“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
James 1:17
Today I find myself weeping here, as hard as I had in my sister’s backyard that one afternoon, after a 10 hour shift in a factory where, that day, I assembled nearly four hundred pepper-spray canisters. I was tired and sore; and I missed my family so bad that it hurt. It was a time of gut-wrenching tears. But back then, they were fearful tears. I was unsure of where the path would lead; it really stung to cry.
It’s a wild thing, though, because that is why I am crying, right now, too; because I really missed them. But I’m not really far away this time; we are not estranged and wondering in fear of our futures. I’m right here, on the floor of my family’s apartment, in gut-wrenching tears because of the things God has given me — good things — in which I do not deserve. The events being lived out in my life lately, have turned from cool and potentially, beneficial circumstances to downright miraculous milestones; powder kegs of faith and joy are going off. It’s a wild ride.
Some weeks are so progressive and productive that on-lookers, scrutinizers — my family, even — almost begin to recognize Christ in me. Those weeks are fun. There’s lots of gentle hugs and good ‘feelings’ going around.
The weeks of growth, discomfort, and perseverance — definitely humility — those weeks are rattling.
This week; was both.
I sit, now; reflecting. The weight of the all days and months is heavy.
Life has so much weight to it; but what would it be without it? Proverbs, chapter 14, teaches us that if we want abundance — if we want anything good to enjoy in our lives, that’s worth having — it’s going to get messy. Verse 4 jumps straight to the point; “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.”
We gotta be able to make the best of the messy stuff, the tough situations, the not-so-easy challenges… the “in-laws” kind of stuff… 😉
But foodies understand! We all know that a sandwich that drips beats one that just sits.
News reporters understand! When disaster strikes, their ratings go up. And lifeguards, hospital workers, and policemen all make a living from the messy things. Needless to say, the world would be a different place if it weren’t for the tragedy that’s completely intertwined into life in this world but, I’ll quote one of my favorites — from my favorite book — Ecclesiastes 7:3 for you; “…for by sadness of face, the heart is made glad.”
There’s a certain contentment that comes from realizing that — whatever the problem may be — it lies outside of our control and often, when we get affected by something, we only really, have two choices: make it worse; or handle it correctly. The dead man in me — from past — would have always chosen the first one. For him, if the scale was tilted unfairly, he would make sure it would go all the way and tip over into destruction and chaos. If I didn’t get my way, neither would you.
Now, once I chose to do the only right thing I have ever been capable of doing in my own strength — giving in to Jesus — He’s taken over and the sin-nature has no longer been allowed to overstep its bounds. It was only then, that I was allowed to feel sadness, instead of anger and a need for healing, instead of revenge.
So, I cook as a hobby. Mainly, because it’s easy and I can eat the outcome.
Mmmmm — science and sustenance… double satisfaction… 😋
Okay sorry, let’s keep going.
One very, very important part of cooking, essential to your “sous chef” arsenal, no matter where you are on earth is; salt. Salt, for me is fun to learn about because of its abundance of chemical reactions and their affect on our food and taste buds and… everything else on earth. Salt is, possibly, the most valuable item in the kitchen, if not in all of life in general.
So lately I’ve been thinking:
My theory is that everything in life, in its own way, is looking for balance, and, you probably are too. It’s an insatiable effect that affects a whole load of biological things and chemical things alike, if not — once again — everything on earth. I’m not sure, yet, if it’s everything, though all evidence I’ve seen — so far — does support it. Anything ‘off-balance’ is like a balloon, and it’s actually why balloons pop the way they do. The air pumped inside gets squished into the rubber and becomes compressed. It’s in tight together, wrapped in rubber that stretches but does not, really, let any pressure out once sealed in. The air density is higher inside so essentially, it’s trying its hardest to get out — to make some space. It’s trying to balance things out because, like most things in life, it wants; justice.
