Spiritual Ponderings

  Therefore I urge you , brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good , well-pleasing , and perfect will of God . For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably , as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith . (Romans 12:1-3) Caterpillars can’t fly. But butterflies can (only a bit different than birds do). Caterpillars don’t fly, yet I wonder if they might be born with deep, innate cravings to do so…. If caterpillars are destined to fly, yet have no equipment to do so, isn’t that the ultimate frustration? What is the identity of a caterpillar? Is that identity permanent, or temporary? Does a caterpillar have any choic...

 No longer a beggar. I want to no longer beg and plead with God as if He is reluctant or even recalcitrant to listen to my desires for healing or salvation, either for myself or for others. What does my begging infer about God's heart, when I display the disposition that God has to be persuaded to bless, to heal, to love, to forgive, to feel compassion? The message it sends is that God is a great deal like me – hard-hearted, loath to let go of offenses, demanding satisfaction for debts and administration of execution for unpunished sins before He will relent to release a measured bit of kindness or mercy. What a horrific view of God our prayers often unconsciously project without our even realizing it. Yet its true, and its tragic, and I don't want to continue to imagine that God is like the monster my feelings made Him out to be as a teenager based on how others made Him appear in my imagination. To continue to allow those dark, dungeon-like perceptions of God to still aff...

When the lights suddenly go dim, we know it is may be due to something we call a brownout. That is usually caused by something drawing so much current that everything else does not have sufficient power to operate normally. Typically this is not because the power company is not producing enough power. Rather it is limited by the capacity of the conductors to provide us enough power to run everything at the same time. I have been thinking of this as a parallel to what happened at the cross with interesting implications. When this world fell into sin we experienced a power vacuum, power being life itself. Over the centuries death and sin progressively increased and saturated the minds and hearts of humanity. It had already begun affecting the disposition of the onlooking universe and as they watched sin deepen on this planet it continued to affect them. The need for vital reconnection to the only Source of power in the universe became urgent if there was to ...

But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. (Matthew 5:39) An evil person is like a very weak car battery. They are seriously lacking in love power and as a result they malfunction, growl, spark and lack ability to get along with others. They are filled with selfishness and obsessed with grasping and clawing those around them in desperate attempts to meet their needs. What they really need, whether they are aware of it or not (and most of the time they are not) is a jump from another battery that is fully charged. If the jumpers used to connect two batteries have too much resistance, the power cannot flow sufficiently to make enough difference to get the weak one started. Likewise, when we resist an evil person's attacks on us by taking offense, becoming defensive, retaliating or any similar ungodly responses, we prevent them from having access to the very power they so desperately need. Mo...