Sunday, May 30, 2010
Today is Now
Lately I have been all about living today. Well, I have written about it... it is hard sometimes to actually live today. And now that it is 3:30 AM and I cannot sleep for the life of me, I will write something about it.
I do not think I would be naive to say that all that happens is now.
All that happens is now.
Let us focus on now. Yesterday never happens. I guarantee that you will never experience yesterday. That is just an absurd idea. The Beatles claimed that yesterday was so simple, and now they long for yesterday. Well that is a silly aspiration if you think about it. For one, yesterday will never happen, and for another, today is just as simple as yesterday. No matter your situation, the human state is always such that something greater or more important always seems to be going on.
C.S. Lewis speaks of this when talking about war. Just because we label something a "war" does not mean that it is any more drastic or any greater then before it was labeled war. And once the war is won or once the war is lost, the situation will be just as drastic and just as important.
But most of all, do not long for a simpler time because now, here, is the simplest time you will ever experience. No matter what is happening around you, now is happening, here is happening, and there is nothing complex about that.
Then there are the dreamers who look to tomorrow. But tomorrow, I would say, is an un instantiated idea. Show me tomorrow. Tomorrow is an idea, but it never happens and never will happen. Do not dream for tomorrow, or say tomorrow I will do this, because tomorrow will always be one day, one hour, one second out of your grasp.
Today is all we have, today is all that there is. Chasing your past will tie you up in the thoughts that today is somehow more difficult or somehow more complicated then the past. Relying on tomorrow will leave you with a massive to do list that will never get done because tomorrow will never instantiate itself.
What will you be today? Choose to be love today and you will be love always. Choose to be love tomorrow and you will never be love. Choose to be peace once the "current situation" is over and peace will never come. Choose to forgive once he comes and asks for it and you will never forgive (even if he asks for it... trust me).
Be ______ Today, it is your only chance.
Friday, May 28, 2010
YOU
It seems to me that everyone gets caught up in changing. Everyone wants to grow and become something else, or someone else. This, it seems to me, is destructive thinking.
I was at the zoo today when I realized something. Animals have a perfectly humble pride in what they are, and where they are. They rule over the ground that they are on. They all hold their heads high. None of the birds wish they were reptiles, or reptiles wish they were zebras. The Eagles could no longer fly, so they sat on their perch, chest puffed and head high. Always proud to be what they are.
Everyone is weak. Everyone is hurting. But Everyone is strong.
We all envy each other, until it become a massive circle of jealousy and nobody ever takes pride in their own existence. Imagine if you were to discover the function of your body, or the incredible flow of thoughts from your mind? You are powerful. You are strong.
So stop looking at your neighbor and wishing you were him. Accept who you are, and be YOU to the best of your ability. Then, once you are in fact being YOU, lift your head. Puff out your chest. Show everyone in the world that you are YOU and nobody else. Show everyone in the world that you are powerful and strong.
Be YOU.
Grace and Peace,
Ben
I was at the zoo today when I realized something. Animals have a perfectly humble pride in what they are, and where they are. They rule over the ground that they are on. They all hold their heads high. None of the birds wish they were reptiles, or reptiles wish they were zebras. The Eagles could no longer fly, so they sat on their perch, chest puffed and head high. Always proud to be what they are.
Everyone is weak. Everyone is hurting. But Everyone is strong.
We all envy each other, until it become a massive circle of jealousy and nobody ever takes pride in their own existence. Imagine if you were to discover the function of your body, or the incredible flow of thoughts from your mind? You are powerful. You are strong.
So stop looking at your neighbor and wishing you were him. Accept who you are, and be YOU to the best of your ability. Then, once you are in fact being YOU, lift your head. Puff out your chest. Show everyone in the world that you are YOU and nobody else. Show everyone in the world that you are powerful and strong.
Be YOU.
Grace and Peace,
Ben
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Drinking and Wrestling
So there are ideas in the bible that are constantly wrestled with. I do not always enjoy wrestling, sometimes I am tired and just want to sit in the sun and have the truth come down from heaven upon me like ice cold lemonade... I'm not going to say that is impossible, but let's just say that we have to wrestle.
That said, I don't think I will ever be done wrestling with anything. It is constantly changing and applying itself in new ways in my life, and the wrestling match will only be done when I die or Christ returns.
