|
When I was a kid, my mom watched a soap opera called Love of Life. Is the love of life a good thing or a bad, I wonder. If you think of love of life as a capacity for joy, this seems like a good thing. But if you think of it as love of the world, the words of scripture come to mind. Today, as I lie in my hammock gazing up past the trees into the sky, I’m reminded of a similar image of heaven on the screen behind the baptistry when I was a child. The sky today is pale blue peeking through white puffs of cloud, and the trees arching above me have grown to even more magnificent grandeur on this early June day than I remember from last summer. I glance to the next clearing, where the sky is a deeper, more saturated blue, and the clouds tinged with gold. With my foot, I push off so my hammock sways in the breeze. As my knee pops from my meniscus bucket handle tear, it occurs to me that these trees will most likely outlast me. Most nights, before I sleep, I read a devotional by Don Carson. The one on May 28, 2026, struck home. I’d always been perplexed by some of the scriptures. For example, in Luke (NIV), we read that Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” Biblical scholars agree that Jesus did not mean literal hatred, but even so… what did he mean? Matthew 6:24 (NIV) reads: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both. I struggled to bring these scriptures into perspective. Have I been guilty of loving the things of this world without recognizing it as a sin? I always told myself God would appreciate having his creation admired … mountains, oceans, colors, the sky at sunset, travel to different geographic areas… have I been deluding myself? My takeaway, based on my current thoughts and insights from Don Carson, is “yes” to admiring these treasures of nature but “no” to putting them, or anything but the creator, first. Stay safe and keep reading, Debra The Past Ever Present: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091F3MN3R (only 99c to buy on Kindle) 
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories |
RSS Feed