God resists the proud

But He delights in ministering grace to the Humble. God must resist the proud because He doesn't want a family of fools. A proud man is a fool because He is suffering under the delusion of His own grandeur.
Humility is just a realization of reality, we are not great. The centre of the universe is not us.
We must look up, not down at our navels.

My little son said today while looking at a tree, "I wish I was as High as that!"  A fair wish to have for a little bloke. He is not aware yet of God's plan for every proud tree, Isaiah lays it out the best in  Chp2 vs 12-18.

12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store
    for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
    (and they will be humbled),
13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
    and all the oaks of Bashan,
14 for all the towering mountains
    and all the high hills,
15 for every lofty tower
    and every fortified wall,
16 for every trading ship[b]
    and every stately vessel.
17 The arrogance of man will be brought low
    and human pride humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
18     and the idols will totally disappear.

and who can forget chp 40 vs 4

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

And what about 2 Corinthians 10:5

5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

by all this I get the distinct impression that God is not pleased when one sets himself above another because He is no respecter of persons. He alone knows that all men are as dust, grass and flowers. Here today gone tomorrow. If not one of us can save even our selves from the certainty of death. Why presume we to play overlord to anyone else. 

Image of love

I just did a quick search of Google images for love. Man there's a lot of stuff there each one deserves a thousand words, how ever not many that picture true love except maybe this one

God is said to love us this way, but is this an absolutely true saying. God loves us where we are and we are not perfect when we first love Him. Such is the nature of his love that He gave His Son to make us perfect, so that where He is we may also be.

So this is a true saying if it seen in a certain light, which I might paraphrase I am in awe of your perfections in spite of your imperfections. I accept you warts and all however I'm not seeing warts at the moment because of the loving feelings that are coursing through my being!

The standard for heaven is Holiness however, which is all surpassing beauty to which we could never measure up of our own selves, we need to be washed of our filthiness. which leads me to another point the colour of love is of course red which the most prevalent colour on Google images love search.

 Why is blood red the colour of love? Because this is the Greatest love that a man should give his life for another. Red implies a willingness to give ones life for another.

So I guess the image I was looking for was the image of the suffering and agony of Christ on the cross. That i is the grandest love scene ever played out on the stage of this earth.

Contrast this with a common worldly image of love...

One is giving the other taking of self.  The picture above is not an image of love but of lust. The satisfying of self by taking that which you want,  giving in to desire. It is an image of two selfish people rejoicing that they they have found in the other the answer to their need. They are also giving of their bodies to one another  but that is in order that they might take, giving to take, the taking of the other predominates. They are consuming, using the other. They are no doubt saying and 'feeling' love for the other however it is highly conditional love and superficial. 'I will love you always as long as you always look this good!'

When we look at Jesus suffering we see Him bearing the cost of our redeemtion. He is giving in order to keep giving, and giving and giving. Jesus payed it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

The Power of Godliness

2 Tim 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

What or who is the power of Godliness ? Powers in the biblical  understanding are not impersonal. A Power is a person whether divine, angelic or mortal. The gravity of their presence, the pervasiveness of their spirit. We all have power. A talented charismatic person will have much more power in this world than an illiterate and insecure one but these various distributions of power are of little consequence to God. He delights in using the weakest of things to defy the strong.

Structure without essence. Form without fullness. A house left empty. The glory having departed. 
These are the tragedies that flow from separation with the Father, our source of life. The beguiling nature of sinfulness leads us away from the lover of our souls, then hides the way back in darkness, so that we are forced to continue existing without really living. We are lead away from Him to enslavement, and despair. 

But praise be unto God. The light of the world is come to a land of darkness, He has triumphed over the power of sin and death to make a way back. To save, rescue and redeem our souls. Christ came to reconcile us to the Father. He is the way. In Him we see the greatest expression of power. Christ is the power of God.

A vital relationship with Christ as Savior, Lord and Friend empowers us to reconnect with the Father. He is our source and our destiny, and without Him we have no life. We must abide in the vine.

The Rose of Sharon

The song "Above All" by M.W.Smith is an alright song but I can't like the part about the rose and thinking of me above all cause I know its wrong.

A rose being tramped is not a proper type of Christ, because it has no blood. That is why He is called the lamb and not the rose. Plant life although wonderful and life sustaining for herbivores and all carnivores that eat the herbivores, is not in the same class as air breathing creatures, who have blood systems. The life is in the blood. The remission of sin can only come by the shedding of blood.

