Unsatisfied By Average

The Musings of a Stubborn Believer

Author: Seán (page 26 of 31)

Too many gods…

June 24, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Until His opinion is all that matters, we’re in danger of self-destruction…

Read Isaiah 19. God didn’t have to do anything! He just showed up on the scene riding a chariot of clouds, and things started happening. Most notably, the multitudinous idols started rattling off of their foundations. 
The next verse says it all… (v.2) With their gods losing their footing, the men start losing their minds. Now they’re literally at each other’s throats, no more decency, no more familyness, no more patriotism.
When gods move, men move. 
That’s not so scary for a professing follower of Christ, like myself, until I remember little things like my opinion. I need not even make a case for how easy it is to idolize it… (Especially when it is right!) Just let somebody rattle it to it’s foundation and see what happens. Oh, and I can be totally civil, and pleasant throughout without much effort… But inside…later…
I fear even serious Christians act like desperate Egyptians sometimes…
But there is in this story a beautiful Ray of Glory… And a simple lesson for those who want to live an unrattled life…
Choose one God. And choose One that can’t be rattled…
I’ll say it again. 
Until His opinion is all that matters, we’re in danger of self-destruction…

Don’t be Distracted.

June 23, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Isaiah 18
The gardens and vineyards of the kingdom we’re passing through may look promising indeed…
But let us never be distracted or delayed from our journey by the bounty supposedly coming tomorrow.
Another Greater has promised that these vines will never yield. He will personally see to it they don’t. (v.5-6)
And just as surely, the promised pleasures of sin and sinners will never really be. Oh, they will throw all sorts of parties, but they are all empty…
After all, how can the masters of darkness render any joy to anyone when they are strangers to happiness themselves?

Whatever it Takes…

June 22, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Isaiah 17


Thank God for the days when a man’s eyes “look to his Maker”… Even though they be driven there by leanness of flesh and loss of glory, (v.4) and famine, and dearth, and struggle… (v.5-6)

Yes, thank God… If that’s what it takes to keep our eyes on Him, so be it.
I personally can’t grow while living an easy life. I don’t know anyone who can.
That’s why I crave the fire’s embrace…
Not in freedom from trial, but in the midst of it, is Christian character developed… 
It is the triumph of the Christian faith that it enables its followers to suffer and be strong; to submit, and thus to conquer; to be killed all the day long, and yet to live; to bear the cross, and thus to win the crown of glory.
–AA 467, Quoted

Mystery of Mercy…

June 21, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Isaiah 16


Ahh, angels marvel at it too…


“This is the mystery of mercy into which the angels desire to look– that God can be just while he justifies the repenting sinner and renews His intercourse with the fallen race; that Christ could stoop to raise unnumbered multitudes from the abyss of ruin and clothe them with the spotless garments of His own righteousness to unite with angels who have never fallen and to dwell forever in the presence of God…” GC 145


“In mercy the throne will be established.” Is. 16:5

Nevertheless!

June 21, 2010 / / 1 Comment
Isaiah 14/15
I have been silent, but not still… Yesterday was the climax of the Texico Conference Campmeeting, and my viola was out of its case more than in it, precluding a post.
And then, there were other reasons too… 
I’m the kind of guy that expends a great deal of energy on invisible conquest. In fact, most of the people I fight for don’t even know it. (Maybe never will). But that’s ok…  
Anyway, all day, and all this morning, verse 1 of chapter 14 kept tapping at my consciousness, waiting for quiet… And finally, I got it.
_______________________
“For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel…”
Even though they had stumbled and fallen. Even though He had picked them up and brushed the dirt off of them countless times before. Even though their mistakes were not always innocent ones… Still…
Still.
I cannot tell you what that means to me. Even though He’s picked me up out of the dirt ten thousand times, yet He has mercy. Yet He chooses me. Does that even make sense?
It reminds me of my favorite word. “Nevertheless.”
Actually, it’s the reason behind my favorite word. Because His unwavering commitment to my salvation (nevertheless) calls forth the best I can give in return… 
If His “faith” in me is strong enough to make Him pick me up again when I fall, risking His name over and over again by claiming me as His child, then I am worse than a fool not to honor Him with my trust in return. 
And so, am I a man committed. 
And though I admit that for the Christian in this world, pain and hardship, toil, sacrifice, grief and loss and suffering are very real, very often… (here comes that word–)  
Nevertheless!!!

No more fretting.

June 18, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Isaiah 13
Victory is promised…
In fact, the more haughty and seemingly invincible the enemy, the more thorough it’s destruction in the end.
Every power under heaven is ultimately subordinate to His master plan…
Uuuhh, why was I fretting??

Sent from my iPad

Sing!

June 17, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Isaiah 12
Praise is peace, and joy, and freedom. And one of the ultimate defenses against temptation.
And it’s the least we can do…
Even if it is a “sacrifice of praise”… After all, His was the sacrifice of suffering.
I personally don’t think that a life of perpetual gratitude is too high a price to pay.
“Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.” Isaiah 12:5

Leadership

June 16, 2010 / / 0 Comments

“And a little child shall lead them…”
A simple phrase, but a beautiful one. Because in Heaven’s economy, innocence and simplicity are qualities of leadership.
Less is sometimes much, much more.

Safe, and Free…

June 15, 2010 / / 0 Comments
Isaiah 10
My God is a tender Father to the faithful…
But no less a Man of War. 
And what a beautiful combination! It means that while He loves me like a daddy loves his little boy, and while He deals with the utmost tenderness and compassion, that’s only half of the story…
Because my Father is also a fighter. 
And that means that even as He holds me tenderly, He fights my chains ferociously. He is all business when He deals with our Archenemy, and He’s the ultimate Winner… 
While I am in His hands, I’m safe, and free. 
Isaiah 10:33-34

Power to do Good…

June 14, 2010 / / 2 Comments
Isaiah 9
Call it affability, appeal, popularity, or “social power”… God calls it our responsibility.
It goes by the common name– “Influence” —and it’s yours. 
I feel really badly for the elders and prophets who misused it. (v.14-17) Abuse of this gift always comes with a high price…
But here’s some good news: 
“If by our example we aid others in the development of good principles, we give them power to do good. In their turn, they exert the same influence upon others, and they upon still others. Thus by our unconscious influence thousands may be blessed.” (COL 339) 

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