Archive for September, 2008
The Pearl of Great Price
Monday, September 22nd, 2008I have been thinking of that parable that Jesus taught about the man who was walking and found a pearl of great price hidden in a field. He went and sold all he had to buy the field so that the treasure could be his. Jesus said the Kingdon of Heaven is like that.
Well I have been considering that. First of all Jesus knew where pearls came from, even freshwater pearls come from a mullusc of some sort, how often do you find an oyster in a field? well at any rate I have to wonder if there might not be more to the story.
I considered that pearls both cultivated and natural are all the result of some irritant that gauls at the oyster to the point where the inside of the oyster secretes this wonderful fluid which builds up and up around the gauling irritant until a pearl is formed. As long as that oyster is alive, it will have that same gaulling irritant and it will keep adding layer after layer of fluid to it in an unending attempt to get rid of the thing that so irritates it.
What’s so unusual, is that when we find that same irritating gauling pearl, we see it as something of great price and value.
Is it possible that God puts things in our lives that are a constant, gaulling irritant which If we have His grace and mercy and love will have the fruits of the spirit applied over and over until it builds up a beautiful priceless pearl a treasure that we have not because of the irritant, but because of how we have responded to that irritant?
Some of the most priceless people have had the hardest lives and now that thye are older are showing their pearls to the world.
It’s just something to consider.
As an aside, We (Christ Fellowship of Travelers Rest ) have been having “Church Without Walls” every Friday night, and last Saturday. God has been awesome! It’s amazing to watch people be drawn to the anointing of the Lord on the singers. The realyl cool thing is we aren’t trying to “save” people or convince them, we are there jsut to love people to share if they want to share to pray if they want to pray and to rest regardless, and God has been helping. Who knows what may come of that!
An “OH WOW” and an “Oh, yeah…”
Monday, September 15th, 2008First the OH WOW!
I was randomly watching videos on YouTube and stumbled across one of the trials of BGT (Britain’s Got Talent) Particularly of Connie Talbot. You just have to see it to understand!
I watched this little girl sing and I cried. at six years old she brings an entire audience to silence to hear her every word. She may not have the best breath control… she’s six! but as far as I can tell, and Simon Cowell agrees she is pitch perfect!
The Oh Yeah… is that I see this gift from Heaven, and I know they are enjoying the ride, but oh how I hope and pray that her parents will protect her from too much too fast. that they will hold her out of the path of the world…
All I can do is pray.
Jonathan
Virtual Testimony – Real Life Response
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008I play several online video games, they are quite fun and I’m planning on writing some reviews over at adaptivegamer. For our purpose I just want to talk about what I have seen…
It is quite common to see a player log into a game with a name such as WWJD or IamaChristian or some other advertising type name. They start broadcasting that they are looking for Christians to join their guild or similar.
Now on the one hand this seems like a simple thing to do to try to meet some other like-minded folks. Unfortunately one of two things normally happens. First the people who are looking for recruits usually aren’t ready for the outcome. First someone will sa somethign cheeky about JEsus or about the person who is recruiting, then they get a little upset, it devolvs to Well would JESUS do that?
Then usually a series of name callings, wherein the name of Jesus is defiled numerous ways and then the Christian starts devolving to the level of the world around them. They start calling name,s and then getting angry adn eventually they turn their back on the whole idea claiming not to care.
This is repeated on servers in the US every day. But why?
First while I agree that we can go to all the world and share the gospel of the kingdom, I don’t think that we are supposed to brow-beat people with our faith.
In a virtual world, people say what they really want to say in real life, They might not be able to tell someone in real life how they feel, but in a game you can shout down anyone, if you can spam fast enough.
Now it’s not always limited to games, I was walking down the street a few weeks ago and there was a street preacher, preaching hard to the city loudly proclaiming the Word of God. There were people sitting back shaking their heads, people walking by as quickly as possible, folks arguing with him, and one young man walking off through the crowd yelling ‘Praise JE-USUS! GA-LORY!! Hal-lA-LUIAH!” he was mocking.
It hurt my heart to hear him, but he was responding the same way these players in the online games respond. I don’t agree with them, but I know that argueing with them isn’t goign to accomplish anything. Well, that’s not true all the arguing accomplishes two things it drives unbleievers further from Christ, and it stops the Kingdom of Heaven from being able to work on earth.
Arguing blocks the Kingdom of Heaven, purposefully trying to get peopel to argue about religion is not the way to go it’s a good way to beceom more liek the pharasees than the disciples.
If you see this, don’t try to start religious flame wars in games. if you see a flame war starting,quietly and calming ignore it. Resist the urge to put in your 2 cents worth and remember that you are jsut contributing to the downfall of whatever game you are playing by arguing…
I don’t want to trivialize this, arguing, analyzing is not helpful period!