Which character from the Wizard of Oz do you most identify with?
There's the lion, afraid of everything; afraid to act, afraid to do. There's the scarecrow, going through life without really knowing what's going on, happy to be ignorant. Or maybe not happy, but at least willing. The tinman, cold and emotionless, distant from life. And then there's Dorothy. She's the helpless one, unable to make decisions without someone else's help.
Which one are you?
Me, I identify with the Wizard. The Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz. Wise and All-Knowing, Feared by all, dispensing wisdom and knowledge from his Great Tower in the Emerald City. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...who is really just a man with a microphone behind a curtain. Not really powerful. Just a man, living in fear of the day that someone pulls back the curtain and he is exposed for the fraud that he is.
A man who is not really that wise. All he knows is that we're all not really who we seem to be. The lion really isn't a coward. The scarecrow has some wisdom himself and the tinman has a heart afterall. And Dorothy, well she had the means to get home all along. And there's no place like home.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
What We Know
I was at an event recently where the participants started out in chairs, but the majority of the event took place with them moving around to different stations. At the end of the time, the participants returned to the chairs for a brief wrap-up.
I noticed that when they returned to the chairs, even though they had spent more than an hour moving about and interacting with different people, almost everyone returned to the same chair that they started from.
Why is it that we tend to follow this pattern? Why do we always return to what we know? Even back to destructive patterns and habits. Is it because it's more comfortable to deal with what we know? Maybe it's because it's easier, there is less thinking required. Maybe we're not really as creative as we think.
One time, Jesus came across a man who had been sick for 38 years. He asked the man, 'Do you want to get well?' For the longest time, I thought this was just a rhetorical question, of course the man wanted to get well. Or did he? He was sick for 38 years. What else did he know? What would happen if he did get well? How then would he live?
How long have you been living with that problem? That habit? That thing you know you need to change, but haven't? What would happen if it was changed, different, gone? How then will you live?
Do you want to get well?
I noticed that when they returned to the chairs, even though they had spent more than an hour moving about and interacting with different people, almost everyone returned to the same chair that they started from.
Why is it that we tend to follow this pattern? Why do we always return to what we know? Even back to destructive patterns and habits. Is it because it's more comfortable to deal with what we know? Maybe it's because it's easier, there is less thinking required. Maybe we're not really as creative as we think.
One time, Jesus came across a man who had been sick for 38 years. He asked the man, 'Do you want to get well?' For the longest time, I thought this was just a rhetorical question, of course the man wanted to get well. Or did he? He was sick for 38 years. What else did he know? What would happen if he did get well? How then would he live?
How long have you been living with that problem? That habit? That thing you know you need to change, but haven't? What would happen if it was changed, different, gone? How then will you live?
Do you want to get well?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Gethsemane
The battle for your soul was not decided hill of Golgotha. Yes, the battle was won when Jesus died on the cross in your place. But that's not where the battle was decided. The outcome of the battle for your soul was decided on the previous evening on another hill outside of Jerusalem.
The battle was decided on when Jesus fell on his face, sweat blood and cried out to God, 'Let this cup pass from me!' It was his last chance to say to God, 'I don't want to go through with this.' He expressed his deepest, most honest feelings - the cross, the horrible, painful death he faced was not his choice; if there was any other way...please let there be another way.
But then he said, 'Not my will, but yours be done.' The battle for your soul was won on Golgotha, but it was decided on Gethsemane. It was decided when Jesus knew what had to be done and chose to do it. The beating, the thorns, the whip, the scorn, the insults, the nails were all extraneous because the decision had already been made. Jesus knew there was only one way to save you and he decided that whatever it took, that's what he would do. Long before he faced the Sanhedrin, long before Pilate turned him over to be crucified, it was decided.
The battle for your soul will not be decided in a moment of temptation. Long before that moment comes, you know what has to be done, and you have a choice to make. It's the choice you make now to do whatever it takes that will decide the battle. What will you choose?
The battle was decided on when Jesus fell on his face, sweat blood and cried out to God, 'Let this cup pass from me!' It was his last chance to say to God, 'I don't want to go through with this.' He expressed his deepest, most honest feelings - the cross, the horrible, painful death he faced was not his choice; if there was any other way...please let there be another way.
But then he said, 'Not my will, but yours be done.' The battle for your soul was won on Golgotha, but it was decided on Gethsemane. It was decided when Jesus knew what had to be done and chose to do it. The beating, the thorns, the whip, the scorn, the insults, the nails were all extraneous because the decision had already been made. Jesus knew there was only one way to save you and he decided that whatever it took, that's what he would do. Long before he faced the Sanhedrin, long before Pilate turned him over to be crucified, it was decided.
The battle for your soul will not be decided in a moment of temptation. Long before that moment comes, you know what has to be done, and you have a choice to make. It's the choice you make now to do whatever it takes that will decide the battle. What will you choose?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)