Does GOD give people lesson if they are away from HIM?
Is HE trying to prove that people can’t survive without HIM?
Story Box
The Big Rocks
One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high powered over achievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz."
Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.
When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"
Everyone in the class said, "Yes."
Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?"
By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered.
"Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?"
"No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good."
Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?"
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!"
"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."
What are the 'big rocks' in your life?
Your relatinship with God?
Your husband or wife?
Your children? Your loved ones? Your health? Your education?
Your dreams? A worthy cause? Teaching or mentoring others? Doing things that you love?
Time for yourself? Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. If you sweat the little stuff (the gravel, the sand) then you'll fill your life with little things you worry about that don't really matter, and you'll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff (the big rocks). So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the "big rocks" in my life? Then, put those in your jar first.
Matthew 6:33
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
ARE YOU 'THE CRACKED POT' ?? . A water bearer had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said. The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house." Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father's table. In God's great economy, nothing goes to waste. So as we seek ways to minister together, and as God calls you to the tasks He has appointed for you, don't be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and allow Him to take advantage of them, and you, too, can be the cause of beauty in His pathway. Go out boldly, knowing that in our weakness we find His strength, and that "In Him every one of God's promises is a Yes." DID GOD CREATE EVIL? At a certain university, there was a professor with a reputation for being tough on Christians. At the first class every semester, he asked if anyone was a Christian and proceeded to degrade them and to mock their statement of faith. One semester, he asked the question and a young man raised his hand when asked if anyone was a Christian. The professor asked, "Did God make everything, young man?" He replied, "Yes sir He did!" The professor responded, "If God made everything, then He made evil." The student didn't have a response and the professor was happy to have once again proved the Christian faith to be a myth. Then another man raised his hand and asked, "May I ask you something, sir?" "Yes, you may," responded the professor. The young man stood up and said "Sir, is there such thing as cold?" "Of course there is, what kind of question is that? Haven't you ever been cold?" The young man replied, "Actually, sir, cold doesn't exist. What we consider to be cold is really an absence of heat. Absolute zero is when there is absolutely no heat, but cold does not really exist. We have only created that term to describe how we feel when heat is not there." The young man continued, "Sir, is there such a thing as dark?" Once again, the professor responded, "Of course there is." And once again, the student replied, "Actually, sir, darkness does not exist. Darkness is really only the absence of light. Darkness is only a term man developed to describe what happens when there is no light present." Finally, the young man asked, "Sir, is there such thing as evil?" The professor responded, "Of course. We have rapes, murders, and violence everywhere in the world, those things are evil." The student replied, "Actually, sir, evil does not exist. Evil is simply the absence of God. Evil is a term man developed to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. It isn't like truth, or love, which exist as virtues like heat or light. Evil is simply the state where God is not present, like cold without heat or darkness without light." The professor had nothing to say............ Does God Still Speak? A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?" After service he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways. It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, "God.. If you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey." As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought, to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, "God is that you?" He didn't get a reply and started on toward home. But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. "Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk." It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home. As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, "Turn down that street." "This is crazy," he thought and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay, God, I will." He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in semi-commercial area of town. It wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street." The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. "Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid." Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door, "Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here." He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it? What do you want?" Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. "What is it?" The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, "Here, I brought this to you." The man took the milk and rushed down a hall way speaking loudly in Spanish. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, "We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk. "His wife in the kitchen yelled out, "I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?" The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put it in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face. He knew that God still answers prayers. A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the one lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and "dead as a doornail." Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it. As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday." John 3:16 In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in. A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner, the people were in and out of the cold. The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell many papers. |
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11 comments:
are you talking about me or am i just feeling guity.. haha shameful shameful .. i know ahint ahint..
:((
right i like that question Ebay. for me God was always teach us how much He love us and nomatter how far we are away from Him, He surely drow near to Him and give us alesson all the time.
i don't mean this to anyone, but to me only...
hey...you are in the same situation, well.. remember you are not the only one... LOL
Well I like to put “God shows many way that I need Him” rather than “lesson” …. lol …. Whenever I think about the image “He is giving us lesson” … I don’t know why .. but … I imagine He is holding da big stick in His hand with da “Chinese eyes” …. Lol … please no offense if you have small eyes like me .... bcz ….that’s what my two girls says … to me … when I am trying to discipline them …no wonder they don’t like it at all …
what if the way he is showing seems like discipline for us...
