Saturday, March 20, 2010

Do you trust Me / A Witness to Hope / Self Knowledge

As some of you may know by now, I am currently attending the Quick Journey through the Bible classes on Sunday and expect to graduate next Sunday (end of March). We're currently halfway through the Old Testament, having covered the Early World, the Patriarchs, Exodus and Exile and Desert Wanderings.

it sounds like a whole lotta history. but over and over again, this question resounds : do you trust Me? do you trust that I have a plan for your life?
the Israelites failed God time and time and time again. it's borne out in terrible consequences which are painful to read, let alone go through.

and i find myself being asked the same question as some recent developments take place. i had made a determination, and now things change again, as if underscoring how little control i really have over my life no matter what illusions i may cherish.

i don't know what the future will hold. i am living one day at a time, and learning that besides trusting His plan for me, i need to believe with my heart and soul He desires the best for me, and for my happiness.

let's make this happen, God. for if it is what you will for me, let us make it happen.

amen.

***

John Paul II - a Witness to Hope.

watching the documentary together with the others las night after Praise and Worship, a thought came to me, and refused to leave.

the thought was on the inherent worth of the human person. the intrinsic value of the human being.

regardless of modernity's mad march through the ages, human beings continue to hold in them value which is inherent and intrinsic. the dehumanisation and objectification of people did not begin only yesterday. it entered into full swing in the Industrial Revolution, when people became mere producers of output from machines which they operated to the Information Revolution/ Internet Revolution when information became the new byword and people their online personae.

there is much more to a person than all that. each of us has been created in His image and likeness, wonderfully and fearfully made - and this message gets lost in the crunch of daily life. of trying to get our point across. in trying to make a living.

for me, John Paul II's work on the value of life (as opposed to death) has wide implications.
i am fortunately not involved in any situation involving abortion or euthanasia as of now; even then, the value of life is an affirmation of the value of human beings, no matter what they have done or will do.

it opens me up to recognising the distinction between sin and the sinner. one is to be shunned at all costs, and the other to be loved at all costs. i used to slap labels on those who hurt me, and slap labels on myself. now recognising that the dignity of humanity is greater than those restricting labels, i am looking at a bigger and better way of living.
sin is real, and its effects just as real. but the real question is this: is sin greater than love?

***

self knowledge comes through knowledge of Jesus.

working on this one. the journey from the head to the heart is the longest journey there is. but patience, there is an eternity for these sorts of things.

round this side of Heaven, struggles don't stop, there are always things which need to be resolved, but to know i am not and never alone makes all the difference to me.

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