9 November 2010
Psalm 79.1-39; Joel 1.14-2.11; Rev 19.1-10; Luke 14.25-35
Joel sees the day of the Lord’s vengeance coming with a mighty army that will swoop in and destroy all in its path, an unstoppable army that is more fearsome than any ever assembled. In preparation for the coming of the Lord they are commanded to call for a fast and a solemn assembly to cry out to the Lord. Jesus taught us to pray for the coming of the kingdom but He also warned us about the awful nature of the coming of the Lord and the judgment on earth. It is a bittersweet thought, the joy of the eternal kingdom mingled with the horrors of judgment and the loss of life and destruction of the earth.
What is the cost of discipleship? Jesus says it is the renunciation of all else to follow Him. We see that in the lives of the disciples who left their nets, their seats at custom and other occupations to follow Jesus completely for three years. We have tended to make discipleship into something more akin to a hobby rather than a passion and an avocation. We have diminished the cost to the tithe when Jesus’ demand was everything. We pay the toll to avoid the true cost and we assuage our consciences regarding the demand through believing we are able to have everything we want but not be possessed by it all yet we spend out days doing all we can to make sure we don’t lose what we have. The demand is great on our lives and we need to be confronted with that truth.
What does it mean that all of heaven rejoices over the judgments of God that have destroyed so much of His “good” creation? In our society today we hear often that judgment cannot be a concept applied to a “good’ God and yet whose standards of “good” are we using to come to that judgment? What this tells us is that there is another standard for “good” and “righteous” and they are based in seeing and knowing the effects of sin on what God termed good. We need a different perspective to see and understand. Now that judgment seems complete we are prepared for a wedding amidst the ruins.
I will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
1 comment:
What is the cost of discipleship?
The "I" Must Die!
In as much as i can 'see',
That which is of the 'I' in me,
So it is i yearn, and to Our Father cry,
For deliverance from all that is of the 'I'.
The 'I', born of "imag"ination and selfish desire,
As lust, greed, and pride, stoked a consuming fire ;-(
A fire burning out of control, as 'I' leads the way,
It's smoke concealing the fleshly mind that leads one astray ;-(
Yet even in the smoke, searing heat, and blindness of 'sight',
Truth can pierce the blackness of darkness, revealing "The Light"!
And nothing can hide from "The Light", so "Light" reveals the "I",
Allowing one to "see" clearly, and clearly the "I" must die!
But to live, yet die, seems an impossible task,
And so we need of "Our Father", the impossible to ask.
Help me to "deny myself(die to self)(die to 'I')" Father!
And as HE Helps, HE reveals more and more of "The Selfless One", The One Who leads His Brethren on "The Way to The Truth of The Life". He Who was, and is The Messiah, The Son of The Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL!
And as The Messiah desired above all else, so also will His Brethren desire above all else, "Father, not my will, But THY Will Be Done".......
The poem above was begun in Creel, Chih, Mexico in '92, a time when i sought to live and experience a simple and spiritual life and it was there that i received and embraced Simplicity. Left Mexico in '93, yet returned in '04. Then on 1/26/05 the poem was completed, and 'completion' is near for each and every one of us. And for "the poor and needy", those "aliens and pilgrims while on the earth" whose "citizenship is in Heaven", thankfully so.......
Home, Home at last!
Translated, "corruptible to incorruptible" indeed and Truth.......
Forever free from The "I".......
All Thanks, Praise and Glory Be Unto "Our Father".......
And while there is breath(spirit) there is hope many will "see",
"see" The "I" for what it is, and then desire to be set free!
And that Spirit that was in The Messiah shall "set you free, free indeed"!
So, There Is Hope!
For Miracles do happen.......
Hope is there would be those who experience The Miracle that is receiving "a love of The Truth" for they will "see" The Light that is The Messiah, they will "see" that The Life is of The Spirit(not seen with the natural eye), and most certainly not of the flesh or fleshly mind("I").......
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(darkness) that is of this world and it's systems of religion, for "the WHOLE world is under the control of the evil one"(1Jn5:19) indeed and Truth.......
Truth IS, a lie is not.......
(Returned to this place called the u.s. of a. in June of '05, yet a return to the simplicity that is rural Mexico would be welcomed, however, i realize that in all things it must be "Father(Creator) not my will, But THY Will Be Done.......)
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