Good morning, dear ones.
Sun is presently setting our landscape ablaze with light. Nice. Earlier, I did my old man jog in the rain.
It seems that each time I try to be brief with these compositions, I tend to add more stuff that I’m later reluctant to omit. When Becki is consulted and see’s the size of the production, she too wishes it would be shorter. But then when she reads and scrutinizes, she can’t seem to recommend any significant abbreviations. That was the case again this morning. What are we to do? I guess we’ll just leave things be and not worry about it.
I hope your day is blessed in ways that only He can impart.
Love, Ray.
In the course of doing my life, I seem to meet a lot of people. Conversations in lots of directions result. Nothing very unusual about that so far. But since I tend to be a bit fanatical with my Biblical worldview, fully convinced that it’s the absolute best view available in the marketplace of ideas, my orientation normally leaks out. I’ve adopted a few little standard lines. Here’s an example: “I’m convinced that the best way to do life is in partnership with the One Who made life. That just makes a lot of sense to me—even though I know it doesn’t make a lick of sense to many in our goofed up culture. There is simply no way that I, or anyone else for that matter, can adequately explain their existence in terms of mindless chance. The functions of life (in any form) are much too delicate and complex for that. But if the God of the Bible really exists—the One Who made everything, owns everything, and knows everything about everything, why in the world would I choose to pass up a partnership like that?!?!”
What is wrong with me? Or is there something right with me? I guess everyone has the freedom to decide. All I know is that I really really believe that this is valid reasoning right down to my core. And I guess that’s why I resonate so intensely with the words of Jesus with this reading in general, and with the FOCUS VERSE in particular. Perhaps I’ll attempt here to set forth its essential meaning in other words—my own: “If a sense of peace, meaning, and purpose are valuable personal possessions, then a person who genuinely worships their Maker along with a heart-level desire to live to please Him becomes incredibly wealthy. And think of it!—these benefits are free and readily available to everyone who recognizes their own desperate needs!!!—and their powerlessness to meet them on their own.”
Why in the world is there such general rejection/indifference to this offer among people who are gifted with intelligence? Why can’t they see and understand that their refusal to worship their Maker, or to reject His offer of relationship and blessing, damages only themselves?—robbing them of their created purpose and destiny? Once again, my Biblical worldview provides the most reasonable answer I know. It has little to do with intelligence and everything to do with WHO is pulling the strings and influencing that intelligence. Paul discloses this insight: “Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage” (Ephesians 6:12. The Passion Translation). There you have it!