Thankful

Favorite Caedmon's Call Song:  Unfortunately, I can't get it to embed. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0HS_ICk8Js

Her Pulse

I was thinking the other day about what the average women would say to the man she loves, if she had the guts to be completely honest.  What do we, as women, want men to know about us?  Disgregarding personal and individual goals and needs, What are the core needs, desires, hopes of members of the female sex?  For what does a woman's heart beat?  What would a woman say to her man if she would allow herself to just speak plainly, to truly express her heart to him...without fear of shame or repurcussion or embarassment?  This poem came out of that contemplation.

Her Pulse

Pursue me,

I am longing to be wooed

In body, mind, and soul, in word and deed

Entice me.

I want to be intrigued;

To know my heart can race, can skip a beat

Adore me.

I long to know my worth.

I need no flowers or chocolate, just your time.

Admire me,

But please do not enshrine.

For sooth, I'll disappoint if held too high

Encourage me.

Prove that you're on my side

To hold  my hand and share my heavy load.

Empower me.

I need to hear, "you can."

Believe in me, support me, be my fan.

And lead me,

But do not domineer

Be gentle and be sure; lend me your ear.

Oh, love me

Through service and sacrifice

So shall you gain devotion without end.

(c) Kasidee Gilchrist 2011

When Scripture Is Hackneyed Or Misused



For this blog, I'm just going to focus on one particular scripture, and that scripture is Romans 8:28.  Here are a few different translations of the verse.

ESV - "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

NKJV - "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

NIV - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose"

YOUNG'S LITERAL TRANSLATION - "And we have known that to those loving God all things do work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose"
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Everybody knows this scripture, or at least, everyone who has ever been in church for a moderate amount of time knows this scripture.  I feel like it's the second one we learn, after John 3:16.  And it is definitely the one most quoted.  It's like a crutch, or platitude we use when something bad happens.  Someone gets sick, we say, "God works everything for good..."  Someone loses their job, we say, "God works everything for good..."  Someone dies, we say, "God works everything for good..."  And I know that when I'm going through one of those times, the LAST thing I want to hear is that verse used as a platitude.  I know the Bible says it.  I know that something better is around the bend.  I know my trial is momentary, but I don't want it preached at me in a disinterested, "it's gonna be okay" sort of way. 

It loses impact when we kick it around like a hackey sack.  Especially when our hackneyed usage causes people to misuse or  over simplify it, or only use half the scripture.  Here are some common misconceptions and misuses:

We expect not to suffer because God is "working for our good."  Not everything that happens in life is good, because we live in a fallen world ruled by Satan.  If you think becoming a Christian was going to end your sorrow, suffering, frustrations, etc., I have news for you.  It doesn't work that way.  There will always be trouble, there will always be trials, there will always be suffering.  But God takes the things our enemy meant for evil and works them for good, as he did with Joseph when his brothers sold him into slavery.  "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Gen 50:20

We quote the verse to the unsaved, and apply it to them.  Things are not worked to the good of EVERYONE on earth.  He only works good for those who love Him.  Telling a lost soul that God is working something bad and turning it for their good is not simply an untruth.  To them it might mean that they can continue in their sins without repercussion.  And they can't.  There is always a consequence...in this world or the next.  "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

We expect for the evil to reap only evil and the good to reap only good.  Expecting things to ALWAYS be sunshine and rainbows because God is working things for good is also erroneous.  Life is life, full of good and bad for everyone.  There are bad things in the world, and there's no escaping them.  Likewise, there are good things in the world, and we all benefit from the goodness of God.  "...for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust." (Matt 5:45)
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We do ourselves and others a disservice when we misuse scripture.  It could cause a person to believe they're saved when they aren't, or could cause someone who wanted to be saved to change his or her mind.  Both possibilities are sad and, frankly, unacceptable. 

We also do ourselves and others a disservice when we quote scripture in a polite platitude.  Platitudes are haphazard and demonstrate little more than apathy and self-righteousness.  People who are going through trials or loss don't want to be mollified.  They want to be loved and supported.  They want to cry and scream and yell and rage without getting slapped in the face by a trite smile and scripture quotation.  (Not that you shouldn't quote scripture to them, but that you should be careful how you do it and which scripture you use.)

Because when scripture is hackneyed or misused it doesn't do anyone any good.  Least of all the person we're speaking it to.

Manic

A poem I wrote at a time I was feeling misunderstood and completely out of my depth.

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Manic

I am up and down and inside out

Within the confines of my existence

A roller coaster ride of emotions

A mixed bag of strange devotions

One moment I feel free and the next

I’m bound, gagged, and locked in captivity

Not even a court order can get me out

My jailor does not know acquiescence

And we are annoyed by each other’s presence

Or presence of mind

And now I’m flying high above the clouds

Feeling carefree and extraneous

Untouchable, relaxed in my own skin

Until I hit some turbulence and then

I panic, my self-assurance vexed

I lose the fight with gravity

I’m plummeting to my demise among the crowds

Who watch me free fall plainly just

To witness something odd and spontaneous

Or spontaneously blind

(c) Kasidee Gilchrist 2011