The tragedy of a tramped rose which is not aware of its own existence, is not comparable to that of a self aware/conscious being such as and animal or say Jesus. Nothing can compare to the sacrifice of our Lord. He alone was the spotless lamb the offering of which was sufficient to appease the just wrath of our Holy God once and for all.

People say stuff like    'even if I was the only person on earth Christ would have died for me.'
or the last line of the chorus here 'and thought of me above all'

am I God that Jesus should have thought of me above all? no this is not correct. Jesus always and forever thinks of His Father above All. I don't even want Him to think of me Above all cause I'm not worthy of that, I am not above all!

When we sing this song we are singing a false gospel and worshiping ourselves, sorry to ruin it for anyone who loves this song but the truth needs to be revealed and layed bare even if it is painful for us to confront, lest we be lead into delusion.

Bringing in the sheaves

I am helping with harvest at the moment, driving the 'chaser bin'.
They aren't any sheaves brought in anymore cause the harvesting machine (header) does all the threshing and winnowing as well as chopping the chaff and broadcasting it so it will rot down most efficiently.
The community of people that used to have to come together for the purpose of harvesting and processing grain have been replaced by a handful of people not face to face (as much) but machine to machine!

God told Adam to take dominion over the fields and that's what Adams sons have done, albeit in man glorying way. In using machines we are able to increase food production to the point that there should be enough to feed all the people on the earth. So we have a tool (like a shovel) that will help us to do what God wants done. He wants everyone who works to have enough food to eat. Of course westerners eat the lions share but that's another guilt trip.
The machines are great but not greater than the men who drive them, or even the grain they are harvesting.
I mean, headers are great but you can't grow or eat one!
Machines are built to serve us but ironically they make us their slaves, We must spend vast portions of our allotted time on earth paying for them and fixing them.

I miss the community that would have cut and bound the sheaves, transported by hand or ox cart to the threshing floor, threshing, winnowing then ensilment and grinding flour. All together face to face, shoulder to shoulder. And the harvest festivals would have been great. What better time to celebrate after the work is all done and the grain is safely stored in the store house for the coming year who wouldn't want to kick back?
And farmers do this but mostly in a personal way, by taking a holiday or buying big ticket items after the annul  paycheck comes in. The church I grew up in had harvest festival where folk would bring things they had grown in and displaying them in the front of the church. It was beautiful seeing all the fruit of the earth gathered in, but then time marched on and people have stopped growing stuff at home in favour of dependence on the almighty Woollies/Coles industrial complex. How sad that we would let ourselves be sold into slavery for the sake of seeking ease and convenience. Isn't that what the Israelite's wanted to do in the wilderness after presently escaping 400 yrs of slavery in Egypt. Go back to the fleshpots!

Whats my point. Manual labor is good. It stops you from getting fat and brings us together with our brothers and sisters who pitch in and share the burden. The work is soon forgotten as we talk, sing and strengthen one another as well as sought out any discord. Let us not be bewitched/obsessed by the things we have made so that we can't remember the things God has made are far greater including our fellow man.

Jesus taught all of his lessons by referring to examples seen in  everyday life for the people of the time, harvesting grain was just one, birds, lilies of the field. I only just the other day appreciated fully that in using these examples he wasn't referring to things he had simply observed but rather he was their very creator he designed them, built them, and displayed them in all their splendor for our pleasure and use. Then He uses them to teach us,who are also the work of his hands. Let us not miss the beauty of the things he has made. That we might learn of Him and know Him more.

The River and the Mulberry Tree.

Just a short pace form where we live is a river, the 'Mehi' is it's name. Its not a very grand body of water but its important to us a many others. My children and I take our dog for walks along its backs and we jump in it to cool off. As we travel the dirt path upstream we often stop at the mulberry tree, Which grows down on the lower bank which some times is flooded.
 We are loving the fruit at this time of year. There is something special about eating straight from a tree that just seems right. Also nobody has cultivated this tree it has been planted there by the providence of God. He has provided everything to make this fruit grow the seed, the water and the sunshine and he made a place for it and planted it there. We stroll up to it and wonder that a wild tree like this has any fruit on it? Does anyone else know of it's existence and value its bounty? It would appear not, because we are often blessed with hand-fulls of fruit. Isn't God good to put a tree there that only we know enough about to enjoy. His goodness is displayed to me by this and a thousand other ways. How great is our God?