Blog or Article?
Blogs often focus on personal opinion, experiences, views, anecdotes or advice. Blogs tend to have a relaxed and conversational feel, such as in storytelling and are generally 300-500 words.
Articles aim to deliver well-researched, informative content with solid evidence to back up the points made. Articles are usually more formal, organized and frequently range 500-1000 words.
Resilience, I think
I used to have a birthmark in the shape of the number 14 but it disappeared. Does that count?
Loyalty (or is it that they can shave their heads to hide baldness and still persuade women that it’s cool.)
Intelligence (or the fact that knowing men as they do they still tolerate us.)
What friends? The ability to look and see the real you even when you are a jerk.
The dwindling savings account, Oh, wait, the ability to delude myself.
Enjoying boat drinks on someone else yacht. Ok, hum, writing, thinking.
A time machine or sunrise with great cup of coffee and knowing I have done all I can do to be at peace with my world.
You mean other than the leisure suit? I guess then I would have to say, the inability to learn and change.
A pampered cat, a grass rolling dog or may be me, only better.
One that has free food! But then again, perhaps one that does not have a government that acts as nanny to the citizens. “May I have some trans-fat with that Marlboro?”
Ecru, really it is the new brown.
Martha White, ok, coneflower.
What’s a prose? Would “Peanuts count?”
John Donne, Baudelaire, (I copied that from Proust, hehehe)
Albus Dumbledore or maybe W (I mean he can’t be real)
Hermione Granger or that chick in all the Romance novels
John Lennon or Brian Wilson, and of course Joe Green
Monet and the guy who drew the pirates on the back of matchbook cover
Are you kidding, I have seen people up close and personal, there are no heroes.
See above.
Earl, Ruby, Clyde and any name combined with the last name Hunkapillar or Smoot.
That question! The IRS! And them!
Too many people to little time.
Turning water into wine, It would be such a savings.
Failing off a high cliff while peaking on acid, then doing a Wyllie Coyote, stand up wipe off the dust and do something else stupid. Maybe without pain is another way.
This is my brain this is an egg, don’t put brain in a frying pan. :) :(
Trusting that others are as smart as I am or as dumb as I am, whichever comes first.
Motto, I don’t need no stinking motto!
I wrote the first piece a couple of years ago and still find it apropo and funny as hell. It's mostly a true account. It is a little long but there is some shorter stuff following. Enjoy!!
The Christian Shroud Richard Hodge
You were twelve when you began your quest. What exactly it was you were searching for you weren’t sure, but you were absolutely convinced that whatever it was, it was out there in the world. It was a search for truth, or so you thought, and your goal was enlightenment, or so you believed. Knowledge, wisdom, understanding, faith, hope and love, were terms that seemed to fit into your quest, but you weren’t sure where.
Raised to believe in God in the Christian tradition, it was their God and Christ and Holy Ghost that you sought. If God could be found you were sure that it would be within Christendom’s bounds. And so you searched with limitless determination and intensifying fervor.
Little Mary was not the best student in Sunday school, she usually slept through the class. One day the teacher called on her while she was napping, "Tell me, Mary, who created the universe?" When Mary didn't stir, little Johnny, an altruistic boy seated in the chair behind her, took a pin and jabbed her in the rear. "God almighty!" Shouted Mary The teacher said, "very good," Mary fell back asleep. A while later the teacher asked Mary, "Who is our lord and savior," but, Mary didn't stir. Once again, Johnny came to the rescue and stuck her. “Jesus Christ!" shouted Mary, the teacher replied, "very good," and Mary went back to sleep. The teacher asked Mary a third question. "What did Eve say to Adam after she had her twenty-third child?" Again, Johnny jabbed Mary with the pin. This time Mary jumped up and shouted, "if you stick that damn thing in me one more time, I'll break it in half!" The teacher fainted.
It all began with some sage words from your mother. You had come home from church with a question as to who was right, the bible or the man who taught it. Your mother’s response, “Christianity is very simple, but men make it difficult,” became the guiding principle of your quest. It was much later in your journey that you learned that according to the bible, “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.” However, it was your mother’s simple statement that solidified that truth in your heart.
