Monday, March 28, 2005
two cool yet unrelated thoughts...
1. last night i had a cool discussion with my roommate (who, btw is the best ever... she stayed up to help me organize my room) concerning the idea of wisdom and boundaries. i've had a bone to pick with that book and those who hold to those ideas... mainly because i have seen it misused (as "excuses" to not practice selflessness), and also because i feel like a lot of "support" for it is acontextual. i can see some of what its saying, and it is biblical to be "wise"... but what about Jesus' commands to live lives with reckless abandon?
then it came to me yesterday... the "beginnings" of reconciling these ideas. most of my good thinking comes out of dialogue, interestingly enough. so as my roommate was helping me clean and organize, we revisited the issue of boundaries. perhaps it seems difficult to reconcile is because the Jews were already familiar with the ideas of wisdom and law. they understood clearly how to draw boundaries and live wisely... but then Jesus called them out (of that context) and challenged them to more. its not JUST about these boundaries... its about that and more. we as americans often have an acontexual understanding and tend to live to the extreme... seeing Jesus as a rebel (which to a certain sense he was). we want to live that sort of "reckless abandon." there's nothing wrong with that, but perhaps we must hold to that as well as to the ideas that were established before that... the ideas that you must hold onto one thing without letting go of the other... and see where Jesus' commands were coming from. not sure exactly what all that means still and how it all fits together, but its a thought to ponder and run by some people who know more than me. :o)
2. read luke today on the train ride into work and was really blessed by a certain verse. luke 1:25 recounts what elizabeth said after she became pregnant. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” for some reason, the way that was phrased just really impacted me. i know i may be a bit melodramatic about this, but it seems that (and i've mentioned it before) modern day singleness among the conservative evangelical circles is similar to the barrenness. there's an unspoken assumption of something wrong or a lack of favor from God. it gave me the assurance that if God chooses, He can "take away my disgrace" among the people.
its also amazing to me the affect that is recorded in luke... that in a society so dominated by men, that God chose to use two women in amazing ways... and the affect they expressed in their marvel of what the Lord is doing through them is absolutely gripping.
... today, i'm thankful that God reminds me of His concern for "little things" and that He can accomplish whatever He pleases for His glory... even changing my mind about certain things.
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1. last night i had a cool discussion with my roommate (who, btw is the best ever... she stayed up to help me organize my room) concerning the idea of wisdom and boundaries. i've had a bone to pick with that book and those who hold to those ideas... mainly because i have seen it misused (as "excuses" to not practice selflessness), and also because i feel like a lot of "support" for it is acontextual. i can see some of what its saying, and it is biblical to be "wise"... but what about Jesus' commands to live lives with reckless abandon?
then it came to me yesterday... the "beginnings" of reconciling these ideas. most of my good thinking comes out of dialogue, interestingly enough. so as my roommate was helping me clean and organize, we revisited the issue of boundaries. perhaps it seems difficult to reconcile is because the Jews were already familiar with the ideas of wisdom and law. they understood clearly how to draw boundaries and live wisely... but then Jesus called them out (of that context) and challenged them to more. its not JUST about these boundaries... its about that and more. we as americans often have an acontexual understanding and tend to live to the extreme... seeing Jesus as a rebel (which to a certain sense he was). we want to live that sort of "reckless abandon." there's nothing wrong with that, but perhaps we must hold to that as well as to the ideas that were established before that... the ideas that you must hold onto one thing without letting go of the other... and see where Jesus' commands were coming from. not sure exactly what all that means still and how it all fits together, but its a thought to ponder and run by some people who know more than me. :o)
2. read luke today on the train ride into work and was really blessed by a certain verse. luke 1:25 recounts what elizabeth said after she became pregnant. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” for some reason, the way that was phrased just really impacted me. i know i may be a bit melodramatic about this, but it seems that (and i've mentioned it before) modern day singleness among the conservative evangelical circles is similar to the barrenness. there's an unspoken assumption of something wrong or a lack of favor from God. it gave me the assurance that if God chooses, He can "take away my disgrace" among the people.
its also amazing to me the affect that is recorded in luke... that in a society so dominated by men, that God chose to use two women in amazing ways... and the affect they expressed in their marvel of what the Lord is doing through them is absolutely gripping.
... today, i'm thankful that God reminds me of His concern for "little things" and that He can accomplish whatever He pleases for His glory... even changing my mind about certain things.
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