritually, but I personally see him somehow having to reconcile what took place in his own mind as a man reborn of God (son of man/child of God).

I feel confident that if his every thought had been captured in writing it would probably take twice the amount of time in order to simply read those let alone absorb those same thoughts concerning his personal re-birthing in Christ.

Today when attempts are made to see Christ as the cause of effectual change(s) when peering into Paul/Saul's life (like looking through a telescope) I think Paul prior to his departure attempts to paint a more visible picture of this divine process (transformation) in his mention of peering into a poor reflection.

What is seen today while attempting to look into the realm of the eternal? What if we as those which follow behind Paul didn't get to enjoy the benefit of observing the person of Paul with AND without his scripting of his own existence after this revelation? Where would gentiles/pagans find themselves today?

I feel confident that Paul encountered the occasional struggle with esteeming himself more highly than he ought because he Saul/Paul a Pharisee had been handed such great revelation. Until a matter gets revealed (in the light truth) it remains a mystery.

The kosmos (world) in which Paul had previously enjoyed his existence as a Pharisee had just been turned inside out.

If the Pharisee's were guilty of one thing, it would be their own enjoyment by way of "Exempting" others from having legal access to their GOD.


Eph 3:6
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
NIV

1 Cor 13:9-12
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
NIV

I think he pleads with believers to not make much of the man Paul or those men that taught him things in error as he cries out to us to look only at Christ in him as the effects of that transformation.

The tough questions concerning who the man Paul was within the scope of Christianity continues to get bogged down as if is the paramount issue instead of who Paul was with Christ in him as a spiritual being.

Questions such as, "Was he Jewish or was he a Roman citizen? If he was from the tribe of Benjamin wouldn't his parents have had to have made some conflicting pledge in the form of an allegiance to Roman citizenry/sovereignty (Caesar)? Wasn't Paul also a murderer?

What many don't see is the depth as if the existence of the spiritual man. The same portion of his being which is somehow stuck in the same body along with this revelation.

This same reputation as if a zeal derived from the Pharisee cult which has over time attached itself to the man (like some painted vessel) he'd been assigned to coming into this world.

Jesus as the prime example of our spiritual existence (first born of the beloved) was called the son of God and the son of man. He was brought forth from the womb of human flesh, yet sired by way of the Holy Spirit.

Even as it applies to Jesus, if we allow ourselves to get bogged in the questions dredged from our over active imagination(s) concerning His conception then there's little hope of accepting much else that's said concerning His divine appearance.

That to mean everything which is true about Jesus the son of man/Son of God must find harmonious rest within our acceptance as to exactly "Who" is before, during and after the time of His visitation.

How could Paul declare himself "Your Father" as he does below?

The Gospel which are the words of Christ is said to have been with God from the beginning. Words which then became flesh and dwelt among us. Are those words true simply because they've been spoken or because we believe in the One who spoke them?

How is it such a stretch to grasp receiving a new spirit by way of the Holy Spirit having been sired (seeded) by way of the words of God?

Is it that it requires the fertile womb within us which can only manifest by way of believing (Faith)?

 1 Cor 4:15-16
Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me
NIV

I would offer that Paul did not scrap everything he'd acquired leading up to the road to Damascus encounter when he mentions such things as rubbish (dung).

Otherwise how could he have maintained the confidence to state that he had been set apart from birth? That is unless he was commenting on having been born again.

Could Paul's own commentary below have applied to himself at one time? Did the Lord rebuke him in a divine fashion once called?

Titus 1:13-14
Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.
NIV

Did the Pharisee's reject the truth, the man or the miracles when He (Jesus) came to them?

As a Pharisee wasn't Paul taught by Gamaliel the lead authority in the Sanhedrin? I didn't know this, but but as a side bar it is mentioned that his name (Gamaliel) interprets as "Reward of God".

Acts 22:3
Then Paul said: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
NIV

Had Paul also rejected the testimonies heard about the man Jesus who'd been traveling around doing miracles and teaching of the "Way" (Christianity) which he also persecuted?

