Antithesis-produced joy

It is for my own good that God demands that I love only Him. His jealousy for His reputation, unlike my own, is right and true. A happy by-product of His longing for His reputation is the salvation of my soul and the continual separation of myself into more delightful and happier living. Obviously, if this by-product never came to be, God would have every right (as if He needs my permission) to demand that all obedience, worship, and even heartfelt love be directed toward Him. Even if those things produced hell-like pain in our souls and bodies God would be just in His declaration that it be so. But what joy to know that as I seek Him, as I draw near to Him…He draws near to me. That gives me pause and sends shivers through me.

It rails against my flesh but as I put to death the deeds of the flesh and the Spirit reigns that is when death becomes the comfortable vehicle that God has redeemed it to be. When I love God my relationship with my wife and children, friends and co-workers takes on a dimension that was intended before the great fall. I for one am glad that God and Dagon cannot occupy the same room without the one losing it’s head and hands. It is for my joy that God’s jealousy toppled Dagon. For He will have no rivals. And I will fill my gut with the crumbs that fall from the table where this antithesis feasts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

tightvnc keyboard mapping problem in Ubuntu 9.04

Image
I have been, off and on, having an issue with the keys on my keyboard mapping to the correct values when using the tightvnc client when paired with the vncserver vino in Ubuntu 9.04. I am not exactly sure what keyboard layout the client and server was expecting, but it seemed like every time I restarted the OS the keyboard mapping problem would come back and I would be at square one again. Well, I think I have found the workaround I was looking for . Hopefully this will help anyone else that is having this issue.
Read more

The manifestation of the "I" and the gift of self - Part 1

I am continuing my journey through Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body and I had never realized how body-focused the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis truly are.  But then it all makes so much more sense when it was brought to my attention that the body we have been given in a manifestation of me, or to put it another way, the "I". And it goes beyond that still. Not only does it reveal me, but my body also reveals, in no small measure, the image of God. That is not to say that God is made of flesh like me as is depicted in so many Renaissance paintings. The old man in the sky is nothing like the God as revealed in the Bible. However, the love that God is, the holiness that he is, the justice he is, the righteousness that he is...all of it is shown to the world through my body. In a very real way, my body allows for others, and for me, to participate in the mystery (the hiddenness) of the image of God. That is by design; from the beginning.  If God is revealed in nature...
Read more

Let me learn what I need to learn

In the “I don’t know what God is trying to produce in me…” portion of the blog: I work across (not with) an incredibly loud person. We are in cubes and he refuses to use a handset when he is in a conference call…or headphones. Everything is done via speaker phone. Maybe his handset is broken? I don’t know and am too timid (read “interested in keeping the peace”) to ask him. Of course he shouts into his speaker phone as well when he talks. Now he even refuses to use a keyboard. He has a speech recognition program that allows him to speak to the computer rather than type. Good for him! Now we can all hear “Comma…open parenthesis…close parenthesis…tab…tab...tab…” Was it my sin or my parents sin that relegated me to this placement in the office. We all know the answer to that but man…it sure feels like I am getting punished for something.
Read more