Meee threeee ….
Speaking of holding da "Stick" ....
Be honest with you … many time I think I overused … sometime I did playfully because it so fun to watch how Lilly & Rosi freaking out … when they are a bit younger .. they used to hold their butt and run … lol … And most of time it seems the fastest way to get their attention to have what I wanted from them … or sometimes … simply .. I got so mad ….
One day … Lillian brought me da “stick” in my hand … ask me to stick to her sister because she is being naughty … It strike me hard ….very hard … Since then .. I am trying very hard not to hold da “stick” as many as often as before …. It is hard … bcz …I am so addicted … hahahha … but nothing is worthy .. if da “stick” is giving them wrong message …
Thank goodness … our God our Father’s lesson is nothing like my da “lesson.” We are really in goooood hands …
Oki .. here is another question to make your head crazy … lol
Many year ago... one of my friends got car accident ... she survived with other family members, but she hurt the most ...When I visit her hospital ... she told me ... she might sin against God ... that's why God showed her the lesson ... I didn't say any word back then ... because she was suffering with the pain ... But I wish ... she could see the different way … I also remember one of church members back in Hong Kong. … she used to pray for her son. She was afraid of her son for being far away from his faith. Her prayer sounds more like this …“God, please show him You are real and You are his God “…. But she added, “but please don’t break my son’s leg” … she worried that God might be discipline way too hard …
It sounds funny … but NW’s question really caught my attention … it is so real … aren’t you agree? … now … please turn your Bible … and dig … how we can understand in the terms of God’s discipline?
I think all Christians go through this at one point or another...
For me, I am guilty of trying to test God whether I really need Him or not.
I tried to live a normal life like the rest of the world. Go to school, make my family happy, work hard, earn tons of cash, and just be an outstanding personality in society to leave a legacy. What more does a human being ask?
I've been trying to achieve that for the longest time. I've been working very hard to leave my spiritual life. Of course, so far, I cannot. I keep coming back to God. It's like an addiction. You all know my history. No matter how many times I got burned by churches, I keep searching for new ones. Once bitten, twice still not shy. I wish I was paranoid or hallucinating, but I think this is all because God has been revealing Himself to me everyday. How? Maybe an emergency, maybe a miracle, maybe a "coincidence," maybe a blessing, maybe not a blessing, maybe a tragedy, a deja vu, whatever. In all sorts of things God reminds me of Him. This life-long struggle of trying to deny God has yet to succeed.
So yes, I do think God gives lessons. But like ko a-s said, i think God is teaching us a lesson all the time. Not just when we are away.
However, I also think, in a way, God doesn't have to do anything when we leave Him to remind us we need Him. The devil will get us. It's like God is on the land, and He told us to stay by Him on the land. But we went into the water where the devil is. We start drowning, panic and run back to God in repentance and realization of the truth. This is just an illustration of one perspective. I don't know~
hahaha...poor Rosie and Lilly...no wonder everytime i tell them "mummy's stick" their faces changed...LOL...especially Rosie...lol...
But anyway, according to the bible, child needs discipline while they are in young age. "Using the rod" is the symbol of purnishment in our culture...cant remember how many times i've tasted my mom stick...LOL :-))...
Thanks GOD for loving us no matter how bad we are. He always showing the way to turn back and draw us near to Him...
Does GOD give ppl lesson if they are away from HIM?
umm..
God always desires us to b near HIM for sure. God always reminding & teaching us in one way or another dnt hv to b lost or far away from HIM to get a lesson. from my personal experience, there r times i feel far frm HIM. the reason being is not reading HIs Words...not hving time talking n praying to HIM as i would hv in da past. but thankfully there's always a desire inside me trying to get close to GOD again.. i feel i cnt jst turned away from GOD. there's a tide in my soul wit HIS luv... He onced Paid it all for my sins. He showed me how great He is...there's no greater luv.... jst thiking abt His luv.. draws me close to HIm..
Is he trying to prove that ppl cnt survive without HIM??
Um... for me.. GOd teaches me to put HIM first.. so i always trying to remember to put GOD ahead. I noe dat HE holds all the power to mk things happen...then..y trying on ur own while u hv all powerful GOD? rt? but HE gives u strenght,,,and power to do things on ur own wit HIS help.. for me...If i leave it to GOD. all things are taken care of smoothly . GOD is GOOD..yes HE is... In deed...
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