The easy argument would be that Paul was not alive when Jesus began his mission yet it is my opinion that Paul was not only alive but had also heard and then rejected what was said of Jesus as if rumors hence rejecting the truth.

1 Tim 1:13
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
NIV

That same dynamic (acting out of ignorance and unbelief) which held Paul spiritually blind could also sound like a few today within the ranks of said Christianity?

Could his mention of Jewish myths and those who reject the truth more precisely mean what he'd accepted as if truth and then added to the prophecies about Christ (which were true) from within the Sanhedrin's doctrine?

Having been taught and believed such myths which later proved to be in error having encountered the true Messiah/Christ on the road to Damascus (as a result of ignorance and unbelief).

Enough that he now considered such teaching (myths that were being taught) as "rubbish" (dung) mingled with the truth contained within the former prophecies which he now knows beyond doubt were true?

Part of what he'd accepted as truth (myths) stood in the way of his ability to believe the doctrine being taught among Christians prior to the road to Damascus encounter with Christ.


A misinterpreted doctrine which not only caused his spiritual blindness, but also caused him to miss the physical presence/visitation of Jesus who is the son of the same God he'd assumed he'd been obediently serving prior to.

Many miss the message the Lord used Paul to send having obscured the truth behind myths (reasons) which served him as if  the man Paul/Saul.

We stand the same risk as did Paul (like a poor parenting act) when we repeat the steps of following myths and wives tales that have been mingled with the truth concerning Christ.

His appropriate beckoning as a spiritual father to us by way of the Gospel is also one that heralds, "Don't be duped as I once was having believed that which is NOT truth because of ignorance and unbelief".

We can never receive Paul as if a spiritual father unless we are willing to accept what he did learn as if from his mistakes having observed himself first as if a mere man that's now been converted (re-born).

What is more often missed in my opinion is the sort of men God historically chooses from within His chosen and determined season of mercy.

Chosen as if the basest (lowliest) of men which He (God) also considers His own. The comparative that usually gets missed is the similarities of such men the majority then exhibit as if "likened to" whenever we're misguided having followed another doctrine (as if the words of another God).

Much could be said about prime numbers and even more about "Prime examples".

It would have been my thoughts if i were in Paul's shoes, "How could I have missed the son of the God I also walked about the face of His earth suggesting I have somehow been righteously serving"?

Somehow that question gives strength towards the thoughts of a man that has considered himself as "wretched".

I see Paul as a man that deeply loved God from birth, yet his perception of that same God hadn't caught up to or fathomed the depths of His love. Enough that he couldn't "Be likened to His heavenly father while in the earth" until after he'd encountered Him (God) personally on the road to Damascus.

Think just for a moment about Paul's historical zeal to be about the Lord's work, yet then finding himself employed by the whims of (men) the Pharisee's?

He (Paul) while thoroughly convinced that he was serving the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob that also "Does not change" had somehow (mis)-managed the truth we now find within the prophecies (thanks to his instrumental usage) about the savior of humanity.

Enough that he'd discounted the truth about His son to then miss out on his physical visitation?

Could Paul have changed on His own if not for this revealing?

Some question if he (Paul) was alive during the time of Christ visitation and had walked oblivious to the truth concerning the miracles done at the hand of this Jesus. Scripture introduces Paul at the stoning of Stephen.

In the scope of eternity, was Paul not already blind to the Truth before being physically blinded on the road to Damascus?

Did it require Paul being made physically blind in order for him to then become convinced of his own spiritual blindness concerning the God he had comfortably been serving?

2 Cor 12:9-10
That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
NIV

Today when the word "Disciple" is heard within the ranks of the religious minded, the hearer lends their receptive reasoning as if some form of a religious suggestion is being made. What can't be seen many times is the previous doctrine that's already been planted within that same mind. Does that sound like Paul?

In the scope of eternity the question is, "Is who and what we say we know also the "Truth"

How broad and how tainted has the word religion become though when suggested today? Does it not speak as if the one making the suggestion through us?

Regardless of how loosely its usage in secular speech it still maintains its essence to suggest a following or the individual follower as if drawn to someone or something else.

