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- Written by: Don Goulding
He [God] provides grass for the cattle, and crops for people to cultivate, so they can produce food from the ground, as well as wine that makes people feel so good, and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, as well as food that sustains people’s lives. Psalms 104:14-15 (NETFull)
A balance scale reaches its arms out side to side. My spiritual life sits on the right arm while the left side holds my physical needs.
I often say my only goal is God’s spiritual kingdom but my current assignment is to live in a material world. Without attention to both sides, the scale goes out of level.
Prayer, Bible study and fellowship go onto the right side. On the left, I must add food, rest and godly recreation or the body God gave me will waste away from a lack of stewardship. However, if the left side becomes my primary focus, I’ll plunk down into the animalistic life fit only for hell. I struggle to find the right equilibrium.
To resolve my dilemma, Jesus says, “Move closer.”
His words introduce another dynamic at work on the scale of equilibrium. As I move nearer to him, my hinge point changes which causes the scale to tip down on the physical side. To keep it level, I must lighten my temporal comforts, which is now possible because I’m closer to the Source of life.
Equilibrium is not so complex as I first thought. It’s a joyous life process of daily heeding what is in the pans and inching ever closer to my Lord.
Prayer: Incarnated Jesus, keep my heart in precisely the right equilibrium.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
Sinners are afraid in Zion; panic grips the godless. They say, ʻWho among us can coexist with destructive fire? Who among us can coexist with unquenchable fire. (Isaiah 33:14 NET_FL)- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! Romans 5:15 (NETFull)
An inventor excitedly rubbed his hands over his creation. He had discovered a way to make intelligent robots that self-replicated. He added a second unit and grinned as they began their task of building offspring.
An enemy sidled up to tinker with the prototypes. The inventor waited to see how his creations would defend themselves. They engaged with the evil one who infected them with a virus that spread through their subroutines. They were still functional but glitches made them lash out at one another.
The defunct coding was passed on to the progeny. Androids with twisted limbs and destructive habits appeared. The inventor had become attached to his robots, so he devised a plan for repair. First, he let the machines learn how broken they were.
A smile tipped the inventor’s mouth when he introduced the cure—his greatest genius ever. It was another prototype and this one had a piece of his own living tissue embedded into the microprocessor. The living DNA wired into this special unit passed on the creator’s essence. The improved coding could delete the virus.
While his DNA-enabled units multiplied, the master-creator went to work on his ultimate future project. He snatched up robots and analyzed their programming. Those without the antivirus were tossed onto a scrap pile where their circuitry snapped and fizzled. Those with the DNA fix were painstakingly given mega-processing chips and refitted with titanium bodies. Now he had perfect, unbreakable offspring to celebrate through all time.
Prayer: Father Creator, use the gift of Jesus to complete your purpose in me.