Random Blog Clay Feet: 2005-11
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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Heavenly Currency

Am I willing to give thanksgiving even if I may never understand the why of my circumstances? This is the sacrifice of praise – when it is difficult. We have the idea that we cannot be thankful unless we can make sense of something or someone. We are only grateful when we feel good. It is very important to us to understand. Is this because we want to be a judge and decide if something or someone is fair or not? If so, then we also are judging God for what is happening to us.

Gratitude may be in fact less effect than it is cause. It is the currency of heaven. We have believed that for us to enrich another with this “money” that they have to work hard and make us feel good before we will turn loose of it. The world's monetary and value system has permeated every part of our life.

But this currency is very different than earthly money. This currency can be created “on demand” by our own choice at any time. This currency, when given away does not make us the poorer but multiplies itself back to us when given away, especially to those whom we initially think do not deserve it. In fact, the only way we can become rich (in the real reality system) is by giving ourself away. When we wait for “good reasons” before we generate this transaction we impoverish ourselves as well as cheat all those around us.

This issue of understanding is at the heart of this problem. We want to understand and create a decision as to how much value a person has in our estimation and then decide how much they should be paid in gratitude. Again – the economics of Satan's kingdom. But this also involves the reverse. We desperately want to be understood by others and appreciated (paid) for our value and feel impoverished when we are not. We sometimes work hard to demonstrate our value to others hoping to receive a few “pennies of heaven” so we can have feel a little value to reinvest in others.

We want to understand before we pay.

We want to be understood so we can get paid.

Or we may have come to believe that because we are not appreciated by others that we may not have value. We don't have enough value to be loved and we need to work harder to somehow make ourself more valuable. This is reinforced by the fact that it seems to work this way most of the time. Those who do “great” things externally are rewarded with praise and value by many around them. This strengthens the lie that we can only et paid – we can only be enriched with a sense of worth – if we can squeeze it out of others, even God. So we work harder at being understood. If others could just understand us better and see our importance and specialness we might get enough currency to keep us going a little longer.

But again, we don't realize that this currency is not so much received – as in pulled in from others – as it is created by our choice to give it. There are multipliers involved in the giving too. When we praise those who are proud and successful we use a negative factor and may even become poorer. When we appreciate our friends and those who make us feel good we use various low digit factors that can enrich us only slightly. This is where most of us live. But a few have discovered how to tap in to high digit factors that create unbelievable returns and astound others with the enormous wealth that can be generated with relatively very small investments. This is when they find seemingly undeserving people (or circumstances) and choose to invest gratitude and praise into them, or often in spite of them. They turn out to be the most wealthy people in the kingdom of heaven and it baffles us.

This is because we have trued to apply the rules of earthly economics to the heavenly system and then wondered why it doesn't produce good returns. Heavenly currency (riches) is generated “on demand” by our choice to give it (not demands of others or God to receive it).

In the world's system value is transient and fickle, dependent on how much we can make other people feel better in various ways good or bad. In heaven's system value is constant but is discovered as we uncover it in others.

Unextracted praise and gratitude – unearned – is like a master key that unlocks hearts, both others and our own.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

God in our Image

“By beholding we become changed.” We believe this formula at least in theory and realize that we slowly absorb the character of that which we feed into our minds.

But there is also a principle much less understood that works inversely to this. What we are is what we behold. (see My Utmost for this date) Paul brings this out in Romans when he says we have the same issues that we judge others about. But the same applies to our view of God, maybe more so. To a great degree we project onto God a picture of what we want Him to be and a reflection of who we really are hiding inside. That is why a person who indulges in anger and hate sees a condemning God, a morally loose person sees a permissive God, a naturally cheerful person sees a happy God.

Yes, people reflect out what they believe God is like, but they also to some extent believe God is like how they perceive life. This is why it is so important to be always open to receive revised insights about God based in Scripture that are not what we expect and maybe even challenges our paradigms. I believe the closer we approach God and the clearer our understanding AND experience becomes, the more we shall see clearly that God is really LOVE like the Bible teaches and there is no shadow of turning from that.

Of course we immediately bump into our problem that we have redefined most of the important words in religion to fit our warped and demeaned view of who God is. In fact, it is these very twisted definitions that most pointedly illustrate this very principle. We believe in a God shaped in our likeness and will force every description of His character and every word related to Him to fit into the mold of our likeness.

Our only hope to escape the most masterful self-deception is a revelation from outside ourselves by the Holy Spirit. We must each submit in humility to release our clinging grasp of our preconceived opinions about God, even those strongly bolstered by lengthy proof texts and SP statements, and allow the Bible to speak with new and unexpected life. The submission is not to another human picture of God but to the Holy Spirit's picture of God who is the only True Witness.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Four Tidbits

The leaven of the Pharisees is FEAR.

Unthankfulness is only one step away from getting our needs met by illegitimate means. (Dr. Kennedy) We would not have an affair if we were grateful for our spouse. We will not steal if we are grateful for what we have. We will not lie if we are grateful for the truth. We will not dishonor our parents if we are grateful for them. We will not kill if we are overflowing with thanks for life.

“Holy” means set apart, devoted for an exclusive, singular purpose, most intimate. I am a sanctuary. I invite the presence of God the Almighty to make His home in my most holy place, the most intimate vulnerable part of me. When He is welcomed into the deepest, most secret part of my being, His glory can then glow out from the inside and illumine the curtains and windows and become the consuming fiery passion of my soul.

The description of Herod's attitude at Jesus' trial is very revealing about us. He had a number of descriptions which we find very noble.

He was very glad

He wanted to see Jesus for a long time.

He had heard about Jesus and had been fulled with hope.

This undeniably describes what we believe needs to happen in all minds of sinners. It is even recorded that He talked to Jesus at great length.

But Herod's desire to see Jesus personally contained a fatal flaw that in fact many of us cherish as well. He craved seeing miracles more than seeing Jesus for who He was. Because of this flaw his gladness soured into contempt, mocking, shaming abuse and hateful scorn. He led those around him in publicly shaming Jesus because Jesus would not answer his prayers for a miracle. Does this sound at all familiar today?

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Jesus and Authority

Jesus did not surrender to the authority of the leaders of His day until the very last days. They constantly and increasingly challenged what He used for authority but they could not assert their authority over Him. They tried to arrest Him, to kill Him, to discredit Him but the most that He did was to leave them and go where He was more welcome. But at the garden He allowed them to assert their authority over Him and in so doing exposed the true nature of their hearts to the whole universe.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Reflection Rest

A mountain lake reflects and amplifies the stunning beauty of the sun shining on the mountains high above it. But it is only possible to the extent that the lake is at rest.