How do you measure the fame of someone? What tools do you use to compare the fame of one person to the next? I was thinking about this not too long ago and thought of people that were Elvis impersonators, or Arnold impersonators. There are some people that are really good at impersonating those famous people, and the more of them there are the more famous a person was. What about Jesus?
Well, using this measure, Jesus was most definitely the most famous person to ever have lived. There are so very many Jesus impersonators. Thousands. Hundreds of Thousands. Millions. And the number keeps growing. But not only that, there are some pretty decent impersonators out there! I've seen some amazing men and women of God in my few years that help to point us toward Christ. That is how amazing He is. Some carpenter(actually, the Greek word could also mean stonemason, which seems to fit better with the parables he tended to use in my mind) from a backwater town called Nazareth, who lived and died while countries rose and fell, politicians controlled the world, and it seemed so easy to miss Him. And yet, He has had the biggest impact on the world we could ever imagine, or rather bigger than we could imagine. Its really truly amazing. In fact, I'm trying to be an impersonator too! Who knew I'd be trying to impersonate a famous person.
For His Glorious Name,
Jason
Saturday 22 October 2011
Sunday 2 October 2011
Making Plans
This coming weekend is going to be pretty huge for me. And as such I find myself wanting to plan every detail. I never really knew I was that kind of person. I'm generally a laid back person and just go with the flow, but when it comes down to the most important things in my life I find I try to plan for every contingency and make sure everything is okay. Thinking back I see thats what I did when planning for both of my trips to Tanzania. Everything was fairly meticulously categorized and accounted for.
There is a problem though. Everyone with even just a little bit of maturity and experience walking in this world (especially a mature Christian) knows that plans do not pan out. The harder and more meticulously you plan something, the less likely it is to go as you plan it to. And there is a reason for that. When we plan, we are trying to control. We are trying to control circumstances, ourselves, others, life. The problem is that we aren't in control, and every time we try to act like we are we get into huge trouble. Proverbs 16:9 says, "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." Its not in our hands.
So then are all the people who don't plan for anything right then? Are we, by planning, just fooling ourselves and trying to usurp God's authority? Should we just let everything fall as it may? I don't think so. There is value in planning. There isn't value in assuming things will go according to plan. If nobody ever planned anything, nothing would ever get done. Look at that proverb again. Does it say anywhere that we shouldn't plan? No, it doesn't. It simply contrasts the plans of man and how things actually turn out. Things turn out according to the Lord's will. Sometimes our plans match up with that, and the closer in line with Him we are, the more likely that is to happen. Sometimes they don't match, and then our plans go astray. It is in those times that things don't go according to plan that our motives and character truly come through. That is when we discover whether we were being wise or foolish in our planning. We'll see how God test's my heart this weekend, and I welcome it either way. Not to mention (wonderfully odd phrase that is, on a side note, have you ever considered saying "Not to mention" and then not mention anything?) the great joy I will receive in spending time with Brenda.
For His Glorious Name,
Jason
There is a problem though. Everyone with even just a little bit of maturity and experience walking in this world (especially a mature Christian) knows that plans do not pan out. The harder and more meticulously you plan something, the less likely it is to go as you plan it to. And there is a reason for that. When we plan, we are trying to control. We are trying to control circumstances, ourselves, others, life. The problem is that we aren't in control, and every time we try to act like we are we get into huge trouble. Proverbs 16:9 says, "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." Its not in our hands.
So then are all the people who don't plan for anything right then? Are we, by planning, just fooling ourselves and trying to usurp God's authority? Should we just let everything fall as it may? I don't think so. There is value in planning. There isn't value in assuming things will go according to plan. If nobody ever planned anything, nothing would ever get done. Look at that proverb again. Does it say anywhere that we shouldn't plan? No, it doesn't. It simply contrasts the plans of man and how things actually turn out. Things turn out according to the Lord's will. Sometimes our plans match up with that, and the closer in line with Him we are, the more likely that is to happen. Sometimes they don't match, and then our plans go astray. It is in those times that things don't go according to plan that our motives and character truly come through. That is when we discover whether we were being wise or foolish in our planning. We'll see how God test's my heart this weekend, and I welcome it either way. Not to mention (wonderfully odd phrase that is, on a side note, have you ever considered saying "Not to mention" and then not mention anything?) the great joy I will receive in spending time with Brenda.
For His Glorious Name,
Jason
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)