Snakes and Scorpions
"We are often very picky, very choosy as Christians. We want to accept only certain things from God. Faith, a nice spouse, a nice family, a place in which we like to live, what we consider to be a satisfying or worthwhile career, a certain lifestyle, etc. But we want to refuse, for example, family problems, living in a place we don't like, situations that seem or are dangerous and unpleasant to us, a not-so-dazzling career, illness, death, etc. In the Old Testament, the whole paschal lamb had to be consumed, not just the parts of the animal that everyone naturally likes, but the head and the feet also. We must accept everything that God gives and sends to us."
"As long as the time I have is my time, as long as it is my energy, my effort, my love, my passion, my ministry, my faith, my theology, my ideas, my knowledge, my inspiration, my talent, my resources, my money, my family, my success, it is hopeless, there will never be close to enough, I will always be dissatisfied and unhappy. But if these and all things are His His His, His time, His energy, His effort, etc., they are perfect, abundant, inexhaustible, satisfying."
"But they may not always seem so. In Luke 11:11ff. Jesus asks us a very tough question: which father, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone, a snake for a fish, a scorpion for an egg?" The speaker pointed to the sky and said, "This Father. Let us be honest: are we not often offered stones by Him? When I was put in prison [by the communists] for my sonship and starved, was this not a stone? When I was brainwashed, was I not plagued with the lies of the snake? When I was tortured there, did I not daily feel the sting of the scorpion? Here is a secret that He taught me: to not even look at the thing offered, but at the hand that bears it. Whose hand is it? If it is not His, if I cannot actually see the scar from the nail by which I can recognize Him, then I must refuse whatever it bears, whether it be prosperity or trouble or success in ministry. But A STONE FROM HIS HAND WILL ALWAYS BECOME BREAD WHEN IT IS TAKEN. Let us pray for this in all of our lives."
[FV, 2005]
"As long as the time I have is my time, as long as it is my energy, my effort, my love, my passion, my ministry, my faith, my theology, my ideas, my knowledge, my inspiration, my talent, my resources, my money, my family, my success, it is hopeless, there will never be close to enough, I will always be dissatisfied and unhappy. But if these and all things are His His His, His time, His energy, His effort, etc., they are perfect, abundant, inexhaustible, satisfying."
"But they may not always seem so. In Luke 11:11ff. Jesus asks us a very tough question: which father, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone, a snake for a fish, a scorpion for an egg?" The speaker pointed to the sky and said, "This Father. Let us be honest: are we not often offered stones by Him? When I was put in prison [by the communists] for my sonship and starved, was this not a stone? When I was brainwashed, was I not plagued with the lies of the snake? When I was tortured there, did I not daily feel the sting of the scorpion? Here is a secret that He taught me: to not even look at the thing offered, but at the hand that bears it. Whose hand is it? If it is not His, if I cannot actually see the scar from the nail by which I can recognize Him, then I must refuse whatever it bears, whether it be prosperity or trouble or success in ministry. But A STONE FROM HIS HAND WILL ALWAYS BECOME BREAD WHEN IT IS TAKEN. Let us pray for this in all of our lives."
[FV, 2005]
posted by CS at 2:18 PM
1 Comments:
That's a dangerous thought. Thanks for pointing me to it today.
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