Day 9: What Makes God Smile?
To recap what I gather as the 5 ways to please God:
Before I translate the 5 ways to please God into actions that I can better relate to, I want to comment on a few interesting statements in this chapter.
First, I think it's scary to conjecture that we should trust God completely without question and carry out God's instructions exactly as given. Isn't this how some of the more gruesome and shameful moments in our history came to be? Haven't some people been so convinced that God was telling them to perform some violent acts that they actually followed through? Maybe it's more appropriate to say that we should trust God, but we should question our interpretation of God's instructions, not God's instructions themselves. After all, we are only human, right? And if God doesn't speak to us directly, it seems to me that we should make sure that we are understanding God correctly through indirect channels before drawing conclusions and executing "orders".
Second, on a different note, I just want to agree explicitly with Rick that "delayed obedience is really disobedience." As a child who often "obeyed" my parents long after the original request was made of me, I understand this point very well.
So, in summary, I take away the five ways to live one's life as:
I find the second and third points (trust and obedience) especially difficult to translate into my life as a non-Christian, but I hope that I was able to synthesize positive takeaways from Rick's sermon.
If God is an entity with emotions, then I would buy into this point. If I were to broaden this point or drop it to the level of humans, then I would say that we all smile when others trust us. And as long as we don't harbor ill will or evil in our hearts, then the more trust there is, the happier we all will be. This is a central thought to what I'm trying to work into a social enterprise right now. I feel that if we all just trusted each other, then we could divert scarce resources into producing food and shelter for all instead of walls and weapons of "self defense".
Hrmm... This is tough. I think, reflecting on why I'm reading this book, I would need to trust him the most when it comes to my life's calling, or my life's purpose. I haven't found that yet, but I do feel pulls in specific directions, mostly unprofitable ones.
- Love God supremely above all else.
- Trust God completely.
- Obey God wholeheartedly.
- Praise and thank God continually.
- Use the abilities that God gave to us.
Before I translate the 5 ways to please God into actions that I can better relate to, I want to comment on a few interesting statements in this chapter.
First, I think it's scary to conjecture that we should trust God completely without question and carry out God's instructions exactly as given. Isn't this how some of the more gruesome and shameful moments in our history came to be? Haven't some people been so convinced that God was telling them to perform some violent acts that they actually followed through? Maybe it's more appropriate to say that we should trust God, but we should question our interpretation of God's instructions, not God's instructions themselves. After all, we are only human, right? And if God doesn't speak to us directly, it seems to me that we should make sure that we are understanding God correctly through indirect channels before drawing conclusions and executing "orders".
Second, on a different note, I just want to agree explicitly with Rick that "delayed obedience is really disobedience." As a child who often "obeyed" my parents long after the original request was made of me, I understand this point very well.
So, in summary, I take away the five ways to live one's life as:
- Love all things in moderation, never to the point of obsession or addiction.
- Consider the existence of a higher power.
- Listen to your conscience.
- Be thankful for what you have, and avoid greed and jealousy.
- Use the talents that you have for good purposes. You may not be perfect at everything, but you are probably better than most at some things.
I find the second and third points (trust and obedience) especially difficult to translate into my life as a non-Christian, but I hope that I was able to synthesize positive takeaways from Rick's sermon.
Point to Ponder: God smiles when I trust him.
If God is an entity with emotions, then I would buy into this point. If I were to broaden this point or drop it to the level of humans, then I would say that we all smile when others trust us. And as long as we don't harbor ill will or evil in our hearts, then the more trust there is, the happier we all will be. This is a central thought to what I'm trying to work into a social enterprise right now. I feel that if we all just trusted each other, then we could divert scarce resources into producing food and shelter for all instead of walls and weapons of "self defense".
Question to Consider: Since God knows what is best, in what areas of my life do I need to trust him most?
Hrmm... This is tough. I think, reflecting on why I'm reading this book, I would need to trust him the most when it comes to my life's calling, or my life's purpose. I haven't found that yet, but I do feel pulls in specific directions, mostly unprofitable ones.