Month: October 2011

But we can’t allow our imagination to control us. Imagination can and does create the most beautiful things. Somebody imagines something that all others say are impossible. And then he goes and creates it. On the other hand people spend years of their lives in a fantasy land of books, movies, and tv shows. Instead of spending time with real people and investing in their friends they spend most of that time reading, imagining, and wishing. They want to be one of those characters. They want to be friends with those characters. Why do you think actors are so famous? People connect with the characters, want to live with them, be part of the story, and then they end up worshiping the actor.

Imagination is important. But use it to honor God. Don’t become dissatisfied with the life that God has given you because of the stories that you’re reading. We still need to keep our focus on God and in the real world. If your imaginations and the books/movies/tv shows you’re watching don’t bring you closer to God and instead become an idol in your life you may want to take a break for a short time from them.

And honestly, the digital media has never helped my imagination. Books are definitely the way to go. 😉

Is knowledge very helpful? Mmmm. Maybe. If of course it has wisdom attached to it. You could honestly have all the knowledge in the world and still make incredibly stupid choices.

That’s it. We must fear God. Simple. Fear God. We must fear him. Otherwise we won’t obey his laws. We won’t take the knowledge and understanding that God gave us unless we truly fear him.

Day 265

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ~ Romans 12:9

Day 264

A little love has made me willingly study, preach, write, and even suffer…
Richard Baxter

Day 263

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear. ~ Daniel Defoe 

Today I’m thankful for marriage. Good friends. Good counsel. Men. Fathers. Wisdom. Bathrooms. Skype. Computers working. The list goes on and on.

Day 261

I enjoy stories of battles. I’ve enjoyed reading the stories written by C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. The wars of good versus evil. The fights to the death that are had against orcs and ring wraiths. Reading of the times of medieval warriors who charged into battle and came out victorious. The epic tales of how one little man could make it into the enemy’s camp to throw the one ring into the mountain of lava.

At times I’ve caught myself wishing I lived then and could experience the battles in the way they did. Where the battles were fierce and fighting was close hand to hand. But then I remember I do fight a fight just like that. It’s a fight where we must fight or we will die. The enemy is large. The orcs are grinding their teeth preparing to destroy us. This is the spiritual battle.

It’s a fierce fight where the ring wraith of lust launches itself at us. We must fight it off. The witch of ingratitude’s haunt is nearby.. The werewolf of deceit and lies is running after us.  Our soul is on the line, defend yourself! The eye of pride watches over us. The orcs of anger are chomping at the bit to kill us. The Grima Wormtongue is whining and complaining in our ears. This is the spiritual battle.

It’s a war that’s waged inside of us. It’s fierce. Many give up. Many will fall. We will not get through this life without a blood caked sword. We will sail through bloody seas. The question is will you make it? And the answer is, with God’s help. We are called to fight that we will win. Fighting is rough and tough. It’s not easy. But there is a finish. There is a golden crown at the end of this. And moth, dust, or rust will not corrupt the heavenly crown.

Day 260/365 – I’m going to start putting my day down here. 🙂

Recently I saw a blog where a whiny woman was angry with her father. She took herself to putting all her father’s sins on display. Everything he had done against her that she could think of seemed to be put out there for the world to see. Sure, maybe he did some bad things. Maybe they should be taken to the law. I don’t know. But one thing I do know is that she’s walking around just like Ham who saw his father’s sin and then went around telling everyone. Honoring one’s parents is very important. It promises blessings. When one dishonors their parents it promises curses. We must be like Shem and Japheth who turned their backs and covered their father’s nakedness. They honored him, even though he wasn’t perfect. They covered his sin. The exact opposite of what this woman is doing.

One thing that did surprise me was how many people feel bad for her. Ham’s son Canaan was severely cursed for what his father did. Many generations were cursed because of this folly. Maybe the situation is bad. But disobeying the express command to honor one’s parents is much worse. Honor takes different forms. Maybe wisdom says to stay away. If they are murdering and raping people on the weekends you are called by the Word of God to be a witness against them. But do we run around laying out their sins for the world to see? No, no, no, no, no. And I pray I never fall into this myself with any of my family or friends.

I struggle with honor. I like to think I’m right all the time, an intellectual pride. But I need to honor. I feel it’s so important. So many lives are ruined by the dishonor of parents. Fornication, robberies, murdering, etc.. Yet we still see the rebellion against authority as a good thing.

Let’s be ones who are honorable. Trustworthy friends that others can rely on should be our goal. It’s pretty rare nowadays.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” ~ 1 Peter 1:3 KJV