Universities

P 3024 The sky is the limit.

/ DVH

How many people today have been boxed in by this world’s interpretation of their ability to learn, or their mental condition, or emotional or physical skills? Today’s so-called experts analyse people and put them into categories, with more labels on the outside than a misdirected parcel! This one has ADHD .. that one has Autism …  the kid is three and someone has boxed it up and classified it for life!  Our kids are actively being “categorised” before they have left High School. We need every member of our Father’s huge family and some people are just plain late bloomers.

It is a very bad idea to put this world’s ceilings on what we think someone else can do – no matter how many letters they have after their name. We must appreciate what each of us has been given for the benefit of others  “… preferring one another in love…”  There are times we try to use someone else’s differences against them – that’s ungodly. Almost half of the recorded disciples were fishermen and Jesus chose them! Today, in order to manage humanity, our societies’ categorise people, so we don’t have to deal with each person, one at a time. 

Thank GOD! He is not even remotely like that! He sees every single one of us and loves each one of us as His very own individual children. He doesn’t look down and think; “This one is broken” OR –“That one is no use to Me.” We are all incredibly dear to His heart – no matter how this world sees us. And we are all incredibly important to His Body too. We are going to need every single member of the Body of Christ standing in their place, because the enemy of our souls is at the gates and he is trying to pinch our kids by writing “not acceptable,” “don’t expect much” and “broken at birth” all over them. Don’t you believe it.

Our Heavenly Father is a redemptive Father, Who longs to reveal Himself to all of us. Every single one of us has a place in His plan! Yes, even the so-called broken ones!! We are all broken one way or another— some of us are simply badly broken inside where nobody else can see. Occasionally some of that ugly stuff leaks out every  where and that person gets put in jail. We must not disqualify people on the grounds of what this world thinks about them. Jesus clarified sin: “…but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matthew 5:22.

Sinfulness is our common denominator, not so called beauty, athletic prowess or intelligence! Right now we are reaping what we have sown into this world through our own ambition, and greed for more. Sadly we have sown into the whirlwind. Our children are growing up believing that to be pretty, handsome, athletic, gifted and/or highly intelligent is something to be greatly desired. Who says that? 

Manufacturers, fashion gurus, universities, teachers, people in political arenas — the people who will make money from what we do … THAT’S who is saying it! Give me one reason why we should trust their judgment? Unless making money is your god, these attitudes are poisonous vapours. They come, they go. Even the best athletes get hurt, highly intelligent people go wandering off into abstract land, and supposedly beautiful people are constantly criticised. What are we doing to our kids? Why are we not teaching them to be who God made them to be? We are a gift to each other. 

Even in the church we fail. We can easily make too much of one gift over another …“But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”?

As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honour just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?” 1 Corinthians 12:21-27 MSG.

I think the bible tells us very clearly how we need to treat each other – we need to encourage other people’s potential to serve the Lord. Let’s look for Jesus in others, watching for the Grace of the Holy Spirit on each life. I’m not talking about positive speaking either. I’m talking about having a genuine prayerful appreciation for someone else’s POV. You never know, if we all do that we all might learn something!

We need every single member of the Body of Christ, even those gentle, timid souls who hide up the back and hope nobody asks them a question. We are limiting a limitless God if we limit His kids based on our own opinions and experiences. Instead we need to proclaim – the sky is the limit and the heavens beyond it! Bye.👋

P 2808 Love triumphs over everything.

/ DVH

The world we are living in today, has created a huge vacuum, by banning some things and not replacing them with better ones. Hubby and I were talking about this yesterday. There are so many rules about how you and I must interact with other people, with no thought to what we can do to replace the things we are told we must not do, except swallow the poison like it doesn’t matter.  It’s left a vacuum…

…so we can’t say this and we mustn’t say that. We dare not imply that someone else’s lifestyle is incorrect, we simply have to accept everything. These rules are pressed right up against our faces, every single day. They batter us through the news, and the TV. Plus there are images everywhere that you can’t UNSEE. And you must not comment on them either! 

These pagan, hedonistic attitudes are reinforced through our kindergartens, schools, and universities, as well as in the work force. We are told we must be tolerant, or we will be punished and penalised. We have to accept this thought and that idea, because we must be inclusive. Actually these thoughts are everything that true faith, by itself, can and will accomplish — but unfortunately now it’s law, not GRACE. Otherwise someone will sue us, or we will go to jail, and be shunned by society to boot! Fear of reprisal comes at us from every corner of the globe. So how can WE – the people whom the Son has made free, live this kind of life – when the-people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet demand that we obey things that would make normal Christians shudder?

Glad you asked that!! The bible teaches us to live this life, the only one we are going to get, loving others. That means our freedom lies within. We are told, in the book, by the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords that we need to pursue love. However, that does not mean we have to accept everything! So we cannot possibly go forward in this horrifying atmosphere of permissiveness – without His wisdom. We now need Jesus like He is our Air, He can no longer be an optional extra. We will need His guidance all the time. And yes, I know that some things are so repulsive to innocence it is hard to cope. But we need His eyes, His ears, His heart of love to guide us through, so we can continue to live and flourish in love.

I tell the Lord all the time: “I just plumb ran out of my kind of love, I definitely need Yours.” That may be simple but it is a great prayer and it works for me. He always helps me when I ask Him. My prayer is not fancy, but it is heart-felt, because I know I can’t do this stuff and live this way, without Him. I’m w-a-y to opinionated for my own good. Sigh. 

Back to my point today …God’s LOVE can fill any vacuum. He’s GOD He can do anything! Well, YAY! Today, we need to be so familiar with love, and so fluent in its language, that we are societally sweet, but pragmatically out of sync with this world’s ideas and ideals. Loving others does not mean we agree with their behaviour or ideals. Love is a higher law.  We don’t have to live this life down in the dirt staring at sin – we are to live a kingdom life, looking at Him.

Here’s an example of a conversation Jesus had when He met with Nicodemus. This man was a Pharisee. In reality he was in the religious rules camp. He was steeped in the law, because the law was part of his training. Yet Jesus did not dismiss him, or avoid him, the Lord met and talked with the man and gave him access to truth. 

John 3:1-8. “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with Him. Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

The Lord did not argue with this man’s theology, He simply replied with REALITY – the ACTUAL TRUTH. He was stating a fact. Jesus never ever separated our earthly life from spiritual reality  … like we sometimes do. Instead He spent His time teaching others that spiritual things can, and do actually govern earthly ones. He did not see mankind as fleshly people who need a spiritual reality – He sees us all as spiritual people who have LOST our spiritual reality!

When we live in love, for love’s own sake – we step into who we really are. What people do with their flesh may be utterly repulsive but it is not ALL they are. We don’t have to live inside this world’s vacuum, we live IN CHRIST. He is a spiritual reality that supersedes whatever happens to be in fashion currently.  Love will always triumph, it can take a bit longer, but it is permanent. Bye 👋