August 24 2009 → Daily Journal
Just as an observation: it's much easier and quicker to empty the baptistry than to fill it.
OT Reading: Exodus 1:8-2:10 →Lots here about obeying God rather than man. About being a people that are so dedicated to living out who we are that we are perceived as a threat by the world. A threat to their well-being, that we will rise up and take over. We as believers in Christ ought to hit that point. The world should be afraid that self-sacrifice, love for others, joy, and compassion will take over. And either join us or try to oppress us. Either way, the Kingdom grows.
Proverbs 24:5-6 →Yet what do we do? We idolize strength and denigrate 'wiliness.' We want a football coach that will jam a running back up the middle 30 times a game, but never try a fake punt. Why? We prize strength over wisdom or knowledge.
Proverbs 24:10-12 →And this is why we still try to act in politics, even though the Kingdom of God is not of this world. We must act, even in difficult times. We must try to save those stumbling toward slaughter.
Proverbs 24:27 →Do what is necessary to survive, then worry about comfort.
Proverbs 24:29 →Repay evil with good. Just as God repaid our evil with good at the Cross.
James 5:1-6 →the first part of this is a warning. Are you growing wealthy by denying people their rightful wages? Do you leave small tips at restaurants? Do you skimp on what you pay people for work they do for you? Do you run a business but not pay your workers well?
The last verse, though, is enough for those of you who feel like you are getting the bad side of being underpaid. James 5:6 shows that the righteous man does not resist the evil being done by the wealthy. The righteous trust God to handle the situation.
Acts 3:1-10 → Read that, and think about what Peter and John learned in John 9:1-5.
Oh dear... now I'm dreadfully curious just how the baptistry was emptied...
ReplyDeleteJulie
Typically, we just pull the plug out by the string, and open the drain valve underneath.
ReplyDeleteOf course, today the string broke off the plug. So I had to get back in the water tonight and pull the plug with pliers. After it being unseasonably cool here (only into the low 80s), the water was quite chilly, since we turned the heat off yesterday. So, I was quite chilly, in the baptistry, waiting on Ann to bring me pliers from my office because I didn't know I'd need them. Glad no one came in and saw the pastor in his swimsuit in the baptistry. Might have looked odd.
The thought I was having, and didn't quite develop, was that it seems to take a lot of effort to bring someone to Christ or to get someone rolling the right direction, and so little effort to get that derailed. It's so much easier to empty people out than fill them up, and it happens so much faster.
Well, once the plug comes out, at least.
I "get" your thought, Doug. It describes my whole life, spiritual and otherwise.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's like the Law of Entropy, which basically states that things tend to move from a state of order towards chaos. So much for evolution, and the chances of my house staying clean. :0)
It takes a lot more effort to "maintain", much less move in the right direction, than it does to deteriorate.
Julie
It's nice that you got the thought. Sometimes I wonder if anybody does.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the whole scenario with the plug made it a moot point, since I couldn't drain it.
And I couldn't help but think that if we were Presbyterian, we wouldn't have these problems.
I grew up living across the street from our church, and... on a lake.
ReplyDeleteGuess where all the baptisms were held? My front yard. We broke ice once, because somebody didn't want to wait.
I was baptized on July 4, 1976 - the bicentennial.