At the time, you were attending a low Anglican church. This church observed all of the dogma and doctrine from its origin in the Church of England, but with less ceremony and ritual. The Apostle’s creed, the stations-of-the-cross, and the reverence of Mary the mother of God were mystifying, and just fascinating enough to hold your wonder. The contradiction of taking teachings without accepting the whole tradition, though, did not sit well with you. Neither did the apparent discrepancies between the doctrine that was taught and its proclaimed source. “Why does the church teach that sins have to be confessed to a man, when you told me that’s not in the bible?” you asked your Sunday school teacher. The answer, disconcerting to you even at the age of twelve, “because that is what is held in the tradition of the church.”
A Baptist minister, a Roman Catholic priest, and a Jewish rabbi were discussing how each carried out the bible verse “give unto God that which is God’s.” The minister did it this way, “I draw a circle on the floor, toss the collection money in the air, all that lands inside the circle is God’s and the remainder is mine.” “I do something similar,” piped the priest, “Only everything that stays in the circle is mine and God gets the rest.” The rabbi proclaimed, “I have a better system. Forget the circle. I throw the money in the air. What God wants, he keeps, and the rest is mine.”
It was 1972 out on the west coast, and churches were experimenting with new ways to draw young people into the fold. A Roman Catholic church about four blocks from the Anglican church started holding noon masses with rock and roll music. It had a cross on the roof, pews and a crucifix in the sanctuary, a choir loft and stained glass windows, all familiar items, and somewhat comforting. Roman Catholicism was the parent that spawned the Church of England and the Anglican and Episcopalian denominations. Maybe here, at the source, you surmised, would be the truth you were seeking. Besides, mass at noon meant sleeping in on Sundays, and rock and roll music is a lot cooler than those stuffy hymns at the Anglican church.
You enjoyed the music, but little else. The people in the congregation that you associated with, and especially those in the youth group, were living double lives. All prim and proper in church, they raised hell the other six days of the week. Nice people, for the most part, and they sure could party, but the duality got wearing, and you decided to take a break from church altogether.
A team of archaeologists was excavating in Israel when they discovered a cave with the following symbols carved on the wall: A woman, a donkey, a shovel, a fish, and a Star of David. Deciding this was a unique find; they chopped out the piece of stone and took it to the museum where archaeologists from all over the world came to study the ancient symbols. After months of conferences, a meeting was held to discuss the meaning of the markings. The president of the society stood up and pointed at the first drawing and said: "This looks like a woman. We can judge that this race was family oriented and held women in high esteem. The next symbol resembles a donkey; so they were smart enough to train animals to help them till the soil. The third drawing looks like a shovel of some sort, which means they had tools to work with. The fish means that if a famine had hit the earth whereby the crops didn't grow, they would take to the sea for food. The last symbol appears to be the Star of David, which means they were evidently Hebrew." The audience applauded enthusiastically. Suddenly a little old man stood up in the back of the room and said, "Idiots! Hebrew is read from right to left. This is what it says........... 'Holy Mackerel Dig the Ass on That Woman!!'
The hunger, however refused to go away, and so you looked for somewhere to get fed. A schoolmate suggested his church, a high Anglican affair steeped in tradition. Nine one ton bells in the belfry, an original Raphael painting in one chapel, a solid marble baptistery, a twenty foot tall tapestry of Mary with threads of pure silver and gold among its beautiful colors, all leant to an atmosphere of reverential awe in the sanctuary. The effect on you was at once intimidating and a source of wonder. The ritual of the mass, from the spreading of the incense and the chanting of the initial procession, to the genuflecting and responsive mantras, to the use of real wine during communion, served to deepen your amazement and raise your hopes of finding your truth.
The youth group leader, a young priest who spent his formative years in the wilds of the 60s in Haight-Ashbury, regaled you all with tales of how God worked in his life. Unfortunately Father Retter had few answers for you as to how to recognize God working in your life. Though not openly condoning drug use, he was not particularly fervent in his castigation of it either. Sure that Father Retter recognized that you and your group often attended church while under-the-influence, you were also sure that he was just glad to have you in church. Your group of friends, after all, made up the only youth group that graced the hallowed halls of that cathedral.
