Good vs. Evil

Romans 5:6-10 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- (8) but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Weak. Ungodly. Sinners. Blood. Death… The nature of this world in rebellion to its creator.

Life! The Creator's response on behalf of Jesus the faithful.

Definitive Good vs. combined Evil

Good overcame evil. There is hope. That is good news.

Death by Cocoa

Death by chocolate. There are worse ways to go, but it doesn't seem like it when you have taken something you once loved and foolishly misused it until it makes you sick to even see it. That is the nature of sin. Everything God created is good, but the world I live in is awash with evil. Where did all the bad come from?

Good creation is from the Creator. But creation separated from the Creator and his purpose is no longer good.

 Romans 1:18-25 (ESV)

 18For^(A) the wrath of God^(B) is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19For what can be^(C) known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,^(D) have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they^(E) became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22^(F) Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and^(G) exchanged the glory of^(H) the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

 24Therefore^(I) God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to^(J) the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for^(K) a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,^(L) who is blessed forever! Amen.

Today I choose to admit that the good of God is absent because of the abandonment of God by creation (like me). I have chosen to use my will, my spirit, my mind and body for my own purposes. I have chased desires of enjoying God's goodness without reference to God, and it did not work. I am using Tuesday's as a time of confession and repentance, a time of fasting and grieving over a world that has gone wrong. Wednesday is the day when God's goodness clashes with creation's corruption. Will it be good news?

Good God, it’s Monday!!

Monday devotional discipline: Good in my world is real because God is good. My hope is in good and so I seek for God.

Philippians 4:8 (ESV) Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.about these things.

I am alive in this world. My body perceives things, my mind ponders them and my spirit/will decides what to do. This morning I decided to eat some more Christmas chocolate. It was good. 

I also tried to remember that "cocoa's antioxidants -- called flavonoids -- coax the body into making more nitric oxide, which relaxes the blood vessels."* 

That's good. Chocolate is good to taste and can be good for the heart. I could go into the problems of fat and sugar concoctions which help deliver those flavonoids, but it's Monday, so I'll just stick to observing the good!

 

Cocoa in chocolate is Good. God made cocoa. Thanks God!!!

* <http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20060118/why-cocoa-may-help-heart-health>

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Thank Goodness!!

I've had a weary streak. I have rather 'not enjoyed' people saying things I basically agree with. That bothers me. So I said to myself: "maybe you don't really agree with those things?" But I don't think that is it. I think I am suffering from something more basic. I think there is a sense in which liking coffee doesn't mean I am going to enjoy hearing others go on about how much they like coffee, or how, or why. Sometimes I do, but maybe I have done that too much. I have overdosed on some circles of mutual admiration. Is that it?

I miss surprise, I guess. I mentioned a while back that I missed tribe, but that turned out to be only partially useful. Surprise won't be it either. It has more to do with mystery which is only partially elusive. I don't want to be agnostic or fundamentalist on hardly anything. I want to be loyal and useful and humble and alive to possibilities and uncertainties and surprises. Maybe I just miss not feeling responsible for more than my shoulders can bear. I want to be somewhere between the despair of thinking as a worm and the delusion of believing i'm a god. I should find that Tolkien quote… done:
"Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!" said Bilbo.
"Of course!" said Gandalf. "And why should not they prove true? Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!"
"Thank goodness!" said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the tobacco-jar.*

Hmm. I think I'll go get some good beans for the coffee-jar. I suppose I am sometimes useful, but I am quite a little fellow in a wide world after all! Let it be enough, Goodness; and thank you.

*the conclusion to The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, who died some time ago and is now… well, that is a question, isn't it?

Idea of reflecting on experience and scripture related to good and bad

Story: basic worldview/meta-narrative

1. Origin of good (Why is there good?)
   
2. Problem of bad (Why is there evil?)
   
3. Victory of good over bad in history (the gospel)
   
4. Struggle of good and bad in us (personal change by adoption and then growing up)
   
5. Hope of removal of bad and establishment of good (a post-evil world)
   

The idea is to connect experience (from our own lives) to that of Scripture. The cycle starts with intentionally noting that we daily encounter good and that there should be an explanation as to where it came from and what it means. The Biblical answer is that God is good: light, love etc., and that he is the source of all the good we encounter. The next obvious experience is of not good: bad, evil, pain, suffering, injustice. That is a fallen world. A world that is not now as it was made to be. The Biblical answer is the creation in rebellion to the Creator. Then comes the questions related to how these two basic realities interact: good vs. evil.

