Eat, Drink, And Be Merry

From Henry’s Desk

“ … eat, drink, and be merry …” (Lk 12:19)

Now we all know that these words did not bring good results into the rich man’s life in Luke chapter 12.  As a matter of fact, his life was taken from him that very night.  What gives here?  Does God not want us to enjoy our life, enjoy our living?

But of course He does!  The words of the rich man did not come from a grateful heart, but from a heart satisfied with its own provision, his future secure by his own hands.  It was an attitude that says, “I have arrived!  I have need of nothing!” It is also shouts, “The ‘here and now’ is all that is important, this side of the grave is all that life consists of, and I have need of nothing and that is all that matters.”

God save us from satisfaction with this life, from counting on temporal treasures for our security, from fulfilling selfish ambitions.  1 Jn 3:15-17 (MSG) says,

“Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world--wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important--has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out--but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”

God wants us to be satisfied in and enjoy Him.  He also wants us to enjoy living, and enjoy creation but without becoming distracted by them.  They are not the main thing -  He is.  God receives glory when we are satisfied in Him.  God receives glory when we enjoy living.  God receives glory when we enjoy creation.  God receives glory when our hearts are filled with gratitude to Him for life, living, creation, provision, etc.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 (NLT) says:

Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat well, drink a good glass of wine, and enjoy their work--whatever they do under the sun--for however long God lets them alive. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life--that is indeed a gift from God. People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy.

So let’s thank God, live well, and enjoy living.  It is a gift from God.

Another Perspective

From Henry’s Desk

“ … with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength …”

Another Perspective

I once read the following in a book: (It was in 2001 and I do not remember the title)

There are three types of Christians: thinkers, feelers, and doers.  And we have denominations custom made for each.

Ÿ  The thinkers want the feelers to get logical.

Ÿ  The feelers want the thinkers to lighten up and smell the roses.

Ÿ  The doers want both types to get in gear and start evangelizing. 

My response was ‘that is correct‘.  I had never thought of it that way before, but it certainly lines up with what I have seen.  Of course this goes not so much to a persons spirituality as to their basic psychological make up, which influences their spirituality.

By now you have already thought of folks you know in one category or another, and even have placed yourself in one.  With a little thinking you will probably start to see that you have become a combination of a couple of them.

I came into the Kingdom as a thinker, became a doer, and am now wanting to be a feeler.

I don’t think we are really supposed to be one or the other, but should transition into all three.  As a matter of fact I believe that is what God wants.

God did not say, “Love Me with all your mind or love me with all your soul or love me with all your strength.”  He said, “Love me passionately with all your mind all your soul and all your strength.”  Now we all have giftings and inclinations that cause us to be more motivated towards one or another of these, but the fact remains that God wants us to love Him with everything that we are, our whole being.  And we need people around us that are geared differently than we are in order to influence us in those areas we are not inclined towards.

Left to ourselves, we would only hang out with those who are like us, and would form our own little groups like Trinity Theological Temple, Mystic Missions, or The Savior’s Servants.  I believe that God would have us together, influencing one another, and the world, for Christ.  If we would learn from one another, we would have a much more balanced life.

The X Factor

From Henry’s Desk

 The X Factor

 

I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

(Jn 10:10b AMP)

My wife Sandy and I almost didn’t get married because of a game of checkers. One of the first times I went over to see her, she wanted to play checkers (she also enjoyed watching Lawrence Welk when she was a teenager - go figure).  We played our first game, and not being a game type person, I really didn’t try too hard. I did not care if I won or lost and did just enough to get by and didn’t jump if I didn’t want to.  Well, she was not happy with that at all.  Actually she was quite irritated, and told me I was too passive.

We then proceeded to play two more games at a much higher level of intensity.  I didn’t like being called passive (laid back would have sounded better to me), and I played very aggressively.  When I went home, I did not ever plan on seeing her again, feeling very offended at having been called passive.  Of course, I did see her again and we did eventually marry.

I was thinking about living the other day, specifically about living passively verses living passionately.  To live passively is to be content to just get by, to never jump, to always hold back emotionally, physically and verbally.  You never rock the boat, you just drift along, no surprises, no chances, no enthusiasm and nothing extreme by any means.

Living passionately, on the other hand,  means putting yourself out there.  Passionate living requires involvement.  It is robust with energy, emotion, action and verbal outbursts!  It will make you take chances, jump and do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do.  It is life on the edge, extreme living, abundant living, life lived to its fullness, full of enthusiasm,  nothing held back!

So, do you think Jesus was saying, “I have come that they might just get by”, or “I have come that they might experience and enjoy life lived to its fullness, abundant, action packed, and eXtremely satisfying.”

I think Jesus wants us to jump into the life He has for us with both feet and gobble it up for His glory!

