Treasure

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Matthew 6:21

I'm just putting some thoughts down on here.

What is treasure? Treasure is what pirates go after. Gold, shiny coins, stuff like that, along with the fair maiden. Countries go to war for treasure, money, possessions... memories are considered to be treasures of the mind. 

Treasure -noun

1. wealth or riches stored or accumulated, esp. in the form of precious metals, money, jewels, or plate.

2. wealth, rich materials, or valuable things.

3. any thing or person greatly valued or highly prized: This book was his chief treasure.

-verb (used with object)

4. to retain carefully or keep in store, as in the mind.

5. to regard or treat as precious; cherish.

6. to put away for security or future use, as money.

Now, the previous verse says to store up treasures in heaven, treasures that cannot be destroyed or taken away. Proverbs says that wisdom is a treasure and that being righteous gains a man treasure. Isaiah says that the fear of the LORD is the key to wisdom, salvation, and knowledge, which, by the way, are considered treasure. 

Controversial artwork won't be returned to display

A piece of artwork denounced as obscene by church members and allegedly ripped up by a Montana woman using a crowbar won't be returned to display because of safety concerns, city officials said Thursday.

"The incident yesterday was very troubling and also very impactful on the city staff, volunteers and the public at the venue," said Rod Wensing, acting city manager.

Kathleen Folden, 56, of Kalispell, Mont., was arrested Wednesday on a charge of criminal mischief. Witnesses told police that she used a crowbar to smash glass shielding the print at the Loveland Museum Gallery and then tore part of it up.

Folden, a truck driver, told police that she drove from Montana and bought a crowbar in Loveland before going to the museum to destroy the artwork, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Coloradoan in Fort Collins.

Police said the damaged part includes what critics say was a depiction of Jesus Christ engaged in a sex act.

Museum visitor Mark Michaels told the Loveland Reporter-Herald that Folden screamed "How can you desecrate my Lord?" during the incident.

The artist, Stanford University professor Enrique Chagoya, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the work has been mischaracterized. He said while the part in question is suggestive, it's not graphic.

The panel includes figures cut out from a comic book, a head resembling Christ and a skeleton with a pope's hat.

"This is not Christ. It's a collage," Chagoya said. "What I'm trying to express is the corruption of the spiritual by the church."

The print was taken by police as evidence.

Folden was released on a $350 cash bond during a court appearance Thursday. Another hearing is set for Oct. 15.

The work that was damaged, "The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals," is a 12-panel lithograph that that includes comic book characters, Mexican pornography, Mayan symbols and ethnic stereotypes. It is part of an 82-print exhibit by 10 artists that have worked with Colorado printer Bud Shark that opened in mid-September.

Members of a local church have been among those peacefully protesting outside the city-owned museum for most of the week. A city councilman and some residents had demanded that Chagoya's work be removed, but the council decided Tuesday to leave it on display.

Some of the outspoken critics have condemned the attack on the artwork.

The museum has seen a significant increase in visitors since the controversy started, said Maureen Corey, the museum's art curator. Visitors include supporters and opponents of the piece.

"In my opinion, it's rather sad taking away people's freedom to see the art," Corey said.

Loveland police originally got reports of gunfire at the museum, but said it appears people mistook the banging of the crowbar against the glass for shots. No firearm was involved, police said.

Chagoya said he was sad and disappointed that the work, one of 30 limited prints, won't be on display again in Loveland.

"It will be a loss for everybody, not just for me, but for everybody that believes in the First Amendment," Chagoya said. Suppression of art and ideas is something that happens in totalitarian regimes, not this country, he added.

Time for a Museum of American Religion

By Chris Stevenson

In 1995, my high school geometry class in south-central Montana was scheduled to learn about the ubiquitous ratio pi. Hoping to broaden their mathematical outlook, I told the students to bring in a Bible the following day, if they had one, and we would see that the author of 1 Kings gives us an early value of pi by using the measured circumference and diameter of Israel's "molten sea," or baptismal font (which they calculated to be three - accurate if not precise). The students were both unified and somewhat militant in their cry: "We can't bring the Bible to school. That's unconstitutional. What about the separation of church and state?" In case you think this is too far removed from us in time, I gave my two children attending our local public high school the same scenario just the other day and heard almost the exact same response.

