Here or There, This or That?


Deciphering How the World Thinks (Part II):

I take one good look at the soft beige carpet in my front lounge, and approximately one minute and three seconds after, I sigh heavily and decide to sink into the softness of the carpet rather than my old brown sofa. I stick up my nose in obvious defiance and simultaneous despair as I read the writings on page 27 of the daily newspaper, the People & Places column. It is about me. And it is complete gibberish. What an irony of who I really am! Yes, I ran the campaign, but I never said those things. I am not denying that I meant what I said in the "a" part of the speech, but I did NOT mean the rest. I meant this, but I did NOT mean that! I am a CEO for goodness sakes, and a good one for that matter!

I am a pro-life advocate. I practice ethical polyamory, but only show monogamy to my employees, and yes I love my wife & kids. I believe in God, but for the sake of my current campaign I don't do every single thing in the bible. I have to protect myself, my self-image. I'm not a fool, I know what I'm doing.

* * *

The Observation:
How the world thinks! The way we think has not changed from the times when Joshua was commander of the Israeli army. On one of those days Joshua gathered the people and said to them (Joshua 24), and I will paraphrase, "I say that you should serve the Lord who has done all these things for you. But you have to make a choice. Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." The response he got was "of course, how can they not serve God?" But Joshua explained again, with God there is no dilly-dallying. It was very important that they had to choose one way. "If you choose to serve God, then you have to put away the foreign idols. You can't say you serve God with idols in your possession."

Here or There:
A lot of people today don't think they have to make a distinct choice. They feel they have the liberty to stay in one place on one day, and transfer somewhere else on another day. And sure, it won't be a problem to jump right to where they started on day 1. But the ugly truth is, God does not consider their works. They serve God while hiding hideous things from His sight.

The Truth:
At the end of the day, trying to fit two huge pieces of meat in one pot won't work. Don't you think that making a firm choice would set you free? If you choose to serve God, then you have to go all the way. You can't be here or there, or choose this or that. If you actually want to be saved, you have to run the whole mile, not just a quarter of a mile. It's not a punishment, but the very path that will bring you freedom, joy, peace, happiness, and satisfaction.

Do you think God's word comes in distinct, disjointed, and disconnected parts? That you can only obey some parts and disobey the others? Is this how the world thinks today?

Photo by Redbubble

25 comments:

Kafo said...

first oooo
just staking my claim

Kafo said...

hmmmm so true

A lot of people today don't think they have to make a distinct choice. They feel they have the liberty to stay in one place on one day, and transfer somewhere else on another day.

i'm reminder of Matt 12:30 in the message translation it says

This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse


true
only two sides

Jennifer A. said...

@ Kafo...the Message translation of Matthew 12:30 is so on point...I like it.

Princess said...

This is so true...but it sounds also like an admonition--at least to people like me who dance from one side to the other.

Jennifer A. said...

@ Princess. LOL. I guess when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, it's God's love that exposes the parts of ourselves that we need to work on. :) (Hope your day is going well...lots of snow on my end, lol)

jhazmyn said...

It so easy to fall into the trap of cutting corners here and there...words like this help put us in check, thanks for sharing Jaycee.

BTW, I've been trying to put up a real nice and prominent link to ZOE's for the ipray, like urs, but no luck yet.
Pls share the trick behind it :-D

Chris Ogunlowo said...

How have you been Jaycee?

Afronuts said...

This is one of the reasons why being popular can be vanity.
They will paint you wrongly.

Everyone is a product and there is a manual which tells us how we function; a manual put in place by our manufacturer to explain how best we can utilise what we are meant to be...

Sadly...many people just dont want to read the bible

Jennifer A. said...

@ Jhazmyn...yeah, it's easy to fall into that lifestyle if we don't watch carefully enough ("watch & pray, for we know not the hour"). As for the graphics, these are the steps I took:

1) I went to http://www.pimp-my-profile.com/generators/shadow-text.php
2) I selected and generated the text I wanted (there is a huge selection to choose from)
3) I right-clicked and saved the final generation
4) I went to the layout and added the saved picture to the sidebar (and then I copied Zoe's link into the link space). Let me know if it works *wink*

@ Aloofar...I'm doing great, how are you?

@ Afronuts...I think the reason why people don't want to go near the bible is because they think it is boring. But I've found that it is the exact opposite of boring, all one needs to do is increase one's imagination. I love the manual/manufacturer illustration you've given. It's just so easy to understand if we reflect on those two relationships. Thank you so much :)

Mwajim Al said...

True. Yet, i feel like this is something that is a daily decision we have to make everyday, more like letting God transform us day by day. For me, one of the pills i am learning to swallow is letting God be my everything, and i feel this goes hand-in-hand with your post, choosing to follow God thoroughly.

Jennifer A. said...

Mwajim,

You've raised a very important point here, I cannot even thank you enough. It is not merely a choice between A and B. After choosing to go with God, it becomes a matter of choice EVERY SINGLE DAY to do what He says we should do.

Seriously, I love your point. Thanks for adding value to this lesson.

Blessing said...

This is very true...there's a lot of ppl that are sitting on the fence....choosing to obey only when it's convenient for them.

Enkay said...

It's sad truly but that's the way many people think these days.

they'll serve god they say but on their own terms!

Believer said...

