| Author | Message | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 415 Registered: 7-2003 |
if God isn't a little vain seeking after all this glory? I don't mean that to sound irreverant, but it has always just struck me as a little ... well, vain. But I'm reading Max Lucado's book called "It's not about me", and in there he asks the same question. But I found his answer profound and thought I'd share. (Page 30-31) "... Why does God broadcast himself? For the same reason the pilot of the lifeboat does. Think of it this way. You're floundering neck-deep in a dark, cold sea. Ship sinking. Life jacket deflating. Strength waning. Through the inky night comes the voice of a lifeboat pilot. But you cannot see him. What do you want the driver of the lifeboat to do? Be quiet? Say nothing? Stealth his way through the drowning passengers? By no means! You need volume! Amp it up, buddy! In biblical jargon, you want him to show his glory. You need to hear him say, "I am here. I am strong. I have room for you. I can save you!" Drowning passengers want the pilot to revela his preeminence. Don't we want God to do the same? Look around. People thrash about in seas of guilt, anger, despair. life isn't working. We are going down fast. But God can rescue us. And only one message matters. His! We need to see God's Glory. Make no mistake. God has no ego problem. He does not reveal his glory for his good. We need to witness it for ours. We need a strong hand to pull us into a safe boat. And, once aboard, what becomes our priority? Simple. Promote God. We declare his preeminence. "Hey! Strong boat over here! Able pilot! He can pull you out!" Passengers promote the pilot. "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your loving- kindness, because of Your truth" (Psalm 115:1). If we boast at all, we "boast in the Lord" (2 Corinthians 10:17). ..." | ||
| Tealeaves Registered user Username: Tealeaves Post Number: 117 Registered: 5-2004 |
Good point, Melissa, I hadn't thought of it that way. Lucado has a way of illustrating things simply and poignantly, doesn't he? | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 537 Registered: 12-2003 |
Thanks for sharing that quote, Melissa. In Him is reality. Without Him, we live in a mirage. Colleen | ||
| Ladylittle Registered user Username: Ladylittle Post Number: 37 Registered: 4-2004 |
I appreciate the quote Melissa! Colleen, I believe it was C.S. Lewis who wrote, in The Divorce, that "Hell is a state of mind, but Heaven is Reality Itself", and, "Those who reach heaven will realize they have been living there longer than they though, and those who end up in hell will find that they have been there all along." or something like that. I may have it mixed up a bit. I'll look when I get home. Mary | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 410 Registered: 3-2004 |
Melissa, I remember thinking like that at one time, a long time ago. I just never voiced it. But I agree that I want my rescuer to shout out loud and clear, Here I am. I am coming to get you. To God goes all the glory and praise. He is AWESOME. Diana | ||
| Dd Registered user Username: Dd Post Number: 56 Registered: 7-2004 |
Mary, Thanks for the C.S. Lewis quote. I will wait until you check later before I copy it in my Bible. | ||
| Ladylittle Registered user Username: Ladylittle Post Number: 44 Registered: 4-2004 |
Sorry it took so long, here are the quotes, fuller and more accurate: "Every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind - is, in the end, Hell. But heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself." -C. S. Lewis, "The Great Divorce," pg 63 "I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A wrong sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, but by bit, 'with backwasrd mutters of diserving power' - or else not. It is still 'either-or'. If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even teh smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell. I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernal of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for hmi in 'the high countries'. In that sense, it will be true for those who have completed the journey (and for no others) to say that good is everything and Heaven is everywhere. But we, at this end of the road, must not try to anticipate that retrospective vision. If we do, we are likely to embrace the false and disastrous converse and fancy that everything is good and everywhere is Heaven. "But what, you ask, of Earth? Earth I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself." - C. S. Lewis, from the preface of "The Great Divorce" | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 494 Registered: 3-2004 |
Have you ever wondered why God worked in your life as He did to bring you out of Adventism? Part of it was revealed to me today. I was reading on the internet about cults, how they are abusive and addictive. The person was also talking about how he left the SDA church. He wrote of the abuse and addictive behavior of the church and I identified immediately. I have also written that the 12 step group I belong to cleared the cobwebs of Adventism out of my head. I do have an addiction and I needed that group, but God used it also to get me out of adventism. I did not know how addictive Adventism is because when I took my final step out it was so painless. When I wrote that God used the 12 step program to clear the cob webs of Adventism out of my brain, I was talking about how the program taught me about God's love for me and how he taught me to love him. But God literally used that program to clear my head of all the deception like it taught me to be truthful about myself and my addiction. This was a wonderful revelation to me this afternoon and I thank God for my 12 step program. He is awesome. Diana | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 603 Registered: 12-2003 |
Oh, yes, Diana--I've thought about that question many times. If I could choose my own life, I would not plan it the way it was. Yet if it had not been the way it was, I would not be who I am, and I would not trade anything that put me in the position of finally knowing and loving Jesus! And I am continually amazed at how he redeems the past and restores the years the locusts ate! Colleen | ||
| Busymom Registered user Username: Busymom Post Number: 28 Registered: 4-2004 |
I read a devotional today on Acts 4 regarding the man who couldn't walk, he sat by the temple gates every day according to the scripture. Most likely Jesus would have seen him since he did go to the temple. Anyways, he wasn't healed until after Jesus died, as a result of his healing 5,000 people were saved and believed in Jesus. I am not saying 5,000 people will be saved as a result of my leaving Adventism, but seeing God's timing in this man's healing makes it easier for me to accept that there may be a reason for me to have been blind to the errors of Adventism for so long. If you would like to read the full devotional it is at www.dutchsheets.org |
