“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.”
7Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. 11The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.(33:7-11)EXODUS 31-33
JOURNAL
Yesterday was a tough word and as tough as God is...scripture is just as full of his compassion, gentleness and understanding. Even though God is furious with the Israelites for making a golden calf...he continually engages Moses in a relationship, in conversation. He allows Moses to discuss his fears and his struggles and God actually appeases and changes his initial punishment.
This is the relational aspect that Jesus addresses and affirms with the Pharisees. God just wants our heart...and he wants us to love others with the same love. God has a standard of perfection but a heart of Love...often it seems that these two could not be reconciled in the same being. Yet that is the miracle and grace of God. This grace is found in the smallest moments as well as the largest ones...
Often I have wondered "what great cause am I fighting for in my life?" There are times when I wish I was in an EPIC moment of history. Sometimes the day to day seems trivial. I think that's why I love war movies. The struggle the loss, every moment seems important and often is, especially when it's life or death. One of the poignant moments in the movie "Darkest Hour", is when Churchill takes the train and converses with the "common" people. He is on the brink of making a critical decision on whether or not to concede...What he discovers is that the heart of the fight exists everywhere...even in the mind and speech of a young girl. Inspiration often comes from the most unexpected places. That scene reminds me of the poem by Longfellow 'A Psalm of Life'..."footprints that perhaps another, sailing over life's solemn main, a forlorn and shipwrecked brother, seeing shall take heart again."
That's the reason, everyday, every moment is important. I am writing history every single day. How I respond, how I fight, how I trust, how I persist will become the inspiration for someone, whether that be me, a friend, a spouse, a child, a student or even a stranger. How I handle smaller moments of adversity will be the example and the standard and the inspiration for how large moments will be tackled.
One thing I know for sure, the big Epic moments will come. However, the small moments and victories today, very well could be the inspiration that influences really important battles tomorrow. Whether that be fighting for a job, a marriage, a child, a country or life itself. Therefore no moment is trivial or meaningless. In fact every contest, every frustration, every engagement matters!!
Yesterday was a tough word and as tough as God is...scripture is just as full of his compassion, gentleness and understanding. Even though God is furious with the Israelites for making a golden calf...he continually engages Moses in a relationship, in conversation. He allows Moses to discuss his fears and his struggles and God actually appeases and changes his initial punishment.
This is the relational aspect that Jesus addresses and affirms with the Pharisees. God just wants our heart...and he wants us to love others with the same love. God has a standard of perfection but a heart of Love...often it seems that these two could not be reconciled in the same being. Yet that is the miracle and grace of God. This grace is found in the smallest moments as well as the largest ones...
Often I have wondered "what great cause am I fighting for in my life?" There are times when I wish I was in an EPIC moment of history. Sometimes the day to day seems trivial. I think that's why I love war movies. The struggle the loss, every moment seems important and often is, especially when it's life or death. One of the poignant moments in the movie "Darkest Hour", is when Churchill takes the train and converses with the "common" people. He is on the brink of making a critical decision on whether or not to concede...What he discovers is that the heart of the fight exists everywhere...even in the mind and speech of a young girl. Inspiration often comes from the most unexpected places. That scene reminds me of the poem by Longfellow 'A Psalm of Life'..."footprints that perhaps another, sailing over life's solemn main, a forlorn and shipwrecked brother, seeing shall take heart again."
One thing I know for sure, the big Epic moments will come. However, the small moments and victories today, very well could be the inspiration that influences really important battles tomorrow. Whether that be fighting for a job, a marriage, a child, a country or life itself. Therefore no moment is trivial or meaningless. In fact every contest, every frustration, every engagement matters!!
Interesting— I see Christianity as being in an Epic moment right now. So many, in fact the majority of the world’s most influential people are either avowed atheists or “Christians” who do not espouse or live their lives or make decisions based on Biblical principles. Popularity is the God they serve and compromise is their core belief. No one is is be made uncomfortable by such silly things as truth or moral steadfastness. I heard a mild “nice” character on a tv show say recently “Don’t you think God just wants us to be happy?” Such an innocent sounding doctrine that is probably as dangerous as anything I have ever heard. I wanted to answer, “God is not stupid. If he wanted us to be happy he wouldn’t have put us HERE.” Obviously, he has other purposes in mind.
ReplyDeleteI suppose my fear is that we are seeing the enemies of Christianity feeling emboldened to step over the line from sarcasm and disdain to outright hate and persecution. We answer to a higher power and therefore we can’t be controlled and manipulated by their attempts to make us look foolish and ignorant. If they can’t do that, they will eventually need to try to exterminate us. It’s the only logical course of action and one need only look to history to see how it plays out.
ReplyDeleteI agree and think that the greatest enemy in this day and time is apathy, laziness and seeking comfort. Willingness to step outside of what's comfortable or easy and do hard things that are good and right is just so foreign to our culture. As a result I think that those who are not swayed as much by those enemies have alot of power. The way to counter that is to begin truly seeking the harder right and "the road less-traveled". If we take the sermon on the mount and really seek to follow and live it...I think it puts us exactly where we need to be spiritually. The enemy is really in our own hearts not in China or Russia or a political party. To buy into that lie is to avoid what's going on in our own individual heart and soul. It's to follow the easier path of group hate and avoid the hard path of dialogue, seeking understanding and living a life of love and truth. In the end that may require sacrifice and hard actions but only after exhausting the pursuit of love and truth. For God is ultimately in control...if we seek him and obey him then no matter how desperately a group may want to exterminate the faith...they will not have the power or capacity to do so...we only need to look at the first century church in the midst of the pagan roman empire. The miraculous life change of Paul that came after Stephen's testimony in the midst of wrongful stoning. God is always up to something we can never really comprehend, which is why we must not abandon his ways or panic in the midst of political and world unrest. He will provide the way but we must be found faithful.
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