So this young priest is about to give his first public sermon. Nerves frazzled, he goes to the bishop for advice. “Calm down my son,” he said, “just make sure that you do communion before you preach.” He went on, “when preparing the communion wine, add a little vodka to the cup that you will drink from. Not too much though, because you will have to drink all of the remainder.” The young priest followed the bishop’s instructions and, after communion, rose up to preach. The sermon was impassioned and the congregation responded accordingly. The priest was exceedingly pleased with himself and approached the bishop after the service to ask how he had enjoyed the sermon. The bishop responded, “While the effort and enthusiasm were wonderful, there were a few errors that I must correct.” After clearing his throat he continued: “First of all son, we do not refer to the holy trinity as ‘Big Daddy, Junior and the Spook’. The cross is not ‘the big T’. Jesus and his disciples are not ‘JC and the boys’. There is a taffy pulling contest at St Peter’s next week, not a ‘peter pulling contest at St Taffy’s’. And finally, dear boy, we prefer to refer to the mother of God as the Virgin Mary, and definitely not as ‘Mary with a cherry’.”
Ah the beauty of the west coast in the 70s. The hippy generation was still very much entrenched, the open attitudes toward sex and drugs predominated, and Go Ask Alice was still taught in high school English classes. You were first introduced to hashish at the age of eleven and quickly discarded cigarettes as a waste of time. “If I am going to smoke,” you told your friends, “I’m damned sure going to get something out of it.” Trying to fit the near religious experience of getting stoned with the condemnation of drugs in religious circles, you rationalized, “if it is natural it must be of God and is therefore put on earth for man to use.” This fit conveniently with the psilocybin mushrooms that sprouted on the lawns in your neighborhood every spring, and the ease of growing marijuana with the latest all natural—therefore godly--hydroponics techniques.
“God creates and man rearranges.” Margaret Hodge
As you traveled across the country for the next few years, alcohol, drugs and churches—it didn’t matter what kind—were a constant part of your life and the closest that you came to God was stoned out of your gourd, alone, atop a mountain in Newfoundland, bathed in the sunlight filtering through the trees, embraced by a soft breeze, with the sights and sounds of the forest caressing your senses, and you felt really alive cause…suddenly you had to piss, big time! Ah the joy and relief of that simple, natural act of release.
The head nun tells the two new nuns that they have to paint their room without getting any paint on their clothes. The one nun says to the other, "Hey, let's take all our clothes off, fold them up, and lock the door." So they do this, and begin painting their room. Soon they hear a knock at the door. They ask, "Who is it?" "Blind man!" The nuns look at each other, then one nun says, "He's blind, he can't see. What could it hurt." They let him in. The blind man walks in and says, "Hey, nice tits. Where do you want me to hang the blinds?"
A binge alcoholic, you quit drinking at age 21, scared because the blackouts increased in frequency and length. The final straw was the night that you finally went home with the girl you had been pursuing for about six months on what would be her last night in town. The necking at the party is vivid, the clutching and grabbing on the ride to her place seared in your mind, the foreplay that began at her door and continued into the bedroom still clear in your memories, and then…you woke up across town in your own bed the next afternoon. Julia and her family moved out of town that morning while you slept, never to be seen by you again. As to what actually happened that night….
A Brit, a Frenchman and a Cuban are viewing a painting of Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden. "Look at their reserve, their calm," muses the Brit. "They must be British." "Nonsense," the Frenchman disagrees. "They're naked, and so beautiful. Clearly, they are French." "No clothes, no shelter," the Cuban points out, "they have only an apple to eat, and they're being told this is paradise. Clearly, they are Cuban."
You tried a Baptist church for a while, but grape juice and Wonder bread, just did not seem to fit with the idea of holy communion, the teachings were pretty generic, and you didn’t find yourself any closer to your truth.
