I was reading "Judges" for my daily devotion today.....and in the reading the Israelites were not too careful with their boundaries with the Canaanites. God told them to "completely" force out those Canaanites but the Israelites thought they were harmless so the Canaanites were kept around where the Israelites lived. Since the Canaanites were not completely forced out at the beginning, later they began to affect Israelites' descendants and corrupted their lives in every way. At the end, the later generation from Joshua's time did not even listen to God cuz they didn't really know God, thanks to all the messed up religions they learned from the Canaanites.
The reading really made me wonder how tough it must be to survive on this planet earth nowadays. Everybody is always thinking or talking about how to "compromise" on certain things cuz we want to please people. We sure know how wrong some things are, but then we compromise hoping someday things would just turn right....(by the miracle of God even). I have been always struggling with that kinda attitude I see from people. I especially hate it when people put "by the grace of God....we will be alright, and everything will be possible" on their mouth all the time, cuz I just don't see how people's failures by their own decisions can magnify God's grace. (I guess that is why I like Paul's character?)
Setting boundaries in life is all difficult nowadays. People keep on talking about EQ and how we should give in to this and that as if pleasing the crowd is the most important thing in life ever. Don't get me wrong here.....I am not saying being a charming person is wrong....that is actually a good charisma if it's true from whoever showing the charm....but faking it....to obtain popularity....is...just....LAME. (Yeah....I have my way of manipulating people....and I fake all the time....that is why I hate the technique myself....very contradictory I know) Of course going out there saying "I just can't deal with people....that is my musician's trait....I only know my art...." without knowing everyone around feel used is also super lame....(yeah....most people reading my blog would know who I am talking about so I don't need to write it out. :p )
So you see how it is annoying that everything needs to be altered and compromised somehow? and then at the end.....we are not even sure which compromises would eventually kill us. I am sure the Israelites felt they were being merciful by not harming their enemies, but then God didn't think so. Of course we can always say they didn't really know what was from God and what was not...they didn't know better....they didn't hear God clearly so they make wrong decisions....but heck....God was basically there talking to them most of the time....(if not each individual person, at least their leaders....but then what if their leaders sucked and could not execute whatever God wanted them to do? yeah....bumped....)
Ok....I know....I am weird...I think too much.....but then isn't that how we feel alive? I think therefor I am? or I am therefor I think? or.....let's not think at all.....just follow the flow....so at the end we compromise into everything just because life is the way it is? Chih-Lin was telling me last night if we don't look too much into anything in life then we will just live through everyday fine....(right....like overlooking dangers in marriage would eventually destroy the marriage? tell me how it works, plz?) and can someone tell me what is the meaning of life and living anyway?
Just throwing bunch of questions cuz I haven't write a weird blog for a long time....maybe this can entertain Joelle when she reads my blog after she arrives in Asia....I am gonna miss you pal....
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1 comment:
I think you're over reacting!
Compromise with sin for sure can be deadly. For sure boundaries need to be set... like Joshua did, "Do whatever you want, but for me and my house, we choose to serve the LORD!"
However, I'm not sure we absolutely have to set boundaries to seperate ourselves with 'sinners'. Sure, we all need alone time. We can't allow people to come bug us all the time whenever they want. Jesus does have alone times with Abba, no doubt. However, Jesus also mingles with sinners too!
God hates sin, but loves sinners.
We absolutely need to develope our ability to see thru the various sinners and find something lovible about this person. God loves everyone and wish everyone to be saved.
Bottomline is that interaction with sinners won't be deadly, we have eternal lives already!!! It's only interacting with sin that can cause death. God said the wage of sin is death. If you don't believe God, you won't have eternal life... and consequently you die.
As for ineffective leaders..., did King Saul caused the death of David? Saul actually intentionally wanted David to die!!! Anyway, screwed up leaders can certainly screw up the lives of those under him. No doubt. David screwed up too! Israel suffered! All leaders can screw up. My point is that we ought to continue to have faith in God, our supreme leader who can never screw up! As long as we do that, nothing else matters.
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