Acceptance

This has been a very important word lately. It is so amazing how we have this pull for acceptance towards God and towards people. You can almost trace your friends and your families passions and interests to certain family members especially Men and Dads. No doubt the Mothers have a massive equal influence but it seems to me that more often than not Moms are supportive and they don't push us in to specific corners as much as fathers do. I could be wrong but women are much more supportive and forgiving and there for the sense of Acceptance seems easier to attain, where as with Fathers they seem to be a little more goal oriented as men are and therefore more directional in areas of Acceptance. Not a father I can not accurately state what I feel but this is what I see and think when I look out to the world. Its interesting to explore all of the different aspects of this whole thing and how even later on with every relationship including God. How do you know you are accepted by God? How do you know what you are doing is acceptable? Typically we see God as we knew our fathers to be, and then somehow transition to fully believing God is our true creator and father. Yes in the Bible it tells us what a sin is and once our sins are forgiven then we still seek the acceptance and approval for what we do in life. I hear pastors talk about how one of the most common questions asked is "what should I do for a Job" we want what we do to be acceptable to God. I think Typically we make x amount of money and our friends and family praise us and Accept us but is this really acceptable from God? I think ultimately no matter who you are you want that Acceptance from your peers and from your family and closest loves ones, it is hard to understand that from God but when you do something that feels so right to do and then you see the abundance of "good fruit" from it then it feels like there is a divine acceptance along with joy and a peace at heart. We seem to be in this life of trial and error, acceptable to people but not by God and vise versa. This is confusing cause you may think the good fruit of the situation is whether it is number of children you have or how massive your bank account is or how many gardens you have. But I think the real treasures are unseen and that stuff is very much a part of this world I think Joel Olsteen would say you have been blessed. And sure it might feel like a blessing at first but many of the tangible things in this world can draw you away from God. I like to ask myself am I doing what I am doing because all of these people accept me this way and therefore it is comfortable. I don't know I really don't but it is amazing to see all of the things people do and say just to get people to agree with them and gain some acceptance. I think everyone ends up wanting to understand how God accepts us and why. You can never seem to get enough from people. This seems like a never ending battle, maybe just for me but I think there are others out there who try to understand this acceptance that is just sitting there waiting for use to hold on to it.

Getting used to Grace

This has been on my mind for some time now and I just listened to a Sermon that talks about character development with children. We think that we deserve Grace "anything given to you by God that you don't deserve." Pride says "I deserve ______" I get so used to people being graceful to me and around us that I start to take it for granted. This is always shown by the classic girl who is spoiled by Dady and she gets everything she wants. She is so used to her Dads graceful giving that she gets used to it and eventually feels like she deserves it. I think this is so apparent in the rich and poor extremes. With the poor beggars on the street, some think they deserve your money. They get so used to people graciously giving them their hard earned money that begin to feel like it is expected and eventually that they deserve it. The enemy is clever in this way of turning Grace in to Pride. Its so close to a good thing but just a little twisted. I think this is really relevant when People raise their children. Its a hard thing because you want to give your kids everything but you have to raise them in this world not in the garden I think if we were in the Garden that would be fine to give them everything but since they live in a world of sin ruled by the enemy you have to constantly remind them of what the difference is and raise them accordingly. I think God Raises us in this way but perfectly, not in the Garden but in this world, he even raises us knowing what sins we are more susceptible to than others and with those in mind he shows us the way. I think this is the reason life seems to find a new beginning because over and over again we find the Grace that we got use to, the grace we distorted and God revels it to us with a fresh new pair of eyes. But only after we come to him. The bottle neck here seems to be the constant attack of the idea that "I derserve ______ " this will only separate us. More later as this thought is still developing.