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So, this weekend my wife is at "Walk to Emmaus". I have encountered another paradox in my life. I miss her, I miss sleeping with her, snuggleing for a few minutes before I shove her to the other side of the bed. I really miss waking up next to her, she sleeps much longer than I do, I miss seeing her asleep. This is the paradox, I havn't slept this good in about,,,,, 8 months and 2 days.
Another paradox I found this weekend is justifying the means for the end. By this I mean, I hear people say, "it's o.k. to lie, cheat, steal, deceive and slander if I'm doing it for the Lord". "If good things come from it, then the Lord has had His way". The needy people are desprate for help, and what ever means we have to use to help them is fine, as long as they're needs get met.
I am reminded of my favorite story in the whole bible, Joseph. Genesis 38 - 47. Joseph was sold into slavery by his 11 brothers. While in slavery he became the head slave of his masters house. Then he went to jail, he became the head of all the prisoners. Then he was brought before Pharoh king of Egypt, and he became leader of Egypt second only to Pharoh himself. When famine hit the land many years later Josephs brothers came to Egypt to find food. Not recogniseing their brother they were kept alive by Joseph. They were given what ever it was people ate back then to survive. If Joseph had not been in the position he was in, egypt would not have prepared for famine, if they had they certainly would not have given food to Hebrews.
What man ment for evil, God used for good.
Here's my problem, Joseph was sold into slavery. The means were not justifiable no matter what the end was. God didn't need Joseph. Good came from it, praise God, but it was still evil. God dosn't need us to sin to save His people. God dosn't need us at all. Selling our brothers into slavery is exactly the type of thing Christ died for. Maybe had his brothers not sold him he might have perpared the Hebrews instead of the egyptians, then they would have been coming up to Israel to seek help.
I don't know, I am just amazed at how we can justify the things we do, and the things we let happen. We can't exploit the hardships of the fallen to promote our "ministry", we can't manipulate peoples emotions to reach a goal.
The ends are important, but the means are just as important.
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Wow, thats a good one to chew on.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, nice train of thought. Selling our brothers is not acceptable. We, God's sons and daughters, sometimes walk around like we are in prison just like Joseph was. Like we have been sold out into captivity while the whole time Jesus is reaching out His hand to rescue us but we keep batting it away. We are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We are heirs with Christ and the only thing that keeps us from walking in our royal calling is our analytical minds blocking out the reality of the kingdom of God being displayed in our lives. Joseph was a mighty man of honor and royalty who walked in forgiveness. Can you imagine forgiving and then serving the brothers who sold you off to die. He was a man who was sure of His identity as a son of God, even when the circumstances said other wise, he fixed his heart on the reality of the kingdom of God and by faith pulled that reality into the natural realm. By faith we need to fix our eyes on the unseen but eternal reality of who we truly are, not on what can be seen with the natural eyes because that is what is temporary and passing away(Cor 4:18). Lets walk by faith in the Son of God who loves us and died for us.
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