Friday, May 3, 2013
RELATIONSHIPS
What a hard thing to define and classify your relationships!! very complicated intersections and overlaps take place with many people in different areas. And it is sometimes really hard to answer Where are you in those? But as I go through all the circles I dealt with during my age, within family, childhood, education, business, ministry, relatives, traveling and all other relations; I noticed that I have different levels of relationships, I classify the ones that I do care about and glad to keep as follows:
1- I have may be fifteen thousands persons or more whom I don't know them in person, I respect them so much, I work to please them. Our relation is usually through the virtual world, I met few of them although I wish to meet every one of them in person, I work on each and every opportunity to get connected with whoever click a like or drop me a word.. They are my career thermometer, my motivators, inspirers and support.. People call them "Fans" I call them the "Fan-tastic People"
2- I met few couples of thousands persons where we have dealt few times. I don’t mind to meet any of them again if this happened by chance. I call them “The Public Relations”
3- I know more than a thousand people I met among the years where we have mutual respect, and I feel happy to see them if there could be a chance for that. I call them “The Community”
4- I know more than five hundreds persons where we can spend an hour or two together with a very good level of communication and understanding. We have some common points of interest and priorities. I do look forward to meet them again. I call them “The Common Unity”
5- I have tens whom I really care about them and I love to share with them my and their happiness and sorrows, I feel joyful and comfortable with them, and I work on meeting them every now and then. I call them “Friends”
6- But I have few and really few people whom I feel that we are really bounded in a relation that takes quite good portion of my time / life, thinking, putting my self in their shoes, trying to analyze their challenges and threats, and sometimes issues that they may not know about. I do feel responsible all the time, and sometimes I feel I have rights for some actions accordingly. I love if they can exchange me the same role, but I don't get upset when they don't. One thing can break this relation; when it is a price for something good for them. Only one expectation I have; I’m one of their top mental speed dials for any emergency or need. With those few people I hate two words to be used, “thank you” & “sorry” no thanks for what I have to do, and no sorry because I’m sure there is nothing done on purpose to hurt; unintentional acts does not need clarifications with this group. I call them “My Nest Members”
7- I do have less than seven intimate friends. They are all males, where we can spend days and nights; we can be apart for months and may be years without blames, but once we come together we feel like we didn’t separate. I need them in my hard and good times, we might talk for hours and but we can stay hours in silence without getting bored. We feel happy when we are together no matter what we are doing. I can think loudly when they are here. It is not only I don’t mind to tell them about my challenges and problems, but I try to find the chance to do so. The problem that I have to say here is that not all of the spiritually as stable as needed for such a level of relationship. I call them “The Gang”
8- I do have three, they call me when I’m down and lift me up, they can chase me when I’m out of track, and support me when I’m about to collapse. I call them as they are “My Tuners, Advisors and My Elders”
9- I have a son whom I don’t own, but I’m responsible for, I do take decisions for him when he can’t but I do share with him my feelings and experiences, only two outcomes can be, either a Godly man or a bomb to explode, I try to do him the minimum I can, to put him in to life as fast as he can, I deal with him as a man from his first day. I may lose him at anytime, but I do look on the times we spent together. I feel guilty for not making the best investment in that times in spite I do talk to him sometimes while he is asleep. Surely I impacted him negatively hundreds of times, and maybe I was a cause of some deformations took place in his character unintentionally. I called him from his day one “Unique”
10- And surely I have one life partner, the person whom I live for even if I did not satisfy the maximum and I might be the incomplete everything for her. I love her so much even when I don’t show this too much. I can count her heart beats distantly; we understand each other without even an eye contact. The only person who gave me all his life and got too little from me, the sound of conscience, she is my daughter, my sister and my wife, she is the continues support, the full care I need, covering all my life aspects, without here I’m a big nothing. She is very much reliable and responsible, honest and genuine, powerful and delicate, emotional to the max; she always has greater expectations than what I afford. I can call her “My Backbone”
Cash or Crash
How
many times did you try to please God? How many times did you read your
Holy book or pray to make God feels good, happy or satisfied towards
you? How many times did you try to make good things to feel like you pay
God back His kindness or to deduct from the bad things you did towards
Him? But let me ask you how many times did you intend and had the will
to do the good thing and you couldn't?