We are all familiar, and most of us even are comfortable, with this avoidance of faith at school, work and play. However, because most of us still believe religion is indispensable to the country, we've also hoped that our public square, void of religious talk and behavior, would be easily compensated by private worship that would give us robust religious understanding and pious behavior. But, as religious and cultural experts tell us and our everyday observations confirm, this hasn't worked out. For example, more and more Americans find it difficult to marry and then remain married, a religious act with powerful social consequences. It also would be hard to argue that America's religious majority can "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

Nonetheless, America continues to be unique among developed countries in having a robust and peaceful religious landscape. Yet the forces and movements that make it easier to disregard and even forget America's religious self, such as secularism, materialism, evangelical atheism and even religious extremism, continue to grow and prosper. It appears that the time has come to establish and maintain a National Museum of American Religion on the Mall, which would continuously invite Americans to explore the role religion has played and does play in shaping the social, political and cultural lives of Americans and thus America itself.

Seen as unfortunate and often embarrassing by nonbelievers and as gratifying and often provident by believers, religion has been a viscerally powerful force in American history. From the early explorers and the Puritans to the 13 Colonies; from the Revolution, the Founding Fathers and the writing of the Bill of Rights to Manifest Destiny, the Civil War and the freeing of the slaves; from the devastating wars, an emergent middle class, and the epic social movements of the 20th century to the Cold War and our response to the terrorist attacks of 2001, the strong hand of American religion is everywhere to be seen. This also implies the necessarily broader and deeper influence American religion has wielded in our homes all along. Furthermore, there is a bright thread running through our history, seen by believer and nonbeliever alike, true or false, declaring that God has a special roll for America to play in the world. This exceptional story, in all its representations, stands on its own and begs to be told through a museum in our nation's capital.

James Madison wrote that "the Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man." In this spirit, the National Museum of American Religion must do at least three things with great care and without fail: (1) Present U.S. religious history objectively; (2) remain silent relative to the supremacy of one faith or denomination; and (3) refrain from judging whether American religion has been beneficial or detrimental to the country. Visitors will decide this for themselves. The museum must be philosophically built around what some have called our greatest export, the First Amendment's dual religious liberty clause: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Each citizen, now and in the following generations, needs to be thoroughly reminded of America's religious history, judge it for ourselves and decide on a religious path of progress forward with at least some thought given to the country's long-term health. The National Museum of American Religion would be a treasured jewel in the crown of the many other celebrated museums in Washington that exist as testaments to, and teachers of, this country's wonder, progress and endurance.

The Power of a Conversion

Acts 26:12-23 "On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'

"Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'"

" 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

"So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles."

Selfishness and Self-Sufficiency

Self-Sufficiency:

• Jeremiah 2:12-13 "Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares the LORD. "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me,the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
• Psalm 146:3-4 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
• Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
• Isaiah 44:9-17 All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit him nothing? He and his kind will be put to shame; craftsmen are nothing but men. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and infamy. The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in the form of man, of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. It is man's fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm; I see the fire." From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, "Save me; you are my god."

Selfishness:

• Zechariah 7:4-6 Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: "Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?"
• Esther 6:6 When Haman entered, the king asked him, "What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?" Now Haman thought to himself, "Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?"
• 1 Samuel 25:3-11 His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his dealings. While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: 'Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my young men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.' " When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David's name. Then they waited. Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?"
• Proverbs 28:27 He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.

Boldness

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 (New Living Translation)

*****
Be strong and courageous. It is so easy to be discouraged and fearful, and this is coming from probably one of the most daring people I know, ME! Phew.

Quebec Rabbis Sign Document to Accept Gays

By CBC News

Three Montreal Orthodox rabbis are joining an international call for acceptance of homosexual Jews into synagogues.

The rabbis have signed a statement calling for the acceptance of gays, even though the Torah (the Jewish Bible) explicitly condemns homosexuality.

The document is called Statement of Principles on the Place of Jews with a Homosexual Orientation in Our Community.

More than 150 rabbis from around the world have signed the statement, which was drafted after extensive debate among Orthodox rabbis, educators and mental health professionals.

"We have wonderful members of our community in our congregation who are gay, and come to us anticipating and expecting to be welcomed into our community," said Adam Scheier, rabbi of the Shaar Hashomayim Congregation in Westmount and president of the Montreal Board of Rabbis.

David Brody, a gay member of Scheier's Orthodox congregation, said the statement is progressive.

"I never thought I'd live to see this," he said.

However, Brody said he does have some issues with the statement, such as the fact that it was only drafted after consultation with mental health therapists.

"They [make] reference to mental health specialists, which makes us sound as though we're all crazy people," said Brody.

Brody would also have liked the statement to allow gay marriage in the Orthodox community.

"It says that we are also created in the image of God, yet we are not allowed to love like heterosexuals," said Brody.

"I do believe that there is a place within Orthodox Judaism for affirmation ceremonies." Brody added.

