Illustrious

A while ago I had a plan.  I am hereby continuing with said plan.

On Sin and hard Heartedness

So this was taken from Mike Dunigan a student at COD. Sin is like the rain on the windshield of your car.  If there is a ton of it the more that piles on you don't really even notice.  It's not until the windshield is wiped clean that you notice how bad and distorted things were. Once you do wipe the glass clean you notice each drop and each speck land and unless you keep wiping it clean you end up with a blurry distorted view.  In the same way we need to keep coming to God for forgiveness, we need to keep coming to him to be made clean and also to have our vision cleared up and hearts aligned to His over and over again.

On Purity

Typically people don't get why God needs complete Holiness, why can't he just accept us as we are?  Why do we need to be changed?  Why does our sin need to be dealt with, why does God demand perfect perfection?

A helpful illustration is this:  Imagine a batch of brownies perfectly baked. crisply edges moist and chewy.  Now imagine being told there is a little bit of poop in those brownies.

Just a little.  

Do you really need complete perfection?  Isnt' that being unreasonable? That standard too high?  Oh you don't think so...  God demands perfection in all things.

Jesus is all I need

There is a lot of writing about the rampant consumerism in America and growing throughout the world.  I've written about it in the past, here and a number of other places when dealing with politics and injustice.  Skye Jethani wrote the book on its negative influence in the church. CNN just had an article declaring greed the last taboo. Which doesn't really make any sense, but there it is anyway.


Anyway, I just wanted to use this opportunity to remind us all that we need to find our identity and sufficiency in Jesus alone.  Here is another article from Time.  The point is that materialistic people are less happy in marriages.  The suspected reasons, since these people find more pleasure in possessions rather than people they put their time and energy into getting stuff, rather than in the people around them.  There is truth in that. Take Ecclesiastes 2 for example



 ⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. ⁵ I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem^[a]as well—the delights of a man’s heart. ⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
 ¹⁰ I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
   I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
   and this was the reward for all my toil.
¹¹ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
   and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
   nothing was gained under the sun.


Solomon was one of the few people who could afford everything his heart desired, (tho Americans definitely try)  and yet it was all unfulfilling.  He was not satisfied with everything so long as his heart was not set on God. 


Nothing else satisfies, and chasing after it destroys our other relationships.  Therefore guard your hearts and minds from this insidious idol, this greed that seeks to control.