The promise is that good overcomes evil. There are three areas of focus for our story: Christ, me, and the world.

In Christ we see the weight of evil seeming to overcome good on the cross, but the resurrection shows the victory of God and his good. That hope is then extended to individuals with the promise of being included with Christ's victory in our relational position, and then in our relational practices. We become adopted as the children of the God of good and are then raised to become more like him as we are empowered by his spirit and wisdom. The final aspect of the story is how God applies the victory of good over evil won in Christ to all of creation. This is the promise of the end of evil (bad, suffering, death, etc.) and the new creation functioning as intended.

Good /bad /good over bad in Jesus/ good over bad in me/ good over bad in all

That's the idea…

Soul choices

I am a soul. Not sure what all that means, but it is something. I am physical and I am more than physical. I believe that the part of me that chooses, my will/spirit, comes from a will/spirit. I can't help but think that the will/spirit which gave life to my will/spirit holds the answers to my life going like it should. My body disagrees. My body just wants Taco Bell.

 
 

So I have this pathetic little struggle going on inside of me. One voice says… just enjoy. The other voice says things about dignity and such. The voices don't get along very well. I listen to one and the other gets miserable. One voice needs to go. Which one, and how?

 
 

Get rid of the 'virtue' voice. Then I can… hmmmm??? Yeah… well…. Ughh. Started off better than how it ended.

 
 

Option 2: get rid of the 'fun' voice. Then I will be… bored.

 
 

Isn't there another way?

 
 

Kill the voice that says the will is for itself. It claims to speak for the body, but it doesn't. It speaks for its own glory. In fact, that voice often trashes out the body with short term pleasures that have a big price (very non-pleasurable). Deal with it. The voice of idolatry: I AM (says me), is seductive like a 'user'. Don't be foolish. Kill it.

 
 

How?

 
 

Realize, accept and commit to the truth that it was killed by someone who never allowed that voice any rights in their soul. Jesus was constantly tempted to be a selfish @#$@#(&* but didn't give into it. That's the story. Could it be true? If so, the rest of the story, that in surrendering his will and body to God's will, something happened to my will. My will died with Jesus. He took responsibility for my will and while he had it he had it killed. Could that be true? How can I have confidence that Jesus killed my will on the cross? The best argument is that he came back to life and started a movement that continues today. It is clear enough to believe in, but mysterious enough to be more than a "no-brainer". It stands just outside of reach, inviting the will to resign the battle and surrender to God in Jesus.

 
 

Some of my friends kinda did that. Kinda. They essentially, like so many of us, have said that we are loyal to him and yet we have been sneaking back to revel in rebellion. We aren't supposed to do that. It undermines everything. What will happen? Bad. Life will be agonizing and what comes next is too muddled to speak clearly on other than… it won't be pleasant.

 
 

So, the church is where we tell each other to snap out of the sirens' call and focus. The restoration of the rebel soul is by adoption (grace by faith to call on Jesus as Lord) and then by growth (grace by faith to continually choose to live under Jesus as Lord).

 
 

Robust church, actual constructive confrontation, is pretty important then. Am I willing to be challenged about my rebel tendencies? Or, would I rather define 'grace' as the courtesy of other Christians to let me be a back stabbing traitor to the cause of Christ for my momentary pleasures? The question is too personal; no place to hide. It just keeps coming back to my soul. Jesus said it unusually bluntly:

 
 

 MT 16:24Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

 

(answer? Some pretty cheap thrills, apparently).

 

Message meant to be communicated: GUYS, it's not complicated, it's just hard. Live for the thrill of doing what 'you' want doesn't really work. Living under the teaching of Jesus, which may be more than what you have thought it was, will actually change your soul into something that can learn real satisfaction in life. Be wise. Choose sides and get with others who will help you be faithful to wisdom and not foolishness.