Salt has the same desire. If you want moisture from a marinade to squeeeze into a piece of chicken; add salt to the mixture. Sure, the water in the marinade wants in and does absorb, some — on its own — but it doesn’t have the ambition for balance like salt does. Salt will find a way in — whether by destruction or ease — because there’s less salt inside the meat and the universe wants justice. Don’t leave water out, though. Nature’s need to balance out is the very reason we have hydraulic technology.
All of these examples, and many more not stated, have led me to believe that, if I toss in ‘righteousness’ as ingredients — good and evil — it would probably follow the same pattern. Except evil is evil. God is ‘good’ and also wants justice — or balance — but, sin just won’t stop.
When Adam and Eve gained the “knowledge of good and evil”– by eating the apple God told them not to eat — they did, in fact gain the ability to see good, and evil. But evil is wrong in so many ways.
The two, OG humans that started life on planet earth, started in utter beauty and perfection. Everything they could look out and see, God said was “good.” God confirms this early in His story, through the author of Genesis, by repeating it over and over again in the phrase; “God looked and saw that it was good.”
Then ‘good’ — the only thing that ever existed before the whole ‘apple situation’ — now appeared to contain something different to them. Now as they looked, they saw strange and interesting shapes; and shadows. They saw mysterious things that appealed to them in ways they’ve never experienced before.
They had been looking directly into — and only at — ‘Good’ itself, but once sin was given free reign, it quickly got real difficult to decipher a difference between the two and eventually, sin began to take over entirely.
It’s pride caused it to think it deserves everything.
It’s arrogance pushed it’s way in front of everyone.
It’s selfishness spoke only of itself.
It’s jealousy ruined all that wasn’t deemed attainable.
It’s greed hid anything of value.
It’s hatred killed all it could.
All that’s left, once evil gets involved — is evil.
I’ve picked up on this, and it has been extremely helpful, lately. I’ve also made my Bride aware of it and together we are beginning to see where the cracks are — the spots satan is sneaking in. The key phrase I’ve been digging into a bunch is; “There must be missing information.” Whenever I look at my family on bad days, in the middle of a disagreement, and only see through frustration and aggravation, I’ve begun to view the situation with this idea in mind — “There must be missing information.”
Paul brings this up in his first letter to the Corinthians; he tells his fellow forerunners; “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully…”
This thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is a popular one. It’s all about love and all of its attributes. It even goes on to list things that are sure signs that are not love — all of the things we experience that love is ‘not.’ The very last verse here, expresses to us, three attributes of our existence that are completely hidden from our physical senses; and he lists them like so:
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love…” (verse 13)
I believe what Paul is saying here is that, even though we can’t see them, these elements — faith, hope and love — exist as much as any other element in the universe. In fact, verse ten tells us that; “when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.” What we see is just the shadow of the truth. It’s missing information.
The key messages we can take from these passages in this light are; to not overlook these “substances,” as Hebrews 11:1 refers to them. God is ‘Love,’ and Love is ‘good.’ Good is a substance that actually exists — even though life seems to be overrun by evil. The information that is missing — when all we can see is evil — is all the good stuff.
We all just have to remember that ‘good’ still exists.
Remember my very first post? It’s “My Recovery Story.” I’ll reiterate my plight for you with a quote from that post;
“In this blog,” I stated, “my goal is to encourage you. I will attempt to prove that love is an actual force and that faith is a true substance.”
Righteousness, like God Himself, is not missing the ‘good’ parts. If we want to be like God, we must balance out — we must crave ‘Good.’ And since “the fall”, we all begin our lives with far too much evil inside of us, around us and, ‘as’ us — to reach any sort of condition that is considered ‘good,’ on our own so, we’ve got a lot of learning to do.
That’s where Jesus fills in the gaps for us. We, ourselves, cannot even reach ‘acceptable’ as a status, but He places us at ‘perfection’ — fully knowledgeable, entirely forgiven and one hundred percent holy — for absolutely free.
We just have to submit ourselves to God, and resist the darkness until the enemy flees; until then we must remember;
The ‘Good’ information is just really hard to see.
Are you looking hard enough?
Just keep going guys; out last the evil.
See you at church on Sunday!
– God Exists –
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