Gay Priest May Become Church of England Bishop

Robert Barr The Associated Press

LONDON—The Church of England may be on the verge of promoting a gay priest to bishop, a step that would widen the split over sexuality in the global Anglican Communion.

If that happens, it would appear to be a significant turnaround for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the Church of England and the world's Anglicans, who recently imposed sanctions on the U.S. Episcopal Church for electing a lesbian bishop.

According to newspaper reports, Williams is prepared to back the elevation of the Very Rev. Jeffrey John, who withdrew seven years ago from an appointment as a suffragan (assistant) bishop in the face of a heated controversy about his homosexuality. Williams' office will not comment.

"I think the strength of the opposition is much weaker this time," Rev. Canon Giles Goddard, the chairman of Inclusive Church, said Tuesday. His group was founded by people disappointed by John's failure to become a bishop in 2003.

John, who is now dean of St. Albans Cathedral, might be seen as a more acceptable candidate than the U.S. bishop because he has declared he is celibate — and therefore not in violation of church teaching.

A Crown Nominations Commission, composed of 14 Church of England representatives, including Williams, met in secret Monday and Tuesday to choose two nominees to become bishop of Southwark diocese, the half of London that lies south of the River Thames.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who has spoken strongly in favour of equal rights for gays, will have the final decision about whom to recommend to Queen Elizabeth II, who will make the formal appointment. Southwark diocese says a decision may not be announced before October.

Williams has said nothing publicly about the issue.

After the Episcopal Church elected Mary Douglas Glasspool as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles, Williams moved to bar Episcopalians from representing the Anglican Communion on international ecumenical bodies. "This is simply to confirm what the Communion as a whole has come to regard as the acceptable limits of diversity in its practice," Williams said in a letter to the global church.

John, who is 57, has claimed celibacy despite being in a civil partnership. Neither Glasspool nor V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, has claimed to be celibate.

Rev. Paul Dawson, media officer for Reform, an evangelical grouping, objects that John has defended sexual gay relationships that are "Permanent, Faithful, Stable," as the title of one of John's books puts it.

"If you have a bishop who is effectively teaching what is against the Bible's clear teaching and what the Church of England says is its doctrinal position, if you have someone at the highest level saying this is a 'blessing,' this is a 'gift,' that raises all sorts of questions for the average churchgoer," Dawson said.

Appointments to bishoprics are the battleground in the Anglican debate about the role of women and homosexuals in the church.

The Church of England's governing General Synod will resume its debate about permitting female bishops this weekend as it continues trying to mollify conservatives who fought against making women priests and now resist what appears to be general support for women as bishops.

Anglican agonizing over sexuality has dogged Williams since 2002 when he became spiritual leader of the Church of England and of the Anglican Communion.

When John was nominated become bishop of Reading, Williams is believed to have yielded to conservative opposition.

"He cracked after two months of pressure and asked John to withdraw his name, establishing his reputation as a man who could be bullied," religion commentator Andrew Brown wrote in The Guardian newspaper.

"If he is beaten again, he is finished. If he wins, he will have shot the rapids and the Church of England will finally emerge from the turbulence of the last 30 years with a fairly clear and fairly coherent doctrine about sex."

The prime minister, in an interview with the gay magazine Attitude early this year, said his Conservative Party supported equal rights "whether you are male, female, black, white, urban, rural, straight or gay." The church, Cameron said, "has to do some of the things that the Conservative Party has been through — sorting this issue out and recognizing that full equality is a bottom line full essential."

God's Truth

But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! Romans 1:19 (The Message)

God Made You

Your hands shaped me and made me. Job 10:8a (New International Version)

*****
Just needing a nugget today. My faith is waving floppily in the wind (in case you haven't noticed)... so, this little passage, well, part of a passage is good to read.

Is God Selfish?

So, here's the thing. God is the big being, who has power over death itself, he's created the heavens, stars, the universe. He wants everyone to be outward focused, focused on pleasing him. Wait. He wants me to be focused on pleasing him? Does that make God selfish? But the Bible says God is without sin, but he wants everything to be about him? I don't get that.

*****
Galatians 5:16-6:6

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.

Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
*****
I don't know, but it kind of looks like God is a tad bit selfish, wanting everyone to worship him. God calls us to imitate him, too, so I don't get it. I used to get it, but I don't anymore.

Georgia Pastor Arrested Protesting 'Demon' Mascot

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (AP) — Warner Robins police say they've charged pastor Donald Crosby with picketing without a license for protesting Warner Robins High School's "Demon" nickname and mascot.

