Genesis 28:14-17
"When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.' He was afraid and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.' Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, [house of God]...."
This story is one of those oldies, but goodies. Jacob has set out on a journey and has stop to rest for the night. When he rests, God reveals a covenant for Jacob's future by sending ascending and descending angels next to him. Prior to resting, Jacob awakes and finds that he has been changed by the mysterious prescence of the Lord. He then goes on to name this place Bethel.
I love this story because it gives us all hope that when we pray, grieve, rejoice there is a Bethel in our precence with angels ascending and descending carrying our requests and lessons back and forth. This place was somewhere for Jacob that he knew God resided with him. God revealed a new obvious truth to me this morning and that is our Bethel today is in our hearts. God's mysterious prescence is inside us. Thanks to Jesus' promise of a gift we have been able to have this privilege. This Bethel is constant and precious in everyday of life that God chooses to give us.
You will never run dry or become empty because your heart has angels ascending and descending in it carrying your love, hopes, worries, triumphs, and failures to the one who cares the most.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
1 Thessalonians 2:8
"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."
I was thinking about time this morning. In eastern cultures, such as China, a lifetime is viewed very differently from our American idea of a lifetime. So often, we look at our lives in relation to a line. We look at the past and use the excuse of whatever happened wasn't our choice. Then, we look at the future as somthing that doesn't exist because it hasn't happened yet. So that leaves us locked into the here and now and creates the "live in the moment" culture. The present is something we use to justify life and why we do what we do.
In eastern cultures, they view a lifetime as something that is interrelated. Eastern cultures, such as, China are known for seeking advice and guidance from their ancestors. Most of us have run into an example of this in the Disney movie Mulan. In this movie a girl has a dragon that is supposed to guide her in her choices for the future. The Chinese look in their past to see what events or people made them who they are in the present and use what ever their past was to make decisions in the future.
In the passage above we are told that the Paul was using his story to encourage and teach those in Thessalonica. I think that because we live in a "live in the moment" culture we forget the importance of our past and the power that it has to reach a world that is seeking for something more out of life despite of who they are. Jews in Jesus time were reminded constantly of where they come from to influence them to make healthy moral decisions for their current life. It is not a new thing to apply the past to life decisions. I think the eastern cultures have the right idea in that we need to embrace all of time to be able to become all that we are intended to be so that we can show all the world their purpose.
"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."
I was thinking about time this morning. In eastern cultures, such as China, a lifetime is viewed very differently from our American idea of a lifetime. So often, we look at our lives in relation to a line. We look at the past and use the excuse of whatever happened wasn't our choice. Then, we look at the future as somthing that doesn't exist because it hasn't happened yet. So that leaves us locked into the here and now and creates the "live in the moment" culture. The present is something we use to justify life and why we do what we do.
In eastern cultures, they view a lifetime as something that is interrelated. Eastern cultures, such as, China are known for seeking advice and guidance from their ancestors. Most of us have run into an example of this in the Disney movie Mulan. In this movie a girl has a dragon that is supposed to guide her in her choices for the future. The Chinese look in their past to see what events or people made them who they are in the present and use what ever their past was to make decisions in the future.
In the passage above we are told that the Paul was using his story to encourage and teach those in Thessalonica. I think that because we live in a "live in the moment" culture we forget the importance of our past and the power that it has to reach a world that is seeking for something more out of life despite of who they are. Jews in Jesus time were reminded constantly of where they come from to influence them to make healthy moral decisions for their current life. It is not a new thing to apply the past to life decisions. I think the eastern cultures have the right idea in that we need to embrace all of time to be able to become all that we are intended to be so that we can show all the world their purpose.
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