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Monday, December 9, 2019

Your Dying Spouse 707 - What Jesus Wrote

We have the Bible; God's word, right?

So why do we try to read things into the Good Book?

One of these is 'divine health', that believers should 'walk in God's will for their health'. Well, it's nice, but why did Paul have to put up with the 'thorn in his flesh'? Surely Paul was a top-shelf believer, and yet he was not relieved of this.

And what was the 'thorn', anyway? People try to figure it out, but no amount of scholarship will now tell us.

It may be God's privilege to conceal things and a king's privilege to discover them (Prov. 25:2), but some things are not going to be known.

And it may be that they won't be known because we need not concern ourselves; the thorn was Paul's business, not ours.

Likewise, when the nasty men were about to stone the adultress, and after rebuking them Jesus knelt to trace a pattern in the dirt...what did He write?

Maybe it was a list of names and sins, maybe it was a just doodling...maybe, maybe, maybe, and we will never know in this life.

We use our guesses to try to force Jesus into a corner, that He would be writing what we secretly believe we'd have written.

I can just see Him, with a mysterious Mona Lisa smile, saying, "I'm the Lion of Judah, not your pet cat."

Then, after a pause, "And have you ever tried to get a cat to do what you want?"

We try to figure what He wrote
with His finger in the dust.
A list of names, cartoonish goat,
or "In God We Trust"?
We want to pin Him into place
to feed our preconceptions
as if there's not sufficient grace
in the Resurrection.
I wonder if He laughs at us
in His holy glee,
and gets His beard and hair all mussed
as He slaps His knees.
Did He know when He made the Earth
that we'd be supplying so much mirth?

Here's Switchfoot, with This Is Home, from the soundtrack of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.



Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

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11 comments:

  1. I've definitely not seen cats be too agreeable. :) Our big Cat has a mind of His own to always do right and good.

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    1. Lisa, cats do indeed go their own way...and sometimes, we are wise to follow.

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  2. I love the Narnia books, but haven't seen the movies.

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    1. Jan, I love the books, too...now that I am old enough to understand them!

      I also like the movies a lot; one has to see them through different eyes, and accept them on their own terms, but that done, they are solid entertainment.

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  3. "the thorn was Paul's business, not ours."

    Yup. This is Truth.


    I can just see Him, with a mysterious Mona Lisa smile, saying, "I'm the Lion of Judah, not your pet cat."

    Made me smile!

    Then, after a pause, "And have you ever tried to get a cat to do what you want?"

    This made me laugh! You can train a cat; but, they're stubborn. My Abby will "go home" after I issue that command several times. She's half wild and when she's outdoors on leash and harness, she's a different beast. It's better that she responds to me verbally as she hates being picked up. The last time she refused to budge, I reached down to pick her up, she attacked me. I do not blame her one bit as this is her nature. She did head home immediately after that incident. She's high energy and half wild. It's the reason why I never re-homed her as a kitten after I rescued her from a busy intersection. She's an extremely intelligent one and will do tricks for tasty food. LOL. :-) Note: She's sweet and normal indoors as long as I keep her energy drained.

    PS That bit of poetry at the end is priceless.


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    1. Lee Ann, I'm so glad you liked this, and you gave me a big smile with your description of Abby.

      We have a half-wild cat as well, Sasquatch...he's insanely brave, and has no fear of the fifteen or so dogs who share the house with her (all strays). He won't do what I say, but I can pick him up, albeit with him giving me the Evil Eye.

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  4. (((((Andrew)))))

    Annie in Texas

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    1. ((((((Annie!))))))

      Thank you so much for being here!

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  5. I like this. I think it's kind of humorous the way people get so set on figuring out everything. I believe it's complex on purpose, part of the divine mystery.

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    1. My dear Norma, I'm so glad you liked this...and I agree...it can be really, really funny.

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  6. Read all the books, but strangly never seen the movies.I'll do better next year.

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