Police spokeswoman Tabitha Pugh says 36-year-old Crosby was arrested on Monday after police told him he didn't have a permit, as required by the city.

Crosby and supporters set up the protest outside the school on the opening day of classes because of their opposition to the nickname. He says his son attends the school and he doesn't want him exposed to the name's connotations.

Pugh says Crosby, of Kingdom Builders Church of Jesus Christ, is charged with picketing without a license and disorderly conduct for not leaving when asked. Crosby was released from the Houston County jail on bond. He did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Salvation

God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17 (New Living Translation)

God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. John 3:17 (New Century Version)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:16-18 (English Standard Version)

*****

It almost sounds like belief is enough, but even if that is the implication, James says that belief is not enough. That demons believe in Jesus, and shudder at the thought. James goes on to show that believing and action produce faith.

*****

Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

*****

We have hope due to character, We have character due to perserverance. We perservere due to sufferings. We have sufferings due to faith. We have faith because we believe. Now, personally speaking, I am not sure what I believe right now. I've experienced sufferings due to a belief in God. I've perservered through those, well, at least most of them. I have felt in many ways that I developed a great character... and in a lot of ways I still believe, but my hope is shaken. That is really the key issue right now. So, am I saved? I don't think so, even though I believe, I don't believe enough to put action to my belief (just like a demon).

Treasure Secrets

Secrets by OneRepublic

I need another story
Something to get off my chest
My life gets kind of boring
Need something that i can confess

Till all my sleeves are stained red
From all the truth that I've said
Come by it honestly I swear
Thought you saw me wink, no, I've been on the brink, so

Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll like those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away
This time Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics never jump in line
I'm Gonna give all my secrets away

My God, amazing how we got this far
It's like were chasing all those stars
Who's driving shiny big black cars

And everyday I see the news
All the problems we could solve
And when a situation rises
Just write it into an album
Seen it straight to go
I don't really like my flow, no, so

Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll like those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away
This time Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics never jump in line
I'm Gonna give all my secrets away

Got no reason, Got no shame, Got no family, I can blame
Just don't let me disappear
I'mma tell you everything

Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll like those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away
This time Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics never jump in line
I'm Gonna give all my secrets away

Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll like those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away
This time, Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics never jump in line
I'm Gonna give all my secrets away

All my secrets away, All my secrets away

*****
Matthew 6:16-24

"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

*****

Treasure in Heaven... it is referenced in Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 12:33, Luke 18:22. What is a treasure in heaven? It sounds like a BIG deal and yet it is only mentioned in the NIV five times.

Guard Your Heart

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Proverbs 4:23 (New Living Translation)

*****
How many times have I seen this passage.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." is the NIV translation, so determining the course of your life, your heart guides the way. It should be noted that in Old Testament times, the heart was considered to be in the abdomen. It was thought that when you got nervous, it would have an affect upon your heart, thus you would get 'butterflies' in your stomach, your heart was uneasy.

Just knowing where the heart was considered to be in that day and age, it really changes how being nervous affects a relationship with God. It also shows that if you are doing something wrong and don't feel nervous, how far gone you've delved into a sin. One other thing, if you 

Love

"Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading to its hope. It can really outlast anything." 1 Corinthians 13:7 (Phillips)

(The Entire Chapter - The Message)
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

*****

I don't know, but I think Jesus was the first hippie. Seriously, God is love and if love is the best thing, it is saying God is the best thing, and you can't argue with that. Well, I guess you could, but it wouldn't change my opinion. I guess I should point out that right now, I am not a Christian or a disciple of Christ, but I still believe that Jesus is the son of God. I struggle right now in following him, though. Mainly, I struggle with attitudes... why this and why that. Love doesn't die. That is a POWERFUL statement. Think about that. Maybe I have the attitudes because I care... because if I didn't care, then I wouldn't bother having an attitude in the first place.

Metanoia

Metanoia

• Part of Speech: noun
• Definition: spiritual conversion or awakening; fundamental change of character
• Etymology: Greek 'change one's mind, repent'

Metanoia (noun)

• a profound, usually spiritual, transformation; conversion.

Metanoia

• 1873, "penitence, spiritual conversion," from Gk. metanoia "afterthought, repentance," from metanoein "to change one's mind or purpose."

Paranoia

• 
  
  "mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions," 1891 (earlier paranoea 1811), from Gk. paranoia "mental derangement, madness," from paranoos "mentally ill, insane," from para- "beside, beyond" + noos "mind."

Metabolic

• 
  
  1845, from Ger. metabolisch (1839), from Gk. metabolikos "changeable," from metabole "a change, changing," related to metaballein "to change" (see metabolism).