The new minister's wife had a baby. The minister appealed to the congregation for a salary increase to cover the addition to the family. The congregation agreed that it was only fair, and approved it. When the next child arrived, the minister appealed again and the congregation approved again. Several years and five children later, the congregation was a bit upset over the increasing expense and a rather loud meeting ensued. Finally, the minister stood and shouted out, "Having children is an Act of God!" An older man in the back stood and shouted back, "Rain and snow are Acts of God, too, and we wear rubbers for them!"
At the age of twenty four you took a class on principles of biblical research. Mostly this included principles of language and understanding the eastern culture in which the stories of the bible are set. The most impressive thing about the class was the PhD’s teaching that, “you don’t believe because I or any man says it, you believe because you take it and study it and make it your own.” Inspired, you truly began to re-search the bible, including going to the old extant texts as much as possible. You also looked at eastern culture to put the scriptures in context. Now things started to fit. Now the religious facades began to fall away and reveal truth. Now your search had found a course.
Two priests died at the same time and met Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter said, "I'd like to get you guys in now, but our computer's down. You'll have to go back to Earth for about a week, but you can't go back as humans. What'll it be?" The first priest says, "I've always wanted to be an eagle, soaring above the Rocky mountains." "So be it," says St. Peter, and off flies the first priest. The second priest mulls this over for a moment and asks, "Will any of this week 'count', St. Peter?" "No, I told you the computer's down. There's no way we can keep track of what you're doing. The week's a freebie." "In that case," says the second priest, "I've always wanted to be a stud." "So be it," says St. Peter, and the second priest disappears. A week goes by, the computer is fixed, and the Lord tells St. Peter to recall the two priests. "Will you have any trouble locating them?" he asks. "The first one should be easy," says St. Peter. "He's somewhere over the Rockies, flying with the eagles. But the second one could prove to be more difficult." "Why?" asketh the Lord. St. Peter answered, "He's on a snow tire, somewhere in North Dakota."
Jesus Christ is not God; the dead are not alive, the euphemism used is a sleep that will end with Christ’s return; only three creations in Genesis chapter 1; the world became without form and void but was not created that way; animals posses the same soul life as humans; God’s image is spirit; one manifestation with nine parts given to all for profit; Jesus born September 11, 3BC; his ministry was about eight months, not three years; He was crucified on a tree with no cross piece; Jesus never touched the cross until he was nailed to it; five crosses on Calvary not three; Jesus died about three o’clock on a Wednesday and got up on a Saturday after 72 hours in the grave; Judas was forgiven by Jesus and was present at the ascension…so much becomes clear, so much logically fits, once the shroud of institutionalized religion is stripped away.
1Th 5:21Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
With freedom from the stultifying constraints of controlled religion, you found yourself able to investigate outside the confines of denominational Christianity. After hosting a Siberian Shaman in your home, investigating the teachings of the Koran, perusing the Bhagavad-Gita and the Book of Mormon, looking at the Zoroastrians and the Midianites, extended discourse regarding Native American beliefs and Christianized Judaism, interaction with representatives of numerous Christian denominations, and in depth study of the bible, you are approaching your truth.
Pr 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Wisdom is the correct application of knowledge. Understanding only blossoms after wisdom is attained. Love is the convictions that you hold in your heart. Faith, or believing, is the action that you take on those convictions. And hope is the promise of a brighter tomorrow because of the love and believing that you put into today. God can be found everywhere and missed anywhere. Echoes of your mother’s words ring in your ears, His way is simple though not always easy.
The time has come for St. Peter's annual three-week vacation, and Jesus volunteers to fill in for him at the Pearly Gates."It's no big deal," St. Peter explains. "Sit at the registration desk, and ask each
person a little about his or her life. Then send them on to housekeeping to pick up their wings." On the third day, Jesus looks up to see a bewildered old man standing in front of him. "I'm a simple carpenter," says the man. "And once I had a son. He was born in a very special way, and was unlike anyone else in this world. He went through a great transformation even though he had holes in his hands and feet. He was taken from me a long time ago, but his spirit lives on forever. All over the world people tell his story." By this time, Jesus is standing with his arms outstretched. There are tears in his eyes, and he embraces the old man. "Father," he cries out, "It's been so long!" The old man squints, stares for a moment, and says, "Pinocchio?"Pr 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine
An Illinois man left the snow filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his motel in Florida, he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor in a total faint. Her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:
DEAREST WIFE:
JUST GOT CHECKED IN.