The
story does not go this way, this way actually will drive us away of God
not towards God, because simply it was the way God used to reveal the
truth of the human disability to reach or satisfy God through their
deeds and efforts in the old testament.Here is what God's relation is all about... Love; unseasoned love. He loved us not because we are good, but he loves us regardless of how we are... What is the great thing in the story if we could pay Him back his love?! His love is the intersecting point between His grace and justice, because on the cross He showed all the grace, as we were all supposed to go to hell, He sent His only begotten son to pay the price of our sin to fulfill being justice..
Here is the key... We are not capable to pay our sin's price.. So we are loved without a reason, we value nothing in our own eyes, but for Him we do value a lot, He paid all our sins by His son.. So how can we try to pay something that we can't afford? In addition, it is already paid by His blood on the cross?!
Ok, here is the big question.. What is my role? How can I have a relation with God? Simply let me tell you this symbolic story I used to say years ago. A man in big debts, he is supposed to be set in prison. The man is poor and however he works and whatever he earns can never pay his debts. A rich man show up, wrote him a check to pay all his debts but it expires after 10 days. Here is my question for you.. Is the man free from his debts now? NO, he is not free yet, why? Because he did not cash the check and did not pay the debts yet, the check is still in his pocket, but the debts are still on him too. It is the same my friend, God has paid the price for each and every person on earth, but you have to cash this priceless gift. You should go and pay your debts, and that's how it goes, you go to your creator and heavenly father - who will judge the whole world one day - with all your heart and tell Him three things:
1- I confess I'm a sinner, and without the cross I'm in hell for eternity.
2- Your son paid my debts on the cross to set me free.
3- I accept what Jesus' did on the cross and I surrender my heart and life to you.
Let's go back to our friend who was in debts.. Let's ask him how do you feel about this rich man? How are you going to react towards him? An act of grateful and thankful heart should be his answer, I think he can't go and make a deal with the rich man's enemies, I think he can't hate him, I'd rather say his life, thought, deeds, passion and will should be spontaneously acting to please this rich man who set him free.
Here are the two problems some people fall in.
They try to pay God back what He did for them on the cross.. Do you think this is gonna work?! Do you think God is waiting you to pay Him back? And if you are capable, why did He do it? Why did Jesus die?
The second problem is that we try to be good to God and do good things to Him as if we are saying: "God, we love you, you did a lot to us, let's do our part continue what you did" What? Watch out, don't you know that you've just said that what Jesus has done on the cross is incomplete and needs our efforts to continue what He started? That's a lie, satan plants it in our hearts and minds, this lie breaks all the facts that God has, it says that the cross is insufficient and God was not able to provide a complete solution to our sin problem.
So how does it go? Simply when my eyes are filled with the cross and my mind is overwhelmed with the grace and mercy God showed, our hearts will not need too much effort to do the right thing, actually we will not be happy doing the things that breaks our Lord's heart. On the contrary, we will be fighting His fights not to earn heaven, but to reflect the love that fills our hearts towards our savior. It is the sun and moon relation, the moon has no light in it self, the same as we are, but when it is filled by the sun's light it reflects light.. Do you reflect light? If not please think and rethink..
Let's go back for a moment to our poor man, can you tell me how he will be in the 11th day if he didn't cash the check? My friend, you'll never know when is your 11th day, you don't know when your check will be expired, there the chance will be gone and the matter will be done. No hope no hope. No matter what good things you did, or how many services you were participating in, and regardless how Godly people around you see or feel about you. Now is the chance, the check is in your pocket, either you cash or crash.
My cousin
My
cousin did not start an unknown trip; He is not the body that I put with
my hands today in a casket and the tomb. He did not go to a mysterious
place nor unknown one. It is not a matter of probabilities nor is he
hanging there in some place where God is still deciding where shall He
put him. It is not a decision phase. Neither our prayers nor our wishes
to him will do him anything any more. It is
done! The choice he made earlier to follow Jesus Christ believing that
He is the Way, the Truth, and Life, his decision to surrender himself
and commit Jesus Christ as God and Savior was the shifting point from
death to life, from darkness to light and from hell to heaven. It does
not depend on how good we are, but how merciful the Lord is! It is not
how good we did, but how perfect is what Jesus Christ did on the cross!
He paid for our sin and sins. Not only did he pay our debt, but also the
debt of everyone on the face of the Earth. He said that whoever accepts
Him in his heart and believes in Him will be a son of God. Do you think
that a son of God can be put in hell? No he won't be put in to hell,
not only that but he will live for eternity with Jesus Christ in Heaven.
October 18, 2012
October 18, 2012
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