Acts 20:30
Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
NIV

Obviously Pilate couldn't recognize the sovereignty of the Lord standing directly in front of him but the question for us today which remains, "Would you recognize Jesus for who He is if He were standing directly in front of you today as a man"?

Rom 1:25
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen.
NIV

Some demand to hear everything as if coming from "The original source", yet I wonder how much easier it might have proved to be if they'd first received the messenger as if the Son or daughter of God their creator?

Jesus offered the fair exchange of opinions on one occasion as was recorded in the Gospel's (Luke 20:3 & Mark 11:3).

Luke 20:1-8
One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. "Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?"

He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John's baptism — was it from heaven, or from men?"

They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet."

7 So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."

8 Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."
NIV

Being the master of all things, His words had already devoured their foolishness yet they had yet to realize all that He had said was all the more true more importantly because of who had spoken.

Believers should not speak based on what is assumed will also be accepted. Instead they should speak only because of the one which truly has in-formed them by way of the power and authority of the Gospel they now preach as if  "The Truth".


Much has and could be written about the power of ones testimony concerning their encounter(s) with Christ our savior. Yet only that which is true as testimony concerning his existence, presence and power will manifest as if the entirety of what's being considered as if the Truth.

John 17:8-9
For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
NIV

For some, becoming fully convinced of this could take a life time and for others in a moment.

We must also know this, that at least one man required being made blind and then healed before he could receive (see) the truth having found himself as Gods chosen (precision) instrument now being used for the benefit of the gentiles.

Below is one example as to what happens when the Lord is with someone that has been sent with the specific intent to carry out same.

Acts 27:11-20

But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.

When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had obtained what they wanted; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the "northeaster," swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.

As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure. When the men had hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
NIV

Dismissed in Peace

There's an old hymn which heralds, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and righteousness".

I think in many ways today, mankind continues to struggle in so much that somehow we can see the man Jesus the Christ way back when, yet what is reluctantly observed (seen) is His righteousness as it moves unchanged (affected) by time or man into our understanding.

The righteousness which causes Him to be continuously considered the "First" born of the beloved of God whose identity is to be enjoyed throughout eternity.

Let's examine the word "Hope" in the context of the hymn I spoke of above.

I wish to say there's nothing wrong with the cross examination of the truth of a matter, yet only If you're not absolutely convinced of its authenticity.

Otherwise wouldn't you find yourself building upon supposition?

The Apostle Paul seemed to have found great usefulness for the word If within much of what he wrote.

1 Cor 15:19
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
NIV

To me it seems that much of his writing continuously drags this word front stage. As If to keep the weightier question fresh in the minds of those seeking the heart of the truth he wrote about.

In lite of insight and the direct words Christ spoke to him, I see Paul having read in his own time much of the same script we read today as well much more commentary handed to him from the preceding generation.

Paul's great faith like ours (should be esteemed) today requires believing what was already spoken from the mouth of God prior to any turn of events which do take place. How else will we know when we do witness things taking a turn (change) towards the up and coming events?

And that's not to mention finding ourselves able to recognize false prophets when they do speak.

Some today might even go as far to say, "If I too were blinded on the road to wherever and then was made able to see having scale like coverings fall from my eyes then I too would have the same kind of faith Paul had".

My opinion is that it requires more faith today to trust his testimony which we only get to read about. Much could and has been written about faith so I won't linger here beyond saying, "What many don't trust concerning scripture is what they (their spirit knows) also know about themselves deep down inside".

After all we've all been steeped in one and the same world of sin have we not?

Can you imagine his attempts to now reconcile this man Jesus that had come in the flesh as the savior of humanity and to have somehow missed Him for who He was as the son of the very God Paul believed in?

Especially after the many years he'd invested envisioning some other series of events leading up to His return which now fought against the present day teachings concerning His visitation?

I might have said, "What, how could I have missed him because I too had heard all the rumors of His activities yet I never believed them"!

Could Paul have ever heard the voice of instruction while reconciling such issues as one might try to hear from the mouth of a prophet such as king David?