EVERYTHING PREPARED FOR YOUR ARRIVAL TOMORROW.
P.S. SURE IS HOT DOWN HERE!!
If you liked that, you might like these:
Traveling
Traveling through the distant nearness
Through a wall of sound
I perceived a sudden clearness
Spite the panic all around
Riding the rails, chasing their tails, blind leading the blind
‘Twas a moment of introspection
‘Twas in the right direction
I am alive!!
I breathe, I touch, I think, I feel, I discern
Yet so limited
In knowledge, wisdom, and most of all comprehension
Experience is my teacher
And the words of wiser men
Or are they simply men who’ve gone before
With the same questions
And lack of understanding
Mistaking their experiences
For all encompassing truth
The road to enlightenment, the way, the truth, the gospel
As I wend my way down the path of life
My pace slows as the years go by
My vision grows more distinct
What was once a blur is clarified
There’s more to see with an open mind
Unencumbered with religion, free to roam and glean from all sources
Liberty allows me to seek my God
To find my God
To experience my God
To share my God
Demi-Gods
Hey now to all you demi-gods sitting in your ivory towers and talking smack ‘bout being on the fast track. Not caring who you step on on your way to the top, or how far they drop, long as you get to your place. Back stabbin’ and money grabbin’ is your way of life. Fancy clothes and fancy cars, decked out like movie stars, think you’re special, think you’re good, think you’re better than us.
Makin’ your deals at others expense, no stranger to violence--not always physical. You have your agenda, you’ve built your rationale, the means don’t matter, just the ends. Craving worship, you call it respect, but your loyalties are fickle, based on “what can I get?” Money’s your god, and the power it brings, but you never have enough people or things. They’re the same to you, people and things—objects to be used; abused; then cast aside.
Inhabiting the streets, and the courtrooms, and the boardrooms, and the pulpits, and the capitols; you weave your webs, traps for the innocent, or the gullible. Taking advantage is the way you live, robbing others of their joy in life.
You’re no better when all’s said and done, we’re cut from the same cloth, every one. So get off your high horse and take a real look at life, and notice all the misery and strife--caused by you. Stop steppin’ on people, help them up, we all deserve to taste the good.
So who’m I talkin’ to, who’s this about: If the shoe fits…….well, you know the rest.
If it Weren’t for People the World Would be Perfect
If it weren’t for people the world would be perfect
What other species pollutes the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the land they live on
Or poisons themselves with chemicals and calls it enjoyment
Or kills other creatures for sport
Or calls a place paradise, then changes it to something else
Or hoards for simple greed
Or hates and discriminates for no good reason
Or drives other species to extinction in the name of progress
But if it weren’t for people,
Who would enjoy the beauty of a sunset, or the majesty of a mountain
Or praise the creation or the Creator
The ?
So, do you remember Mr. Spock and the Vulcan mind-meld?
We always called it the mind fuck.
Just thinking about fucked up minds melded to the thoughts and ideas of others
How did football get to be soccer in North America?
Consider political correctness and massive mind control
Who picked a ray not native to our area as the symbol for our baseball team?
Mull over religious thinking and the appropriation of freedom
Where are the 3 days and 3 nights in the grave between Good Friday and Easter Sunday?
Ponder our mainstreamed, career-oriented system called higher education
What is the real meaning of a degree, BS=bullshit; MS=more of the same; PhD=piled higher and deeper?
Contemplate the condensing of human habitations into structures akin to rat warrens
Do social skills increase with proximity, do we know each other better?
Reflect on the mercenary hue that stains the fabric of our society.
Does he who has the most toys when he dies really win?
Life is Amazing!
The floating continuum of lost and idle thoughts
That distract from the search for truth
The draining of mental power and independent ideas
That turns individuals into masses
The double-tongued political rhetoric
That accustoms us to deception and outright lies
The mercenary media circus
That presents unattainable goals, and convinces of unnecessary needs
The politicized, institutionalized religion
That fills their coffers but not our souls
The permanent scarring of the natural world
Raped in the name of progress
And yet…………
Life is amazing!