Here are a few of my wrestling matches:
1. Whether or not homosexuality is sinful, what then?
2. Jesus loves the porn star... Just as much as me?
3. I cannot trust my heart?
1. Personally, I think that homosexuality is sinful. But what does that mean? Does it even matter? Even if that is true, that does not effect how I treat the person. All that means is that for me, personally, I would consider myself sinning if I were to have a homosexual relationship. But can I possibly look upon a man and say "you are sinning?" Truth be told, I have a plank in my eye. Perhaps I let God judge, and I attempt to love all.
2. Jesus loves the porn star. Jesus loves everyone. Jesus came to die for everyone. But Jesus must love me more right?... haha. no. not at all. How many sins do I have that I do not repent, that I do not attempt to fix? I slap Jesus in the face on a daily basis. I put the nails through his hands time and time again. I see his pain, I know what causes is, and I pick up the hammer and pound the nail.
3. I absolutely cannot trust my heart. Another thing to add to this one, begin "nice" is not enough. I have good intentions with most everything I do, I think most people do. I try to be nice to everyone around me, and that stems from these good intentions. But these intentions and this attempt at "niceness" do nothing. I have no way of overcoming this on my own. The only possible thing that could happen is that God could have mercy upon me and guide me towards his heart. Let my heart be Yours Lord, so that there is no difference. I will not trust my own heart, but rather I will trust God's heart.
But how can I tell the difference?
As you can see, with each of these there is wrestling happening, and wrestling that has happened. I have been frustrated and angry, I have been exhausted and defeated. Every answer I think I stumble upon brings forth more questions.
But as I wrestle, I must remember this. I must come back to the water. I must drink deep of it, or I will be overtaken. If I do not drink the water, the simplest and only fulfilling water, I will be overtaken.
Drink deep of the well that is Jesus.
Grace and Peace to all,
Ben
That said, I don't think I will ever be done wrestling with anything. It is constantly changing and applying itself in new ways in my life, and the wrestling match will only be done when I die or Christ returns.
Here are a few of my wrestling matches:
1. Whether or not homosexuality is sinful, what then?
2. Jesus loves the porn star... Just as much as me?
3. I cannot trust my heart?
1. Personally, I think that homosexuality is sinful. But what does that mean? Does it even matter? Even if that is true, that does not effect how I treat the person. All that means is that for me, personally, I would consider myself sinning if I were to have a homosexual relationship. But can I possibly look upon a man and say "you are sinning?" Truth be told, I have a plank in my eye. Perhaps I let God judge, and I attempt to love all.
2. Jesus loves the porn star. Jesus loves everyone. Jesus came to die for everyone. But Jesus must love me more right?... haha. no. not at all. How many sins do I have that I do not repent, that I do not attempt to fix? I slap Jesus in the face on a daily basis. I put the nails through his hands time and time again. I see his pain, I know what causes is, and I pick up the hammer and pound the nail.
3. I absolutely cannot trust my heart. Another thing to add to this one, begin "nice" is not enough. I have good intentions with most everything I do, I think most people do. I try to be nice to everyone around me, and that stems from these good intentions. But these intentions and this attempt at "niceness" do nothing. I have no way of overcoming this on my own. The only possible thing that could happen is that God could have mercy upon me and guide me towards his heart. Let my heart be Yours Lord, so that there is no difference. I will not trust my own heart, but rather I will trust God's heart.
But how can I tell the difference?
As you can see, with each of these there is wrestling happening, and wrestling that has happened. I have been frustrated and angry, I have been exhausted and defeated. Every answer I think I stumble upon brings forth more questions.
But as I wrestle, I must remember this. I must come back to the water. I must drink deep of it, or I will be overtaken. If I do not drink the water, the simplest and only fulfilling water, I will be overtaken.
Drink deep of the well that is Jesus.
Grace and Peace to all,
Ben
Sunday, May 2, 2010
כל הדברים
כל הדברים
Means all, or all things.
"Even through our broken sobs and cries of pain we can sing alleluia because we know that He is coming. He is enduring our pains with us, he is coming.
כל הדברים will be redeemed. All things will be redeemed.
All things.
I learned something today, not from the teaching, not from anything anyone said or did, I just learned by experiencing it. This is what I learned: The past is done. The present is happening. The future WILL happen.
You might say to yourself... duh. But each phrase is packed with meaning.
The past is done:
You cannot do anything about the past, it is done, it is finished but most of all it has no power. The past CANNOT control the future, the past CANNOT control the present. The present is the present and the future is the future, the past has no place in this. History describes something but does not decide anything. Oh, and did I mention that everything in the past is forgiven if we just humble ourselves and ask?