Prov 8:23
I was appointed from eternity , from the beginning, before the world began.
NIV

Could the great revelation he received also been the essence of  truth in that "This man Jesus truly WAS the son of God"?

In so much that this one absolute proved to be the missing link which then connected the dots within all that he previously accepted on blind faith that had been handed to him from one generation to the next (as if his personal Rosetta Stone)?

Wouldn't Paul have had to somehow see himself as having been accepted as part of this divine family?

Paul understood both realms of identity. One here on earth, but also one which could only be validated from within the realms of heaven.

Within Paul's travel's he experienced the value of a public identity. Enough that he used this identity when dealing with the Roman authorities in one instance.


Acts 22:27-29
The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen ?"

"Yes, I am," he answered.

Then the commander said, "I had to pay a big price for my citizenship." "But I was born a citizen," Paul replied. Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately.
NIV

How does a man claim dual identities while both experience the same existence in physical form?


Gal 1:15-17
But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
NIV

I think that If it were not for the subtle arrest of Paul's behavior of that time, he could have easily continued to be as persuaded as his life had portrayed leading up to the instance of being blinded on the road to Damascus.

I can see how he probably believed what David said in scripture, but much like the Jews of his time they somehow aligned what was written about their savior the way they became accustomed to believing (the way they had been introduced to the truth).



Do you think that they ask, "Who would this prophecy manifest as in physical form"? What would such a savior do in order to prove who He was?

Who would this savior have to also prove himself to be? Did He have to prove to God or man who it was that He claimed to be?

It's one thing to claim to be a child of God, yet it's a divine process in order to be reconciled to God in lite of the truth.

I think too many miss the weight as the possibly of hearing the Lord say, "Away from me for I do not know you"!

John 5:31-32
"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. 
NIV

Some might suggest it was Paul himself having become a learned (intelligent/logical) man, but I choose to believe it was the insight of the Holy Spirit having inspired his mind which then spoke to the pen, "Write".

Today we can see there are many interpretations concerning the after life. Yet none of them which are false can be validated with any physical evidence on this side of death other than the evidence of our faith in action..

This was written about the parents of Jesus as if they didn't know the depth of what was now being declared about their son who had yet perfomred as if the Son of God.

Luke 2:33
The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
NIV

The disciples of Jesus had yet to hear what was said at this moment, yet did that change what was said about this infant?

Who are you in Christ? Whose testimony are you dependent upon in order to keep you on the straight path?

Is it mere men or the voice of your Only savior which will validate your identity you have held out in the hope for as you journey through this present life?

Which shadow will you hide beneath?

Will it be the shadow of darkness or the shadow of His wings?

Ps 63:7-11
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.

But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
NIV

Luke 2:29-32
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
NIV

Eph 5:6-20

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. 

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 

For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: 

"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." 

Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. 

Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

NIV

What resides in a name?

Luke 11:40
You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?
NIV

Wisdom that is true only comes from above and that to mean from the only one which is also able to establish it's boundaries.

Miracles are more often not considered miraculous until the individual considering such has ran out of explanations in their efforts to refute the source from which they came.


The fear of the unbeliever is that if they lose the battle within the minds of those which choose to believe, they also just lost the aid of a foot soldier that otherwise labored with them in order for them to feel comfortable within the entirety of what they choose NOT to believe.

Performing the explainable does not the miracle make. Believing the abiding message of the One which presents them as miracles is the question at hand.

John 10:25-30
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. 


The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 


My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."  
NIV

The word of God states that he chose the foolish things of "This" world to frustrate the wise.


1 Cor 1:18-19

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise ;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
NIV

I was once faced with the troubling consideration which presented itself from the lips of a man.

His words were, "I do believe there was a man named Jesus, but what I don't believe is that ANY man has ever walked on water or come back to life from being dead for several days".

What troubled me was not the man, but what as the cause compelled this man to speak the words he did?

Was it simple because he'd not seen with his own eyes or because he considered such things as second hand information someone had claimed as a witness to such events?


Matt 11:23
If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.
NIV

John 10:31-39

31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"  

"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." 

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles , that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." 