Your truth can be found if only you will seek
Take hold of your individuality
Turn off the brain drain and think for yourself,
Expand your horizons and feed your intellect
Politics is a compound word
Poly means many and Ticks are blood sucking creatures
Be not deceived
Money may make the world go around but the love of it is the root of all evil
Money is a thing, things are to be used, people are to be loved
Set your own goals, define your own needs, be happy
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
seed begging bread. (Ps 37:25)
Follow your heart and fill your soul with good things
If a place is a paradise, how is changing it, progress?
The world is a beautiful place, enjoy its richness
Attitude determines outcome, what you put into something is what you get out of it
Clichés yes, but even clichés sprouted from a germ of truth.
Very good insight at TAPS site.
http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/grief.html?pageNum=4 Good Site regarding Grief.
Summary
Grief is a healthy and natural reaction to a major loss, often characterized by extreme mental anguish. Though grief is important and leads to emotional healing, it can be a prolonged and intensely painful experience,and can result in significant emotional distress. The grief reaction may last for months or years.People who are grieving may never stop missing a deceased person or regretting a loss, but the painwill eventually lessen. Any major loss can cause a grief reaction, especially the death of a loved one. Miscarriage and stillbirth, though not often recognized as major losses, cancause grief for the parents. A major lifestyle change,such as divorce, loss of a home, loss of a job, or loss of the ability to pursue a career (e.g., a physical injuryending an athletic career), may also result in grief. Grieving is generally easy to recognize, and symptoms of grief are both physical and emotional. Grieving peopleare often sad and may sigh, sob, cry out or yearn for what was lost. Shock, disbelief and denial are common,especially immediately following the discovery of the loss.People who are grieving may feel angry or guilty. They may tire easily or feel as though they are always tired.Disturbances in appetite and sleep often occur. Most people who are grieving do not seek or require professional help. When help is needed, an evaluation by a physician or a mental health professional may be used to rule out other conditions. Although grief may progress into major depression in some cases, it should not be confused with this serious mood disorder. It is not healthy to avoid grief or to deny a major loss for a long period of time. Avoidance of grief may lead to serious physical or emotional problems later in life. The most important aspect for grieving people is learning to cope with the loss. Individuals who are grieving need to speak with and explain their feelings to others. Most physical complications of grief can be eased by eating properly, exercising and getting plenty of rest. When professional help is sought, interpersonal therapy (IPT) is among the most commonly used forms of psychotherapy to help people cope with grief. Group therapy can also be helpful. Original topic: Does anyone have knowledge or practical or experiential input on this topic? Healthy/unhealthy ways to handle it? In what timeframe did you experience acceptance? How about any good references or sources for information on grief ? |
Our life in the flesh died with Christ at Calvary. We are no longer indebted to the flesh and the old man. Once we accepted Jesus as the Christ, our Lord and Savior, believing and agreeing with God that Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead, we became new creations. This is a wonderful reality. It is really who we are. We are no longer flesh beings imprisoned by the desires of the flesh and mind, but we are really and truly newly created beings, living in the Kingdom of God. Renewing the mind to this reality is what God calls our spiritual service of worship.
Romans 12:1 reads: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Take the time to really consider what God is saying here. Spiritual worship is living and walking in the New Covenant that Jesus Christ earned or instituted for us. Spiritual worship is not singing or experiencing a warm, nice emotional feeling. God defines what spiritual worship is for us here in Romans 12:1. Presenting our lives as a living sacrifice to God, being holy and acceptable- which is how we are MADE TO BE through Christ- is how God desires for us to serve and worship him. So, as we live in and accept that we are holy and acceptable through Christ's work (hence, it is ALL through Christ's accomplishments by grace to us), we are being a living sacrifice and this is the spiritual worship God is seeking. We read in verse 2 more on how God desires for us to serve and worship him.
