Just watched an advertisement that harped on about how we have progressed from riding horses to better dairy, but to say we have progressed is ludicrous. With donkeys and horses there was no significant air pollution, but with the advent of cars and planes, there is massive wide scale air pollution. Industry was progress, right? There have been cows to produce diary and ways to get around, does not mean life has got even better today. To say we should conserve the past is also ludicrous, as the past does not necessarily translate to the present effectively, but neither does the impetus for progress make any progress. Life isn’t conservative or progressive, it’s an ever decreasing circle as we go around in circles, slowly winding down. But we are inspired to live and get through with the things, the resources, and the kind of life the present has to offer, and hopefully, I would say, with God in our view. Life can be good because we are all spirited, animated beings who are alive. The human race has a history of such aliveness. I can write like there’s a world depending on it, and something can crop up that makes life in the present all the more better for living. Knowledge brings power to get along, but power should not control. Skills are valuable. There are reasons to live. The fact that we are alive is a purpose to keep on living. But not to serve Satan at a weak point, for from human weakness comes war, violence and chaos, but we can serve God at our strongest point and give to others in need. And I would say that the living Christ can regenerate our souls and spirits quite magnificently if in a moment of his grace we do receive it. Seventy odd years on earth with him by our side, strengthening and guiding us, followed by eternity with him, in paradise. A simple acknowledgement of Christ can be a faith that God accepts with the promise of eternal life and lead us on a journey towards knowing the living Christ more…life can be good.
Tag: meditation
Busy
Busyness de-centers. It puts one off-kilter. Busyness escalates tension. I don’t like the word busy. I want to be centered. Yet some people will insist on busyness; in front of me! All coiled up, but should unwind…busy people sound to me as if they are doing nothing of worth. In a flurry, without reflecting on a thing. It sounds as if nothing gets done. Calmness and serenity centers, putting peace through one’s soul. A good place to be when one is working.
At a time
Strengthen all weary hands,
steady all trembling knees
and say to all faint hearts,
Courage! Do not be afraid.
‘Look, your God is coming,
vengeance is coming,
the retribution of God;
he is coming to save you.’
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
the ears of the deaf unsealed,
then the lame shall leap up like a deer
and the tongues of dumb sing for joy;
for water gushes in the desert,
streams in the wasteland,
the scorched earth becomes a lake,
the parched land brings springs of water.
The lairs where he jackals used to live
become thickets of reed and papyrus….
– a picture of God’s judgement and also salvation.
From the Bible, in the book Isaiah, chapter 35:3-7 .
For some in the Bible, after the judgment, salvation
follows
The flesh: summary
So, how can I sum up this thing called the flesh?
This way: Any sin committed (read: disobedience of God’s command) starts with a desire in the flesh (the flesh is like the insides of a gutted organism, darkened, and covered in iniquity–iniquitous desires, some latent, some buried, some alive, are those that cause one to sin a particular way and can come down through family) At this point, one can subdue the desire, by calling on Jesus for help–the advocate for people in need who is willing to help to those that call. Having his Spirit with us can help us then.
However, desires of the flesh may grow inside the flesh and as one gets along with the walk of life, certain actions, behaviors and thoughts can come from the desires of the flesh, until they give birth to a sin.
What has one done? Although one sins, God has given Jesus as an advocate for those who have believed in him. The sin can be forgiven, forgotten, and one can get on with Jesus in their lives, an ever present help in times of need. The ability to be saved from the flesh and the sin comes from the Lord Jesus’s salvation–when we put out faith and trust in him.
The desires of the flesh can deceive the host, the person in which lives the flesh. The flesh can go unnoticed. But God is good, as God can illuminate one’s condition, then seek God’s help for this condition inside everyone.
Why is there the flesh?
In my previous post I wrote about the flesh, I explained that the flesh is the vessel in which ‘lives’ that thing called sin. I likened sin to a worm in the flesh, where that worm can climatize if we let it. After I wrote that, I was thinking about the origins of the flesh. Here is what I think.
Continue reading “Why is there the flesh?”