Daily Biscuit

I posted a comment on one of Owen's entries on his site at Un.collected Entries. He asked if her could use it as a springboard for a Daily Biscuit and I said "sure".



This is giving me an opportunity to further expore my comment to his entry that day and also provide some answers for the Daily Biscuit today.



1. Did Christ have an advantage over us?

Please, avoid the pat and perfect theological answers. Be real.



2. What is the hard thing for you to yield control of?



3. How does your heart respond when you "can't 'see' it"?



1. As I go about my day and all the struggles I have through it, I sometimes wonder if Christ had an advantage over me in the way He could see situations or even the hearts of people. I go about my day and something may happen that stresses me out...which would be almost any day at work lately. Given way too much stuff to do and no time to get it done and it's already late by 2 weeks. I worry about getting it done. I want it done perfect. It drives me crazy, makes me irritable and no fun to be around. I worry non stop about how it will all get handled. Jesus teaches us not too worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries of its own. He sees things eternally. I am supposed to see things eternally, but in my limited humanity, try as I might...I am finite. I see today with all its worries. I see tomorrow and all its worries. I want to be like Christ and live for the moment that my Father has me in. I want to glorify Him in that moment, but I am distracted by life. Jesus was so focused on eternal life...He could see it. He was and is I AM. He lives eternally...is that an advantage? From my limited sight I think that being able to see the whole picture could be an advantage.



Also, as I go about my day I encounter other beings. Some bless me some make life even more complicated for me; the slow driver ahead of me, the customer that complains about anything and everything, the employee that is difficult to get along with. Some of these things are a definite problem with me...and how I handle things. But sometimes there is something about that other person that causes them to be difficult. Christ always was able to see the heart of a person. God sees the heart. He knows the reason behind some persons behavior. He knows exactly what that heart needs for healing. He supplies the balm. If I was treated poorly by someone, I think "wow! they were rude!" and my first "instinct" is sometimes..."loser!", but Jesus, knowing the heart of that person and understanding the hardship and suffering that person is enduring has compassion. Jesus, who sees the heart, knows that that person needs someone to listen to them talk about their heartache and gives them a shoulder to cry on. It seems to me that being able to see the heart of a person would allow me to be more compassionate and less judgemental.



Also, Jesus knows the end of the story...He knows the judgement of that person already. Did that knowledge influence how He handled people? Jesus was followed around by the religious elite of his day. Many of them followed Him around looking for the opportunity to "question" Him and "trap" him in contradictions or whatever they could to prove Him wrong in His teaching. Jesus did not always respond to people...but there were times He did. He knew exactly whose hearts were open to hear a Word from Him and whose hearts were hard.



As a Christian the Spirit of the Living God resides in me. My goal is to walk close to my Lord. To know God. As I grow in Him and become sensitive to the leading of His Spirit, should I not be given insight into the hearts of men? Can I not draw on that same knowledge that Christ did? I believe that it is possible, but until I have learned the how, I need to learn to treat people with compassion. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Let God handle the rest. I can not know a person's eternal judgement, but I must still do what God requires of me. That is to be loving, compassionate, patient and good (and every other good attribute!) I must remember that while "those" people may not "deserve" to be loved, neither do I deserve the Love God lavishes on me.



2. The hard thing for me to yield control of are my thoughts. I want to hold my thoughts captive to Christ and every day is a struggle. I pray that God would grow me into the likeness of His Son, so I guess the fact that it is something I struggle with is a good thing...means that I am getting somewhere. I can know that a thought was not Godly at all, try to retract it and replace it with something pure. What I hope someday to achieve is simply not having that struggle anymore and that my thought life would be more Christ and less me.



3. My heart responds poorly at times because I can't know the heart of another. I see their appearance, I see their circumstances (on the outside), I see their attitudes, but I don't know their hearts. Many times I "assume" what the state of their heart is..."well, if they weren't so lazy they could get a job and do something with their lives". If I took time out of my busy life filling it with treasures I can't take with me to my mansion, I might talk to that person, develop a relationship and discover that person's heart. HEY, THAT'S IT! GOD SENT JESUS TO RELATE TO US...TO HELP US BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM...TO KNOW HIS HEART AND KNOW OURS! HOW DO WE GET TO KNOW THE HEART OF ANOTHER? BUILD A RELATIONSHIP! WOOOOHOOOOOOO! So, I could respond more appropriately to that widow and mother of 2 young children who recently became unemployed, because I got to peek inside her heart.



Revelation through a blog. God is awesome!