Romans 12:2 reads Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Here we read that by making our minds new with the thoughts from God related to us (New Covenant realities) that we are transformed. We are transformed or changed or altered by God. This verb is in the passive voice which means that we are acted upon. You don't transform or change yourself by your great works or achievements. Scripturally, from these truths, we aren’t supposed to try really hard to be loving or to be good. But instead, we allow God through the power of his gospel (message) to transform or change us into the manifestation of that spiritual man. Compare this with 2 Corinthians 3:18:
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. (NRSV)
The word transformed here in 2 Corinthians is the same verb from Romans 12:2 and it has the same implication being in the passive voice; That is, as we continue to look into the perfect law of liberty which is the New Covenant (see 2 Cor. 3:6, James 1:25), and we don't forget what manner of man we are (hence, we are believing who we are in Christ) we are changed by God through the power of the gospel. We are changed into the image of Christ which is our new man, the new creation. This is that “same image” that verse 18 is speaking about. Isn't this awesome? God has made it his business to take away all the glory or boasting from man for any work that man could do. We are acted upon by the truth, which is the power of the gospel, and we are changed. Our glorying is then truly in the Lord and the power of his might.
You may want to consider Romans 1:16 in light of this truth.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Here we read that the gospel of Christ is the power of God. What is this gospel of Christ? It is the glad tidings or good news (gospel) about what Christ has done. Well, what has he done? He paid for the sins of the whole world by being the Lamb of God, the guilt offering for sin. We are now justified through his work; this is salvation by grace. The Apostle Paul had the privilege of writing down much of the doctrine concerning these accomplishments of Jesus Christ. What we refer to today as the "Church Epistles" reveal these glad tidings. The New Covenant is taught to us through Paul's epistles.
This Good News is what transforms us. It is the power of God unto wholeness. Salvation in Romans 1:16 is wholeness. Does that stop with the new birth or do we continue to manifest more and more wholeness in our lives as we allow the power of the gospel to transform us? Yes! This is what Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18 are telling us. As we continue to look at who we are through our unification or identification with Christ and believe it, we are changed more and more into manifesting the new man.
We don't change ourselves. It is not a work of the flesh but a work done by or through the spirit via the power of the gospel. Doesn't that take a load off? It is not up to you to change yourself. That is not what renewing the mind means. It isn’t a synonym for “works of the flesh.” Instead, the work you do is to simply think the thoughts of who you are in Christ. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17 RSV) This is your part to do, and God does the rest. He changes you into the image of Christ in manifestation in your life. And where is the boasting? Can you boast in yourself because you did such a great job changing yourself? No, our boasting is in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God has covered us completely and utterly by the love he manifested in sending his only begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins. This is grace. Praise God! Thank God for Jesus Christ!
For more inspiring articles on your New Life in Christ go to The Grace of Christ Ministries web site at www.tgocm.org
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings to search it out...Prov. 25:2
We've been travelling now for two weeks and two days, and so far, no major screw-ups. We're headed for a conference in Orlando callled "Releasing of Eagles" where John Kilpatrick will be speaking and Lindel Cooley will be leading worship--both from the Brownsville Revival which we attended ten years ago with our kids. We got thoroughly blessed there by a brand of radical Christianity we'd never seen before.
So, what else is new? Bo and Stanley being radical Christians? Oh yeah and we're loving it. God is so big and so wonderful and so unexpected. Everywhere we go we see him at work, whether on a slogan on the back of a semi-truck barrelling down the highway or the billboard in front of a little country church. I'm collecting those. Two of my favorites so far:
"We don't change the message, the message changes us."
"Need a lifeguard? Come on in. Ours walks on water!"
Gotta' love it.
Recently I have been working this topic in responce to some questions that I have been asked. To get the proper response, I started to look into the Word and it is amazing what I found and what God has shown me. I am willing to share this with anyone who so desires.
After the Irish Rebellion of 1798 a strange outgrowth of barley began to appear in clumps on the recent battlefields.
This was no phenomenon but a result of the Irish soldiers slain and buried that had carriedbarley seed in their pockets during the battle.
These barley patches where immortalized in the ballad by Robert Joyce “The Wind That Shook the Barley.”
These barley outcroppings became a symbol of Irish resolve.
What grows in the desert?
