Skip to main content

Good Things


       The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly. (Proverbs 15:4)

        One of my friends reported that she’d seen interviews with college students who had gone to Florida for spring break in spite of warnings about the Wuhan coronavirus. They weren’t going to let the virus interfere with their fun. The governor of Florida finally closed down the beaches.
         Young adults aren’t the only ones with this sort of attitude. For years, people have told me that we only live once, that they’ve worked hard all week, they deserve to be able to kick back and have fun. So, let me begin with a disclaimer. The purpose of this blog posting is not to tell you that you are not to be happy, that you’re not to have fun, be amused, or experience excitement. It’s not here to rain on your parade or be a party-pooper.
       But…
       There are people who seem to think they deserve to be happy, to be amused, and to be excited. I know people who seem to have the goal of shutting down their minds and throwing responsibilities out the window. There are people who insist that they should be allowed to do whatever they want as long as they believe they aren’t hurting anyone, and it involves consenting adults. There are those for whom amusement, happiness, and excitement become the end.
         Consider the popularity of movies, TV, video games, amusement parks, restaurants, malls, trampoline places, hair and nail salons, and bars with loud music.  The point is that it doesn’t require that something be bad for you for it to separate you from God. The positive separators are better at separating us than the negative separators because we recognize the harm the negatives ones do more quickly.
Like so many of the others, the belt of truth and the sword of the Spirit are vital weapons but in this case, the breastplate of righteousness may seem to work against us because the happiness created by doing good can create the separation we’re trying to avoid. This is one of those cases when we can say, “WDA!”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more