One of my thoughts for the past several weeks/months is that
it has been far too long since I’ve written anything and also that it is so
much harder to start something up again when you’ve neglected it. This blog for
example, I feel the need to catch you up with my life or something but that has
become far too daunting task to achieve and so my conclusion has become that if
I ever intend to write on here again I must simply ignore the absence and start
writing. And so that is my intent today to go back to my roots and simply
write. So, the first time I ever remember writing something that was not for
school or maybe just the first time I remember writing something meaningful was
5 or 6 years back when my sister challenged me to read my bible and write about
it; the task was simple, read at least one chapter a day and then write about
what stood out to me in what I read.
So the chapters I read today were Matthew 19&20 and Proverbs
13 and the verses that stood out and connected for me were…
Proverbs 13:7
There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; and
there is one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches
Matthew 19:30
But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Matthew 20:27&28
And whoever desires to be first among you let him be your
slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give His life a ransom for many.
All of the statements made here in these verses are pretty straightforward
and in most cases can be applied to being charitable; giving of your money or
time, and there is truth in that but there is also a statement being made about
pride and humility and the kingdom of heaven. Because in the world we live in
the general mindset of society is all about getting; getting money, getting
power, or just getting more people to listen to what you have to say. But that
is not the mindset of the kingdom of heaven.
If you have ever spent time reading the gospels you may have
noticed that Jesus shares a lot of parables and that most of them start out
with “the kingdom of heaven is like…” and then He goes on to continue with
whatever point He is choosing to make that day. Now I’m not a great bible scholar
or even someone who really likes reading the parables, but from what I’ve heard
read and remember the kingdom of heaven is not run like and does not follow the
same rules as any kingdom we have here on earth.
So with that in mind, the kingdom of heaven and life as a Christian
is not about getting more, it’s about giving til it hurts and putting others
before yourself, in essence it’s about humbling yourself to the point of being
last, poor and a slave because God is the only One who can truly make you first,
rich and free and maybe when it comes right down to it that might be the point
that God wants to make with your life.
God is the only one who can truly make me first, rich and free and as long as I keep on forgetting that, I am going to continue to strive at the wind. Thanks for the challenge and the reminder. And good work writing again
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