March 3, 2015
Not On My Radar
Isaiah 55:8-9
My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
I figure in light of this passage of Scripture that whatever I automatically think about something that the right and godly thing would be the exact opposite! However, this passage doesn’t say that God’s thoughts are opposite of man’s but that his thoughts are actually absolutely nothing like the thoughts we have. Isn’t that phenomenal? That puts God’s thoughts in the set of “other” and in the subset of “I didn’t see that coming!” Not in the category of opposites.
God says to love your enemies. Well, the opposite of how we treat our enemies would be to just not hurt them, to be kind, tolerant, or put them out of our minds. The opposite wouldn’t be to love them. Love is reserved for our grandmas - someone who loves us and would never hurt us in a million years, never forgets our birthdays, and thinks we’re the greatest person in the world. Love my enemies? That’s not opposite, that’s different.
But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! (Matthew 5:44)
Here’s a good one from Ephesians 5:31-33
As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Two people united as one sounds like equal partners doesn’t it? But if marriage is an illustration of the best relationship possible, that is, Christ & us, then we see that 50/50 isn’t God’s system for a wonderful, fulfilling, loving relationship. That doesn’t make anything about the relationship “less” for the wife because I certainly do not feel like I’m getting jipped in my relationship with Jesus at all. Women’s libbers may think I’m a sucker, but I’m not. I’m actually an extremely free and happy wife!
1 Corinthians 2:9 reiterates God’s thoughts being nothing like ours:
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. How can I critique what I can’t even imagine? How can people say God’s ways are ancient or ridiculous when they don’t even know what they are since God’s prescriptions for life aren’t opposite of ours? His ways are just better and can’t be contained by our limited imaginations.
Dear God,
I am so in agreement with YOU being in charge. You know more, same as I’m in charge of my kids because I know more than they do, and I can see things coming that their radar doesn’t pick up. Thank you for parenting me! We are not partners. I want you to be in charge and to live the way you say because your way is the best! Thank you for the neat things you have done in my life that certainly were not on my radar at all but have filled my life with joy! I love you and thank you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Not On My Radar
Isaiah 55:8-9
My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
I figure in light of this passage of Scripture that whatever I automatically think about something that the right and godly thing would be the exact opposite! However, this passage doesn’t say that God’s thoughts are opposite of man’s but that his thoughts are actually absolutely nothing like the thoughts we have. Isn’t that phenomenal? That puts God’s thoughts in the set of “other” and in the subset of “I didn’t see that coming!” Not in the category of opposites.
God says to love your enemies. Well, the opposite of how we treat our enemies would be to just not hurt them, to be kind, tolerant, or put them out of our minds. The opposite wouldn’t be to love them. Love is reserved for our grandmas - someone who loves us and would never hurt us in a million years, never forgets our birthdays, and thinks we’re the greatest person in the world. Love my enemies? That’s not opposite, that’s different.
But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! (Matthew 5:44)
Here’s a good one from Ephesians 5:31-33
As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Two people united as one sounds like equal partners doesn’t it? But if marriage is an illustration of the best relationship possible, that is, Christ & us, then we see that 50/50 isn’t God’s system for a wonderful, fulfilling, loving relationship. That doesn’t make anything about the relationship “less” for the wife because I certainly do not feel like I’m getting jipped in my relationship with Jesus at all. Women’s libbers may think I’m a sucker, but I’m not. I’m actually an extremely free and happy wife!
1 Corinthians 2:9 reiterates God’s thoughts being nothing like ours:
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. How can I critique what I can’t even imagine? How can people say God’s ways are ancient or ridiculous when they don’t even know what they are since God’s prescriptions for life aren’t opposite of ours? His ways are just better and can’t be contained by our limited imaginations.
Dear God,
I am so in agreement with YOU being in charge. You know more, same as I’m in charge of my kids because I know more than they do, and I can see things coming that their radar doesn’t pick up. Thank you for parenting me! We are not partners. I want you to be in charge and to live the way you say because your way is the best! Thank you for the neat things you have done in my life that certainly were not on my radar at all but have filled my life with joy! I love you and thank you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
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