Skip to main content

People Who Live In Glass Houses...

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,’” and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. (I Peter 2:7-8) 

            That Corner Stone that both God and we find precious is the stone those who don't believe trip over then curse because they've skinned their knees and elbows. It's also the rock on which they stand in judgment of others, though they claim otherwise. They claim that they arrive at their ideas of justice from logic, reason, understanding and science. What they forget or ignore is the fact that the mind that created the universe is the same mind that set the rules thereof, so it's only natural that they would arrive at the same conclusions by observing and thinking. They are not the rules one finds by applying their theories of how the world works, but they are the rules one finds by applying the rules God set for the universe.
           Disregarding the rules and the Rule-giver has natural consequences. One stumbles. The passage today says this is what they were destined for. Sometimes people think "How cruel of God to destine people for destruction." Then we get on social media and proclaim that those who hurt women, children, or animals should be treated far worse than they treated the women, children or animals. During the same time on social media, someone declares a horrible fate for those of an opposing opinion, and we share and like because "they deserve it." We drive on the highway and someone screams by us, and we hope they get pulled over (or worse.)
        It's easy, when we look at Scripture, to assume that those who are described as "destined for" stumbling, or destruction or Hell don't deserve it.  It's also easy to pronounce a bad destiny for those who offend us using the exact same law (but only as far as we want to, and only when applied to someone else.)
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will 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.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more