Luke chapter 12 is so interesting. I am reading it over and over and Jesus is painting a picture of several scenes and sides of God's heart.
At one point Peter says this...
"Peter said, 'Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?' " - Luke 12:41 ESV
Jesus is describing aspects of God's gracious character but He Is also describing God's Kingly justice.
If you read the chapter carefully you see each parable is strung together linking different colored stones.
Here is a key passage.
"Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks." - Luke 12:35-36 ESV
The wedding feast in the scriptures is the height of human celebration. It was the event of the year. When a person returns from an event like that they are floating on a cloud. That is the time when they are prone to great generosity. But, Also woe be upon the head the the person or people that ruin that day for them.
A good parallel that comes to mind is when parents leave children at home and go away on a trip. If the house is clean and in order when they get home life is good but if they threw a party and destroyed the place the penalties would be especially harsh.
Peter wonders, 'Who Is Jesus talking to?' for a good reason.
The Church is at the wedding feast. Believers are not servants minding the store. We are family members traveling with the King.
When I see God's holiness and justice in how He deals with his servants and it comforts me but as a family member it does not scare me. I see His high standard and it does not cause me to strive but as a son added to His family it raises the bar of my thinking.
Grace is a safe place.
"Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure - for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.' " - Revelation 19:7-9 ESV
The Lamb will have His Marriage feast and then He will clean house on the Earth. Those who receive Jesus now in this window of time will only ever experience His favor.
"I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." - Luke 12:49-51 ESV
Jesus suffered great distress. More distress than an man ever has or ever will. He did it so that man could be on God's 'good side.' The King is not lenient to those who mess with His possessions when He is away.
If you have moment read Luke chapter 12. It is a true work of art.
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Showing posts with label Sovereignty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sovereignty. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Prayer And Elevator Algorithms
Today I'm going to talk about elevators. There is much about their workings that speaks to me and invites scriptural correlations.
The simplest situation with an elevator is to have one elevator with two floors. If you push the button the elevator either opens or it is sitting on the other floor and comes to you and opens.
If you have more floors and more people pushing buttons inside the elevator and outside on floors calling the elevator it gets more complex.
It has several parts:
- The elevator continues to traveling in the same direction while there are remaining requests in that same direction.
- If a either the 'up' or 'down' button is pushed the elevator will stop and open if it is going in the same direction of it's destination.
- If there are no further requests in that direction, it stops and become idle and can be 'called' to move from a button pressed on one of the floors or 'sent' by a button pressed inside the elevator.
If there are multiple elevators it gets much more complex and heuristic algorithms are needed. There are different ideas about prioritizing the requests from outside the elevators. Engineers use different algorithms to control the traffic. Some elevator banks are programmed differently than others. Individual elevators can be given different priorities.
Most of us travel on elevators all the time and we may wait and wonder why we are waiting. Some elevators show you what floor the elevator we are waiting for is on and some don't. I think one of the reasons they show you the floor the elevator is on is to lessen the wear on the call button. When people get impatient they keep hitting the button to make the elevator come faster... it doesn't of course. If people see where the elevator is they lay off the call button.
I got a lot of seed thoughts from these concepts but mostly it made me think about prayer. Some prayers are short and sweet. We pray and it is answered in moments or days. Others have so many factors we can't know or see. People, events and important interactions are happening on so many levels.
Someone needs to hit the button or the elevator won't come. Maybe the guy standing there has already hit the button. There could be 10 people crammed into that elevator going to every floor and when the door does open it might not be going in my direction... etc... etc...
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." - Matthew 7:7-8 ESV
Religion tells us we must always press the button or even climb the stairs if we are ever going to get anywhere. God does ask us to pray and says...
"You do not have, because you do not ask." - James 4:2b ESV
But in truth God is doing things behind the scenes and many times God does not show us what floor the elevator we are waiting is on. Nor do we know what direction it is going to go in once we get on. We press buttons by faith and get in by faith trusting God.
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:26-28 ESV
God in His sovereignty is pushing buttons behind the scenes. He knows and allows things to happen in a certain way. He is not just sovereign in a few areas. He is sovereign in every area all the time. There are just many people moving in many directions.
I am determined to be a person that pushes the button by faith and pushes the button by faith for others.
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The simplest situation with an elevator is to have one elevator with two floors. If you push the button the elevator either opens or it is sitting on the other floor and comes to you and opens.
If you have more floors and more people pushing buttons inside the elevator and outside on floors calling the elevator it gets more complex.
It has several parts:
- The elevator continues to traveling in the same direction while there are remaining requests in that same direction.
- If a either the 'up' or 'down' button is pushed the elevator will stop and open if it is going in the same direction of it's destination.
- If there are no further requests in that direction, it stops and become idle and can be 'called' to move from a button pressed on one of the floors or 'sent' by a button pressed inside the elevator.
If there are multiple elevators it gets much more complex and heuristic algorithms are needed. There are different ideas about prioritizing the requests from outside the elevators. Engineers use different algorithms to control the traffic. Some elevator banks are programmed differently than others. Individual elevators can be given different priorities.
Most of us travel on elevators all the time and we may wait and wonder why we are waiting. Some elevators show you what floor the elevator we are waiting for is on and some don't. I think one of the reasons they show you the floor the elevator is on is to lessen the wear on the call button. When people get impatient they keep hitting the button to make the elevator come faster... it doesn't of course. If people see where the elevator is they lay off the call button.
I got a lot of seed thoughts from these concepts but mostly it made me think about prayer. Some prayers are short and sweet. We pray and it is answered in moments or days. Others have so many factors we can't know or see. People, events and important interactions are happening on so many levels.
Someone needs to hit the button or the elevator won't come. Maybe the guy standing there has already hit the button. There could be 10 people crammed into that elevator going to every floor and when the door does open it might not be going in my direction... etc... etc...
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." - Matthew 7:7-8 ESV
Religion tells us we must always press the button or even climb the stairs if we are ever going to get anywhere. God does ask us to pray and says...
"You do not have, because you do not ask." - James 4:2b ESV
But in truth God is doing things behind the scenes and many times God does not show us what floor the elevator we are waiting is on. Nor do we know what direction it is going to go in once we get on. We press buttons by faith and get in by faith trusting God.
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:26-28 ESV
God in His sovereignty is pushing buttons behind the scenes. He knows and allows things to happen in a certain way. He is not just sovereign in a few areas. He is sovereign in every area all the time. There are just many people moving in many directions.
I am determined to be a person that pushes the button by faith and pushes the button by faith for others.
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