What is God's Wrath?

This video clip with Steve McVey is so worth the time to watch, What is God's Wrath?

Rich

I Want My Kids to Fail

A great article.
http://rochestersage.org/

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

The pupil who is never required to do what he cannot do, never does what he can do. – John Stuart Mill

I want my kids to fail.  That probably isn’t at the top of your list for your kids, but it should be.  Failure is one of the most important experiences they will ever have.  The road to success is paved with failure because failure teaches us how to succeed.

I want my kids to fail.  It is only when they fail that they have an opportunity to pick themselves back up.  It is only when they fail that they learn to work hard.  It is only when they fail that they learn what doesn’t work.  It is only when they fail that they learn that sometimes people need help.  It is only when they fail that they learn empathy for others struggling.   It is only when they fail that they learn that life is not always fair.  It is only when they fail that they understand what being human is.

I want my kids to fail, but not to the point that they can’t emotionally continue.  Right now I am there to help provide a pep talk, spend time working with them to succeed, and tell them that I believe they can succeed if they continue to try.  But I will not always be able to be there, so this motivation needs to become internalized so that they succeed even if no one else believes in them.

I want my kids to fail, but not to the point where they cannot afford to feed, shelter, and clothe themselves.  While they are under my care is a time that the consequences of failure are not threatening to their health and welfare.  This is the time to learn through failure how to succeed.

I want my kids to fail in the classroom.  This is true education!  I don’t want them to believe that success is easy, but when a child is bright enough to learn with minimal effort and is rewarded with A’s for that, they come to believe that hard work isn’t needed for success.  I want them to struggle, to not always succeed on the first try – or the twentieth, to learn that asking for help is not a sign of weakness or lack of intelligence, and to see that success is often a long process.

I want my kids to fail.  That is one reason we supplement their education at home.  Our kindergartner has learned through doing second grade math, which she can find challenging, that there is a strong correlation between the effort she puts in and how her quiz scores are.  When she has a rough quiz, she often chooses to do three or four practices so that her next quiz will be better.  This drive will take her further than her natural intelligence.

I want my kids to fail – and you should want yours to also.  If your children are struggling, help them to learn to succeed.  Don’t make success easy for them, but teach them the skills they need to succeed.  If your children are not struggling at times in school, ask why not.  Ask for curriculum that challenges them and makes them work for their grades.  Learning how to fail is one of the most important skills they will ever learn.

I want my kids to fail.  It is how they will learn to succeed.

Rich

Faith

I love this quote I came across regarding faith.

"Faith is the sum of actions founded on the absolute trustworthiness of God which are derived from a direct and active relationship with the only One who can be trusted completely. God does not grant faith, He infuses it in the spirit that abandons itself in Him."

Rich

Crumbs of Rumor

So much cluttering stuff in my opinion is written on tablets of wood, in our heads, but when the unexplainable and inexpiable unplanned storming events decide to land in our lives, we have set before us the very means of coming to know the Father of our spirit in ways that will defy all logic and rational thinking.

I love the out come of Job's whirlwind adventure; Job answered God: "I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything.
   Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, 'Who is this muddying the water,
   ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?'
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
   made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, 'Listen, and let me do the talking.
   Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.'
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
   now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise!
   I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor."

Rich

Faith vs. Belief

Belief provides answers to people's questions, so as to find assurance and provide a solution; so as to fashion for themselves a system of beliefs. Faith is not to supply us with explanation, but to get us to listen to God's questions. Belief talks and talks, it wallows in words, it takes the initiative to explain. Faith listens patiently. Belief brings people together, joined in the same institutional current, oriented toward the same object of belief, sharing the same ideas, following the same rituals, enrolled in the same organization, speaking the same language. It has the social benefit of consensus and identification. Faith individualizes. It has to do with a personal relationship with God in which God confers each with unique identity. Faith separates people and makes them unique, set apart for what God wants to do. Belief is antithetical to doubt. It is the basis of fundamentalism; people unbending in their convictions, intolerant of any deviation. In their articulation of belief they press rigor and absolutism to their limits. Belief is rapidly transformed into passwords, rites, orthodoxy. Faith recognizes doubt. Faith puts to the test every element of my life and society. It leads me to question all my certitudes, all my moralities, beliefs, and policies. It forbids me to attach ultimate significance to any expression of human activity." 
taken from Jacques Ellul - Living Faith.

Rich

Compassionate Eschatology

I loved this pod cast over at Beyond The Box, you can listen to it hear.

So much fear based thinking has been poured into so much theology that only perpetuates tormenting the hell out of people.

For many, allowing the Father to free us from these tormenting belief systems will at first seem like we're in a free fall, as if we're spinning out of control, but once again, that's what the Matrix of religious thinking will try to do in convincing us that there is nothing beyond what we think we're so certain of.

Rich

Rejecting the Free Gift of Grace

When we reject the free gift of grace we must then attempt to justify ourselves before the Father by our own works. One of the most common of these works is observing the law.

Unfortunately this is not the purpose that the Father has ordained for the law. The law was not given to condemn us. I do not feel that I can stress this too often. The world in general and much of Christianity in particular has no clear understanding of the proper use of the law of God. This is somewhat understandable because this proper usage is taught in very few places in the organizations of religion and nowhere in the world. However, we are without excuse in this matter, as this proper use of God’s law is made very clear in the bible. Further, this truth, as with all truth, is available to anyone who will seek the Father to be taught about it.

I find it more than puzzling when and how we base everything upon us “trying” to love the Lord, based upon the greatest commandment; when a lawyer came to Jesus and asked, what is the greatest of the commandments, to which Jesus replied, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and strength.
The kicker is, that once again this is pointing out clearly to us, that we are not meant to be law practitioners. We love Him, (why) because, He first loved us!

Rich