The present is happening:
And there is nothing we can do about it. The present is happening no matter what way you look at it. We cannot decide where we are in the present, we cannot decide who is around us in the present it simply is, we have no say over what the present is. But we do have a say about what we do in the present. The present for me (for now) is sitting in this corner at this table listening to music typing on this computer. I cannot change that, the present is the present at the moment I had that thought I could not have been in Berlin or Haiti, but I could only have been where I was. The present is happening, all I can choose is what I do in the present that is happening.
The future WILL happen:
And it will happen as God has made it to happen. This is a hard one. This is painful. There is only one future, and it is known already by God. There are no alternatives, only one future. So in Matthew when Jesus says do not worry about tomorrow, what you will eat or wear... do not worry about it because it is going to happen exactly as it WILL happen. There is a lot of darkness in this idea. To people who are oppressed, they were once in a point where they were going to be oppressed and it was going to happen and did happen no matter what. But there is the ultimate light in the future, כל הדברים . All things will be redeemed.
So I had a recent example of which I will not elaborate where I could not give something up to God. I wanted to be in the past so I could have this, in my present I longed for this thing, and I would not let God be God and have his future (which of course he is going to have anyway). I longed for this thing, I told God that I want it and that he should give it to me. In the present that I was in I dwelt on the past which was pointless because the past is gone, and I longed for a future, which is stupid because the future WILL happen as it WILL happen.
So what do I do with this now?
I live in the present doing what I can in the present that IS happening, letting God have my past that DID happen, and embracing the idea of the future that WILL happen. Only then is there peace.
God tells me not to worry about my past because it is gone and he loves me the same. He tells me not to worry about the future because it will happen as it will happen. He tells me in my present to seek first the kingdom.
This is peace:
כל הדברים will be redeemed.
In Christ,
Ben
Means all, or all things.
"Even through our broken sobs and cries of pain we can sing alleluia because we know that He is coming. He is enduring our pains with us, he is coming.
כל הדברים will be redeemed. All things will be redeemed.
All things.
I learned something today, not from the teaching, not from anything anyone said or did, I just learned by experiencing it. This is what I learned: The past is done. The present is happening. The future WILL happen.
You might say to yourself... duh. But each phrase is packed with meaning.
The past is done:
You cannot do anything about the past, it is done, it is finished but most of all it has no power. The past CANNOT control the future, the past CANNOT control the present. The present is the present and the future is the future, the past has no place in this. History describes something but does not decide anything. Oh, and did I mention that everything in the past is forgiven if we just humble ourselves and ask?
The present is happening:
And there is nothing we can do about it. The present is happening no matter what way you look at it. We cannot decide where we are in the present, we cannot decide who is around us in the present it simply is, we have no say over what the present is. But we do have a say about what we do in the present. The present for me (for now) is sitting in this corner at this table listening to music typing on this computer. I cannot change that, the present is the present at the moment I had that thought I could not have been in Berlin or Haiti, but I could only have been where I was. The present is happening, all I can choose is what I do in the present that is happening.
The future WILL happen:
And it will happen as God has made it to happen. This is a hard one. This is painful. There is only one future, and it is known already by God. There are no alternatives, only one future. So in Matthew when Jesus says do not worry about tomorrow, what you will eat or wear... do not worry about it because it is going to happen exactly as it WILL happen. There is a lot of darkness in this idea. To people who are oppressed, they were once in a point where they were going to be oppressed and it was going to happen and did happen no matter what. But there is the ultimate light in the future, כל הדברים . All things will be redeemed.
So I had a recent example of which I will not elaborate where I could not give something up to God. I wanted to be in the past so I could have this, in my present I longed for this thing, and I would not let God be God and have his future (which of course he is going to have anyway). I longed for this thing, I told God that I want it and that he should give it to me. In the present that I was in I dwelt on the past which was pointless because the past is gone, and I longed for a future, which is stupid because the future WILL happen as it WILL happen.
So what do I do with this now?
I live in the present doing what I can in the present that IS happening, letting God have my past that DID happen, and embracing the idea of the future that WILL happen. Only then is there peace.
God tells me not to worry about my past because it is gone and he loves me the same. He tells me not to worry about the future because it will happen as it will happen. He tells me in my present to seek first the kingdom.
This is peace:
כל הדברים will be redeemed.
In Christ,
Ben
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