Hi Jaycee thanks for this reminder, your blog is so beautiful..The Bible says to examine ourselves to know if we are still in the faith. I like Kafo's comment, there is no middle ground! Jesus says I AM the way, not one of many, not the option on Sunday or the 31st of December, the ONLY way! I needed this, sometimes I want to choose the way of blending in but by His grace as for me and my house WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.
Jaycee, I don't know how to say thank you enough for your support on iPray but I know the God who sees what you do in secret will reward you openly in Jesus name. God bless

jhazmyn said...

It sure helped, thanks a bunch dear...xoxo

Jennifer A. said...

@ BBY...I heard, for instance, about how there are so many people in the church who no longer think it is necessary to abstain from premarital relations. But these things are very clear in God's word. And God wants us not to dab into it for our own bodies sake and not to help God in any way.

@ enkay...very true. I like Afronut's example of the relationship between a manufacturer and his product (which will need the manufacturer's manual). A lot of people today have taken the fabrication of their own manuals into their hands.

@ Believer...thanks. Amen. Actually it's things like what you're doing that we need each other for in the body. Thanks for doing the iPray series, you're storing up treasures where no one can see. :)

Jhazmyn...you're welkie :)

Unknown said...

Blessed by this post as I always am when I read your post(s).

Happy New Year by the way. I'll holla.

Jennifer A. said...

@ Olamild...HAPPY NEW YEAR. Geez, good to hear from you *insert big grin*

Femme Lounge said...

it reminds me of that scripture in revelations, about being neither cold nor hot.

its hard to stand for God in the face of today's pressure, but if we have chosen that path then we have to embrace His grace to help us.

thanks for this jaycee.

Jennifer A. said...

@ Femme Lounge. First, thanks for stopping by :) You can't be more correct that we need to embrace His grace. Don't think we can ever do it by ourselves...thanks again.

Patrinas Pencil said...

Jaycee, I loved the powerful video. Knowing and trusting are two different things. One is with the mind and the other is with the heart. It is only when the heart and mind come together - as in a transformed heart by the renewing of your mind - that we actually see Jesus. And for most, that's a journey. It doesn't necessarily happen all at once. God knows this. But He wants a faithful commitment every single day. If we are committed, He will enable is to grow more and more into the trust level of who He really is and hopes to be in our lives.

I think the Holy Spirit is a key factor in learning to trust the Jesus we know. I think Jesus left the Holy Spirit with us - in His absence - to show us who Jesus is and wants to be - the center of our lives. He knew it would be hard. He knew our human tents were unstable. He knew where He found most of us, and He knew the enemy would be on our tails speaking those very words that he used on Eve in the garden. "Did god...really say??"

Many who call themselves "Christian", are not tuned into the Holy Spirit. You can't live Christ-like in a corrupt world without the Holy Spirit to guide you through the land mines! I think what we are missing in our discipleship of new Christians and long-time Christians, is the very existence and presence of the viable and living Holy Spirit of God.

Without the Holy Spirit, we go to war everyday - without any guns. And that's a very unprotected place to be in.

My question would be, "What are we doing to teach others about this power that is freely given and waiting in the wings to empower them to make right choices and walk the talk. But also...to be their "everything"...

The Holy Spirit ushers us into the very presence of God. The Holy Spirit shows us the trustworthiness of Jesus. That was God's plan. It's a vital part of discipleship that many are not given.

May we walk so close to the Savior that the dust from His sandals settles on our feet.

Patrina <")>><

Jennifer A. said...

Patrina...wow. "May we walk so close to the Savior that the dust from His sandals settles on our feet."

As I was reading your comment, with each passing line I got convicted more and more. What are we doing to EMPOWER people to make the right choices? I want to answer, but I don't know what to say.

We need the Holy Spirit to teach us how to be a light. We can't do this on our own...and first WE have to learn how to make the right choices ourselves...it starts with US FIRST...Lord!

Patrinas Pencil said...

Jaycee,
My comment (post :) was not meant to point a finger away from me. I am convicted about that of which I speak as well. It's like somewhere down the track, we jumped off the train of discipleship and became instead "evangelists". (and I'm not against evangelist or evangelism – by any means) But at some point, evangelism became the most important thing - to bring salvation to the masses. But in doing so, we have become a nation of misdirected and confused values. We must center our focus on discipleship and we can't do that in mass production. It is done in small groups or one on one.

If we teach the importance of the Holy Spirit in our Christian walk -more would walk as overcomes - walking in the spirit rather than the flesh - Many are walking in misdirected passions - because they haven't been taught the power to overcome the flesh through the powerful guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Teach the indwelling Holy Spirit and the Lord himself will still the "world" to listen.

Sorry fof the post again. Guess, I had more to say on this subject than I thot. Maybe I should jsut turn it in to a post on my site :)

Thanks for your response, and for listening.

Patrina <")>><

Jennifer A. said...

Patrina,

Wow, I'm really glad that you're airing your views right here where others can read and learn from it as well. Thanks. I especially like the concept of jumping out of the discipleship train right into evangelism. Without being students ourselves, how can we become teachers? And without key lessons of "overcoming the flesh," how won't the people be misguided?

Thanks again...this is really a "food for thought."

Neer said...

Jaycee, so true about LOve!!

have a blessed Valentine's