Conversion

• A converting or being converted; specif., such as a change from lack of faith to religious belief; adoption of a religion or a change from one belief, religion, doctrine, opinion, etc. to another
• To change from one form or use to another; transform.

Self-Discipline

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:7 (New Living Translation)

2 Timothy 1:3-12

I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

*****
Self-discipline is a trust issue. It is trusting in God's plan and not my plan. That's really all I have right now, as my brain is fuzzy.

Truth

Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

John 14:6 (New Living Translation)

John 14:1-14

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

*****

OK, here's the scoop. You can ask for anything and Jesus will do it. Does that make Jesus my puppet? No. If I ask with love in my heart, overflowing love and all that and it is a righteous request, then sure, I can't see Jesus saying no to that, but if you are praying for someone to die in a bloody heap, don't count on it being a request granted. If you are praying to win the lottery, don't hold your breath. If you are praying for a particular person to come to God, well, there is free will, and God will not step in the way of what he has already given, however, if you pray for someone to enter a person's life to teach the person what a Christian is all about, God will totally grant that request.

Quiet Time

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. -Psalm 139:23-24 (New International Version)

Ambition

Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You've heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts. -1 Thessalonians 4:11 (The Message)

Nourishment

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment. -1 Peter 2:2 (New Living Translation)

Righteousness

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. - Romans 14:17 (New Living Translation)

Restoration is Easy

2 Kings 5

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"

When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."

But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant."

The prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

"If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD.  But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this."

"Go in peace," Elisha said.

After Naaman had traveled some distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him."

So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked.

"Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.' "

"By all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left. Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha.

"Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked.

"Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered.

But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

I love this chapter. This is, by the way, the entire chapter of 2 Kings 5. I honestly can't say that I have ever read it, I know I have read it, as I have read the entire book of 2nd Kings, but to focus on it, that is something else entirely. Naaman wants to be restored (actually, to health, not to God, but work with me). He can't wrap his head around that restoration is just splashing around in water. He would want it to be big, glamorous, and complicated. And why not? Isn't the problem all that? He has leprosy. That's pretty complicated.

So Naaman gets frustrated. He wants to be clean, he wants a show from Elisha, but it gets put back onto him. No show. And it is a simple as taking a bath. It begs the question: Am I making things more complicated than they should be in getting restoration?

Current Questions That I Have Been Pondering (related):

• I have been praying recently (actually, 11 years) for a righteous change, so can God change me?
• If God can change me, why hasn't he? Does God care?
• Is the so-called creator of this universe not powerful enough to change me or does God not want to change me?
• Is a habit more powerful than God's power?
• If David's heart was a heart that pleased God, and David had a habit of women, how does having multiple wives and sexual partners (concubines) please God? (Note: David wasn't alone in this action, either.)
• Is restoration and change really the same thing?

Restoration Ideas Thus Far:

• A return to God has to happen and Obedience to God is REQUIRED. That is spelled out in Deuteronomy.
• God does the restoring (Also in Deuteronomy).
• Someone has to INTERVENE. And thus far, it has always been an active representative of God. (Ex: David, Elisha, Samuel)
• Action is required (Elisha laid on the boy, David went to restore the land, etc.)

Oh, and Gehazi was greedy. Just touching on that greed can be a downfall, not for just one person, but for the lifetimes of your family tree. It should also be noted that Gehazi's greed led him to lie to Naaman. That's a double sin, greed and lying.

The Restoration Project

res·to·ra·tion [res-tuh-rey-shuhn] –noun

1. the act of restoring; renewal, revival, or reestablishment.
2. the state or fact of being restored. 
3. a return of something to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition.
4. restitution of something taken away or lost.
5. something that is restored, as by renovating.
6. a reconstruction or reproduction of an ancient building, extinct animal, or the like, showing it in its original state.
7. a putting back into a former position, dignity, etc.

1 Samuel 7:12-14

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us." So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.

Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines. The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to her, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

Samuel's righteousness restored Israel.

System Restore

re·store /rɪˈstɔr, -ˈstoʊr/ [ri-stawr, -stohr]
–verb (used with object), -stored, -stor·ing.

• to bring back into existence, use, or the like; reestablish: to restore order.
• to bring back to a former, original, or normal condition, as a building, statue, or painting. 
• to bring back to a state of health, soundness, or vigor.
• to put back to a former place, or to a former position, rank, etc.: to restore the king to his throne.
• to give back; make return or restitution of (anything taken away or lost).
• to reproduce or reconstruct (an ancient building, extinct animal, etc.) in the original state.

Genesis 40:13, 20-22

Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.