The fact that I have been tuning myself in to God's radio station for the past 2 or more years now has enabled me to finally get the right frequency. I'd love to challenge all the psychologists out there that say that hearing God is essentially based upon one's own preferences, and that their blinders have them honing in on anything that they would feel as being related to God. The example they would give would be like a Christian saying that a brownie taught them a lesson the other day about God, that he 'spoke' to them through the medium of a brownie. That sounds freakin crazy.
But is it crazy?
The main point of Romans 1:18-32 is to fire up the Romans into understanding that God's presence has always been around, but instead of seeing that we have seen the tree of knowledge; we have chosen to see the devil. Since the Fall of mankind, there has been this distortion between what we commonly accept and what is. God IS; and the devil is the distortion. What we commonly accept is then up to whether or not we continue being distorted, or if we choose to see what IS, as in to say what God is, and what he is about. This, by the way, is one of the reasons for Jesus coming to earth, so as to show us by becoming us, breathing like we do, going through the struggles (see Luke 4:1-13) like we do, showing us where God is on this earth (which is everywhere mind you).
And the obviousness of God is all around, even in people who do not follow Him. My supervisor at work the other day told me something that caught me off guard. Now I can tell by his actions and his ways (things of which he brags about and desires) that he does not exactly follow God. This of course is judging, and further more judging someone's relationship with God. It is best that I just ask him eventually if he is a believer or not, but for the time being I can tell that he is not motivated by Jesus. To put it truly in perspective, I get caught up in his conversations or my friends conversations at work and I could be confused as a non-believer.
The point is what he told me. On the way back from work yesterday, we saw a guy riding a bike on the side of the road. He began to tell me how he use to bike around all the time, how much he enjoyed it and what not. Then he told me about one night, when he was drunk at a bar, he came out and saw a man who appeared to be either homeless or at least in poverty. My supervisor had rode his brand new bike from K-Mart to the bar. The poor man said how great it would be if he could have a bike, how he could go anywhere he wanted to go, possibly to just get away from his current surroundings he must have been trapped in. My supervisor, drunk, told him that if he wanted a bike so bad that he could just go ahead and take his. This warm gesture not only caught the poor man by surprise, but me as well. I thought to myself, "never, I mean never in a million lifetimes would I have ever thought of giving that to him, let alone actually giving it to him!"
This short story is amazing because it showed to me the character of God is all around. The character of God is good, and that could be the hint as to figuring out what God is, and whether or not he has spoken to me or you. But our preconceived thoughts, our stereotypes blind us all the time from a lesson. God has been 'speaking' to me so much as of late, that I'm beginning to wonder if it is just a case of me never listening, which is exactly what it is to be truthful.
Now the ending of the story gets harsh, like all the things you might be wondering out loud, like what about my supervisor, what about all these things I'm suppose to be looking for? Well, as far as my supervisor, it is simple; Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes before the Father but through Him. The example is that if your giving and doing and helping because you feel that not only that it benefits the person you are doing this to, but also yourself, then that is where it is wrong. We are suppose to do these things for the glory of God, not to glorify ourselves. There is nothing that we can do to gain salvation, BUT we are to, after accepting and believing in Christ, keep growing, keep repenting, which means to say your sorry AND do something about it, not to just say your sorry. My supervisor probably doesn't know the real message of God, or a message at all, and that is a major responsibility of mine. But luckily after I inform him of this wonderful relationship, it is not up to me to convert him, but up to God, as he will work in him. I just have to describe the blueprint.
I just have to give bikes out for free, more often. As often as I can.
But is it crazy?
The main point of Romans 1:18-32 is to fire up the Romans into understanding that God's presence has always been around, but instead of seeing that we have seen the tree of knowledge; we have chosen to see the devil. Since the Fall of mankind, there has been this distortion between what we commonly accept and what is. God IS; and the devil is the distortion. What we commonly accept is then up to whether or not we continue being distorted, or if we choose to see what IS, as in to say what God is, and what he is about. This, by the way, is one of the reasons for Jesus coming to earth, so as to show us by becoming us, breathing like we do, going through the struggles (see Luke 4:1-13) like we do, showing us where God is on this earth (which is everywhere mind you).
And the obviousness of God is all around, even in people who do not follow Him. My supervisor at work the other day told me something that caught me off guard. Now I can tell by his actions and his ways (things of which he brags about and desires) that he does not exactly follow God. This of course is judging, and further more judging someone's relationship with God. It is best that I just ask him eventually if he is a believer or not, but for the time being I can tell that he is not motivated by Jesus. To put it truly in perspective, I get caught up in his conversations or my friends conversations at work and I could be confused as a non-believer.
The point is what he told me. On the way back from work yesterday, we saw a guy riding a bike on the side of the road. He began to tell me how he use to bike around all the time, how much he enjoyed it and what not. Then he told me about one night, when he was drunk at a bar, he came out and saw a man who appeared to be either homeless or at least in poverty. My supervisor had rode his brand new bike from K-Mart to the bar. The poor man said how great it would be if he could have a bike, how he could go anywhere he wanted to go, possibly to just get away from his current surroundings he must have been trapped in. My supervisor, drunk, told him that if he wanted a bike so bad that he could just go ahead and take his. This warm gesture not only caught the poor man by surprise, but me as well. I thought to myself, "never, I mean never in a million lifetimes would I have ever thought of giving that to him, let alone actually giving it to him!"
This short story is amazing because it showed to me the character of God is all around. The character of God is good, and that could be the hint as to figuring out what God is, and whether or not he has spoken to me or you. But our preconceived thoughts, our stereotypes blind us all the time from a lesson. God has been 'speaking' to me so much as of late, that I'm beginning to wonder if it is just a case of me never listening, which is exactly what it is to be truthful.
Now the ending of the story gets harsh, like all the things you might be wondering out loud, like what about my supervisor, what about all these things I'm suppose to be looking for? Well, as far as my supervisor, it is simple; Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes before the Father but through Him. The example is that if your giving and doing and helping because you feel that not only that it benefits the person you are doing this to, but also yourself, then that is where it is wrong. We are suppose to do these things for the glory of God, not to glorify ourselves. There is nothing that we can do to gain salvation, BUT we are to, after accepting and believing in Christ, keep growing, keep repenting, which means to say your sorry AND do something about it, not to just say your sorry. My supervisor probably doesn't know the real message of God, or a message at all, and that is a major responsibility of mine. But luckily after I inform him of this wonderful relationship, it is not up to me to convert him, but up to God, as he will work in him. I just have to describe the blueprint.
I just have to give bikes out for free, more often. As often as I can.
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