Weed-eaters, Dirt Daubers, & God's Voice

From Henry’s Desk

 

For God does speak-now one way, now another- though man may not perceive it. (Job 33:14, NIV)

I was thinking today about a time, the Lord spoke to me in what I thought was an unusual way.  As a matter of fact, it was so unusual that I missed it.  What really made it unusual is the fact that it came in a very normal and usual way.

One day around the end of winter and beginning of spring, I was preparing to do some weed-eating.  I went out to the shed, got out my weed-eater and started trying to crank it.  I did all the right stuff, but the weed-eater would not even try to start.

After a bit, I decided it was not going to start and put it back in the shed.  As I was closing the shed door I found myself thinking about an incident in Junior High shop class.  The teacher used to sabotage a lawn mower engine and we would have to figure out what was wrong with it and then get it started.  I remembered the time he stuffed a paper towel into the muffler keeping it from starting.  I walked back up to the house and never gave it another thought.

A few days later, I took the weed-eater to a small engine repair shop and told them it wouldn’t start.  The mechanic took a small nail or some such thing, stuck it into the muffler opening and broke up a dirt dauber nest that was in it.  The weed-eater then started right up.

Then I understood about the memory from shop class.  God was talking to me in an unusual way using a usual function of my mind, to be exact, a memory.  I would have saved myself a lot of time and effort if I had recognized that God was speaking to me with that memory, telling me what to do to fix the weed-eater and get it started.

I wonder how many times in our lives God has been speaking to us in one way or another, but we didn’t realize it.  How much time, effort, finances, etc. would have been saved if we had been expecting God to speak to us, and then paid attention.

I think that I’m going to remember that God does speak, that He does it one way or another, and I’m going to pay better attention.

Sowing Seeds of Fire

From Henry’s Desk

 

-the sower went out to sow …

 

-bored people are dangerous people …

 

If we learn from our mistakes, then I am learned.

If we grow through adversity, then I am growed.

If we are what we eat, then I am sweet.

If we are what we think, then I am a mess.

 
           -henry

 

I am not impressive, but on the other hand, I’m not impressed with myself.  I am impressed with ONE person, He is Jesus Christ, Son of God/Son of Man.  Not to be understood so much as to be experienced. 

 Kind of like a “fireball”, from my childhood.  This was a hard candy ball, red and very hot on the outside, and cool and sweet on the inside.  To be told about is was one thing, but to suck on one was quite another.

The red outside was unbelievably hot and hard to take, while the white inside was incredibility cool and sweet.  It was well worth the time and heat to get to the inside. 

Of course, there were some who would never open it up, not even considering what it had to offer.  And some would pop it in their mouths, and then spit it out, unable to endure the heat.  There were others who tried just licking the fireball, but their real desire was the sweet without the heat.

And there were some who paid the price willing to make a sacrifice

They endured to the end and their comfort did not defend

Willing to live, willing to die, and willing to die to live again

Are you bored?  Go experience a fireball.

Destiny's Song

Destiny overtakes and apprehends its recipient, plants a seed, and potentially reaps a harvest. Your destiny is what is growing inside of you, getting bigger and bigger. Destiny captures your heart, mind, will, and emotions.

The fire of destiny does not get started by you, but you must add fuel for it to keep going and growing. Unattended, destiny will only sputter, but never set your life on fire. It will only give fleeting glimpses of purpose, with no lasting passion, In the end, it will die unfulfilled as also its recipient.

TEND THE FIRE GOD HAS PUT IN YOU!

The fire must be kept burning on the alter continoulsly; it must not go out. (Lev 6:13) Destiny sings tomorrow's song. We must hear and begin singing and dancing to its song today...

Destiny sings tomorrow's song...

TIGHT PLACES - The Promise of Beauty To Come

TIGHT PLACES - The Promise of Beauty To Come

(From 2/09/09)

Sometimes I have to put people in (through) tight places to get stuff off (out) of them.  You may wonder, but don’t wander (escape) from the narrowness I put you in.  It squeezes out death and I replace it with life.  I take you from a narrow place into a wide place, from a closed place into an open place. 

A flower bulb is a closed tight place, but it holds the promise of beauty to come.  It opens and releases more beauty and life than the bulb (tight place) could ever have held

As the promise of the bulb, so the promise of the tight (narrow) place.  There is something larger and better than where you are or even where you have been that will come as you let the tight place do the work I have assigned it - that you may more fully do what I have assigned you. 

As the flower must endure the bulb before it can release it’s beauty, so you must endure the tight (narrow) place before you can release my beauty.  The bulb is not a bad place for the burgeoning flower.  The tight narrow place is not a bad place for the burgeoning Christian - it is the promise of beauty to come.

Burgeon:

1. To send forth new growth (as buds or branches): sprout, bloom

2. To grow and expand rapidly: flourish

3.  To make or become greater or larger

Synonyms: amplify, build up, enlarge, escalate, expand, extend, grow, magnify, multiply, soar, wax

 

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  (Mt 7:13-14)