This is a past journal entry from September 6th 2004:
I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while. Most people look forward to their weekends. Me? I look forward to my Wednesdays! Odd, well, maybe but not all that illogical.
You see, my working week (in that I include studies) is from Friday to Tuesday. Before you all jump in and ask if I’m available next Wednesday for coffee…I’m not, let me explain.
There is more to my “weekend” than just simply having a day-off. I rest. To most people, this is pretty normal and you don’t think too much about it, right? Probably not.
Joy isn’t always being happy. Peace isn’t always being calm. Love isn’t always being emotional. Sometimes, just sometimes, joy is the hope that we have; peace is where hope is heading; love is what hope for, found in Christ.
(Click here for the full comic)
Whether Chris Harding (writer) has a Christian background or not, I can’t say but he really nails a deep truth about human nature here. (Chris will tell you that his comic is about robots, not people, so I should really say, “robot nature”) Either way, it illustrates the point I want to make.
In this strip, Mikey (left) prays to God about a situation that he’s dealing with at school. As he prays, he winds up in a dramatic dialogue (on the basis that prayer is a two-way communication, not a one-way monologue). Mikey finally ends up with this great revelation (as displayed), “How come every natural impulse I have just gets me deeper in the hole with you?”
Have you ever looked in the mirror and seen a pathetic person looking back at you? Have you ever looked at your hand after washing them and seen hands covered with the stench of wrongs they had committed? Have you ever looked at your life and think about how undeserving you are of where you are? I have.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” The famous line from Snow White fairy tale. What exactly do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see the fairest of them all? On any typical day, I would. I would see the fairest of them all. The one who has life all together, not a worry in the world. I would see hands that have been kept clean. A life that I deserve to be living. Well, that’s all on the surface, naturally.
As I write this, I am in reality reminding myself of the importance and the place of not only devotions, but daily devotions. I sit here in guilt that I am not able to practice what I preach and only wish that my desire was translated into the outflowing of action. So, I ask myself now, in hope that I will revitalise this most fruitful and pleasant practice.
Matthew 10:34-37 (NIV)
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn:
‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law–a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
Many anti-Christian debates have used this passage to expose Christianity and the teachings of Jesus as violent and destructive. Unfortunately, not much else is given attention as to what else Jesus is actually saying in this context.
Firefox 3
