Twisted

Why do we not see things the way God sees them?

People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." A certain ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments:'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.'" He replied, "I have kept all these since my youth." When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" He replied, "What is impossible for mortals is possible for God." Then Peter said, "Look, we have left our homes and followed you." And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life." - Luke 18:15-30

We were made in God's image, so you would think that we would be a bit like God, maybe, right?

But Jesus came to show us we got twisted somehow.  Instead of being like God, who loves us more than we will ever know, and offers everything to us in ways we are still discovering, we focus on us.

I think one of the reasons we have trouble seeing one another the way God sees us is that we are too preoccupied with our own self image, our own lives, our own mortality.

But would we be more caring and nurturing to one another if we lived forever?

As soon as something afflicts us, we turn inward and shift our focus back to us.  That makes sense, right?

If I am afraid of dying, I have no time to worry about you, do I?

But that is what Jesus is trying to teach us.  We do have time for one another, and perhaps that time we spend helping others buys us more time for ourselves.

How?

We cannot add a day or a moment to this life, but we can have eternal life.  It is there for us when we are ready to grab it, so that's covered.

Scary?  Hell yes.

But that's because we don't know what to expect.  If we did, as Jesus did, we might not be afraid.

If we are doing all we can do for our own health and wellbeing, taking our medicines, doing our exercises, eating right, etc., then we can take a little time out to reach out to others who may need company, friendship, compassion, love.

Those are God things.

And we can do them, not later, after we take care of all our stuff, but now.

More to come...