NIV

How convinced are you today of "Christ in you"? What does the voice of any mutual enemy sound like in such a corrupt world?

The son of God was put to death as was said above because those that killed Him also considered what He said as who he claimed to be as "Blasphemy"?

What's in your heart and what causes your mouth and actions to speak?


Eph 2:4-10
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
NIV

How have you been made able to respond to the doubting Thomas's which cross your path in this life?


John 20:27
Then he said to Thomas , "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."  
NIV

Know the truth and do not deny what will be made known in that day when you will confess that Jesus is Lord who has been given all power and authority to do the things He does.

Phil 2:9-11

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

NIV

May God bless your eyes and ears so that you might hear and see that which is true and everlasting.

SW

Lost cause that's been measured by expectation

Through the years I would chart the height and rate of growth of my children. We would pick a less visible wall within the house to then use a pencil to register how tall they were as well the date of each consecutive measurement.

Whenever one of them would go through a growth spurt between measurements I found it funny to watch them almost marvel over the now obvious evidence as they compared as the differences between the lines drawn.

Another of our enjoyments during the summer months was to compete with each other by using the garden. We would each hand pick our own tomato plants from the store and of course transplant them once home.

We would use the same bag of potting soil and the same water source as we then introduced them to their same common home.

Once finished planting we would make some petty wager as to which would produce the first blossom. Then it was whose would yield the most fruit.

It made the mutual results much more fun and at times also seemed to make some tomatoes taste much better than others.

Between each phase of growth some of the kids began to take notice of the subtle differences between their plants. One of my less disciplined children would always get upset because their plant hadn't kept pace with the others.

Having several kids I learned early on that instead of telling children what they were doing wrong in certain instances it proved to be more productive by asking them questions about the apparently NOT so obvious matters. <--- Now that's a brain twister!

It's times like these where comparative issues within life can draw close to one another yet only as each gets revealed to the individual.

I would pull this particular child aside and ask them, If you have done something wrong against this tomato plant, what would that be?

I would then ask them, "And now how is that wrong you've just acknowledged going to in turn affect not only the amount of fruit you had hoped your plant would produce, but also how does that then affect You'?

In these instances I too learned the importance of patience, but something of much more importance.

I've drawn the conclusion that when we as parents cease to somehow see our children as teachers, we've lost more than the voice of influence in that we've ceased to see ourselves as if transparent.

Meaning more than just being able to look (see) into ourselves, but to remain willing to see ourselves as if a spiritual being they will also see that's in transition to something greater in the eyes of God within each and every moment of passing time.

I learned about patience in how I handled (managed) the things I could see from my perspective which they couldn't.

My hope in the whole exercise?

That in the day their eyes are more fully opened they too will then begin to look as if the direction from which my own knowledge had been supplied as I raised them. It all feeds into the center of the "Who" the Lord desires for His own to be more likened to.

Talk about day to day restraints, but could that be the inability to consider what is evil in its entirety?


Prov 5:22-23
22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.
He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
NIV

How different are people in everyday life if we were to compare things as if they DO simultaneously exist as if in their own (separate) realm?

People as a whole seem to delight (comfort) themselves within the thought of being complex individuals. Yet few are willing to investigate the "why" the word complex somehow attaches itself to our lives where we neatly file the things we continually choose to ignore.

There's a vein of thought which runs through the school of complexities in life where certain personalities pride themselves on the notion they are "Multi-taskers".

I was raised in a household where simple minded methodology was the rule of almost every day.

I was presented with the question early on by my father which asked, "Are you more comforted considering yourself the jack of all trades and or the person which master's nothing"?

The bible provides counsel to suit both of the above.

It is my opinion as if the underlying reason why many feel like a fish out of water at any given moment while trying to find the Joy of the Lord as their strength.

This type of mindset can never somehow see themselves as if an instrument that is in the grasp of the Lord.

Their reluctance in the form of a picture might be, "They can't seem to see themselves as if the "tasting spoon" in the hand of the Master chef in the kitchen of life.



1 John 4:17-18
In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him . There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
NIV

Rom 14:7-8
For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
NIV


Rom 8:28-29
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
NIV