The Better Part, week 10

 

This week's Facebook posts, with another Friday missed...

The Better Part, Day #63:

 

Today I'm going to start with a passage from a comic book, which came to mind when this idea struck me... A passage spoken by a cowboy who had come to the present day, and then returned to his time, our past, only to narrowly escape death in an avalanche that struck the train he was on:

 

"Nancy died from a ruptured cervix. She only got to see her baby once before passing away. Our daughter, Eve, became afflicted with Rubella and died at the age of 4. Last year, my friend Boom-Boom Brown had his jaw busted in a boxing match... the dentist working on Boom's mouth used dirty equipment- he died six months later from gangrene. Every single one of those deaths could have been prevented in the future that I saw coming. And every single person who died in that train wreck had been dust for a very long time in that future I had seen."- Fabian Nicieza, The Sunset Riders, book 2

 

What does this have to do with anything? David Jeremiah made the point today in a sermon about not fearing natural disasters that if someone isn't among the thousands killed in the next earthquake or the hundreds in the next hurricane, they are STILL going to die someday- just not in a 'package deal'. Which got me remembering this and considering- Large numbers of dead in natural disasters are just Satan's way of making us forget the tragedy is not in the amount of dead- but the even one life lost without Christ. Or, to steal another line, from a comic by Walt Simonson:

 

"I don't grieve his death, just the waste of his life."

 

 

The Better Part, Day #64:

 

Luk 23:42 And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Luk 23:43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." 

 

In a day full of asking for that more power and being told, "More purity", and asking how to learn purity, and the answer coming back as situations that required more power, God gave me one wonderful gift of an insight: That what Jesus said in Luke 23:43 applies to YOU AND ME as well. Remember Paul saying that Jesus has already taken us into the heavenlies? "This day" was Jesus's promise to all who believe- and while our day on earth might not be over, our day in heaven has been going on for a long time!

 

 

The Better Part, Day #65:

 

When my machine, my fabric, my job had me frustrated and ready to give up, I read this quote from AW Tozer:

 

"I am perfectly happy to have God do things I cannot understand. I am joyfully willing that God should fly the plane for me, that He should run the machine for me, that He should portion out my life for me, that He should make my plans for me. I am perfectly willing that He should do all this, because He knows how, and I do not. He has the power, and I do not."

 

 

The Better Part, day #67:

 

Leaving off the passage I'm going to reference, since I don't want to let the cat out of the bag on next week's Wednesday Bible Study, but... this particular passage has a story told in two different spots, and there are some significant- or so it would seem- differences between the two. But as I have been studying, I felt myself being drawn to the point: What GOD found important in the story, that is dead on the same. Things that MAN finds important, to his detriment, are what has the differences- subjects like money, who's to blame, and getting the credit to the "right" place. Strip it down to the stuff that agrees, and you see God got His point across just fine.

 

 

The Better Part, day #68:

 

From CNN: "The Pope visited Ur on Saturday, the second day of the first ever papal visit to Iraq. Addressing a meeting of inter-faith leaders, Francis condemned the violence that has plagued Iraq in recent years and called for friendship and cooperation between religions. "

 

First thought: Mat 10:34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 

 

Second thought: 2Co 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2Co 6:15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

 

 

The Better Part, day #69:

 

Earlier this week, I saw a picture posted, supposedly in worship of Christ- but it had an American flag coating the Cross. I feel once again I need to remind my Christian brothers and sisters that there were only TWO things that were put on that Cross. One was the God-Man who saved us by His death and resurrection; the other was (intended to be) an insult in three languages. And both ended up bringing glory to God- not to any man, not to any nation.