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Starkman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1747
| Posted 1/21/2003 7:59 AM (GMT -6) |   | Well, because I couldn't find somewhere else to put it!
I was driving home the other day thinking about a post I had just completed. (It neither matters which post or what it was about.) And as I was driving, I was bothered by something, something in the post . . . no, something about the post. Yes, that was it.
One of the most wonderful things I have learned on this site, in the year that I've participated on it, is that I can now "think through" things. A lot of things. Various things. Something I wasn't able to do before arriving here. As a result, the reward of solving a puzzling issue, resolving a perplexing problem, or working through to a satisfactory theological position, has been more rewarding than I can express with words. And so, here was this pang of a prick in my spirit, nagging me to give birth to an answer. It was really bothering me. Time to think through it.
One of the characteristics about being a person (no, I'm not wandering away from the story!) is that we have talents, gifts, and abilities, that even if others have those same talents and such, every person has them with a special stamp by the Author that the other person doesn't have; he has his own Author's stamp. It is something like Jesus, in the book of Revelation, offering the church at Pergamos a stone with a new name on it; the receiver's name, one which only the receiver would know. Every one receives the commonality of a new name, but the name is different for each person; uniqueness within the commonality. Well, (as I said, I'm not wandering here), what's this got to do with the story, Keith?
I have my own talents, gifts, and abilities. And, as I've just mentioned, they are found in others, but not with the same stamp from the Author; they have theirs, I have mine. And as I was working through and going over the post I had posted, I was coming closer and closer to identifying the problem: in the context of my post, I had stepped outside my talents, gifts, and abilities. Though I believe to be true the content which I had written, I realized that I had written it in a park built for another kind of game, one in which I am neither able to play nor one I wish to learn to play. But there I was, out in the open. Just me and God . . . no, just me, God, and perhaps, anyone else noticing, "Gee, he really doesn't belong in this game. He should go back to playing the game he is supposed to be playing." Problem identified: I had brought the right equipment, but didn't know the game I had entered. So, no matter what I have to say in this game, it's not going to go very well for me . . . even if I'm right in what I say! Problem solved? Not quite.
I now knew the problem: posting truth (well, at least I felt it to be truth) in a context where truth will only matter if three things are are true: that I know my talents and stay within those talents when I post; that I know those areas in which I am not talented, and stay out of those areas (unless, of course, I am seeking to learn. Then I am not a player in the game, but, perhaps, the bat boy); and then there is the third thing: that if I do not do the first two, I will not be posting in love. There it was, the the real issue, the problem solved in toto.
It has been my desire, particularly since arriving at this site over a year ago, to come more into contact with God's love, that I might love. Love more. Desperately love others more than with just the so-called love I have been expressing. God was speaking very gently and in a quiet but clear whisper:
"You know, Keith, you're growing. You're thinking, and you're praying that you can come to know something more of my love so that you can love others better than you now do. And so you shall. Your post . . . your motive was fine and your writing was fine. But did you really belong in the the context of that thread? Weren't out of your talents and ablities; were you not out of love when, even in sincerity, you stepped outside your own game park?"
Huh? Oh, yes, I suppose so. Now that you put it that way.
My problem was that I had left a certain place in my heart in order to make the post. In doing so, though done with sincerity (thank heavens at least for that much), I had left the water-filled well of the heart of God. I don't mean that my attitude was bad, my heart wasn't right, or my motive was wrong in my post. No, that's like the first edge that's put on a dull knife. I'm talking about the razor-sharp edge that comes after that. That edge where God fine-tunes, where He goes the extra mile with you to take you to that intimate place; when He answers prayer with more than just the answer--when He's doing so to make you the person you should be in His Son, and the contribution you will become to His Son's Body. When you will love as He loves.
You see, there's nothing like sharpening a knife. The initial edge comes from grinding away the metal in a controlled manner. But that razor-sharp edge is what really makes the knife do its work most efficiently, and this comes from an extra attention given the knife after the initial edge is in place. This is what I feel is happening more and more to me as I learn from all of you folk. This is the effect this site has had on me; to learn something about the greatest victory over evil. Of all the things I have learned here, this one is supreme. And to see God both answer my prayer (to love others as I should) in the manner He is doing is for Him to begin the razor-sharpening process. What else could possibly be more destructive to evil than for one to first love God with all one's heart, soul, and strength, and then to love one's neighbor as one's self? I'm getting it. No, more than that: I'm growing in it. And I got more of it because of a post in the context of a game I didn't belong in, for pete's sake! I don't even like sports.
As I continued driving home, I realized I had crossed some hurdles. I know how to stay in tune with my heart when I post--something so easily left in the dust when one speaks or writes. I know how now to stop, think, and be sure of my attachment to the heart of God when I post. I do not take this lightly, because living life period is a waste of time if there is neither love circumscribing it and driving it. Not warm fuzzies, but attachment to the heart of God. It's something of what Jesus meant when He said, "Abide in My love, even as I have abided in My Father's love." What love? Warm fuzzies? No. Perfected and completed attachment to the heart of the Father. The one game we are all in together.
Starkman
Edited by - Starkman on 01/21/2003 1:04:12 PM | | Back to Top | | |
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Springs
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 636
| Posted 1/21/2003 6:17 PM (GMT -6) | | Thanks for sharing that Starkman. I think I get a sense of what you mean. When I speak outside of my game, I am not speaking God's love or my love to others. From my understanding of what you said, and from my perspective, I think it is when I am not humble. It is when I make statements like facts, to people who know more about it. It's when I bury unjust presuppositions in my communcation as if they were a given. It's when I don't stay humble before God or others. Sometimes it's when I don't trust myself with God or people. When I become an island, out of relationship in both directions.
Springs
You are the STARKMAN!
"When all was over, and the last key turned, I sought my pillow, thankful that God had appointed a season of rest for the weary." Harriet Jacobs
Edited by - Springs on 01/21/2003 11:17:47 PM | | Back to Top | | |
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Tom
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353
| Posted 1/22/2003 1:16 AM (GMT -6) | | Starkman-
I love your heart, Bro. Appreciate your honesty.
Tom
Love never ends | | Back to Top | | |
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Starkman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1747
| Posted 1/22/2003 4:39 AM (GMT -6) | | Well, it's hard to say something (beating around the bush) without . . . beating around the bush!
As you said, Springs, When I become an island, out of relationship in both directions..
See, it's one thing to say, "Oh yes, I wasn't humble when I said that," or, "I'm sorry, I wasn't being very nice when I said that." Yes, those things are real and they are true, but we are after something more here, and you have said as much, Springs.
I guess I could say it this way: it's one thing to know when you're not holding your father's or mother's or spouse's hand. You know what's lacking, what's missed, what's incomplete. Doesn't that then make holding that person's hand (most particularly God's hand, and most specifically holding it all the time) that much more meaninful and important?
We are talking about abiding...not coming and going, as we are so able to do, but abiding. We are to abide with our spouse in marriage. We are to abide in the respect of our parents being our parents and all that that means. The problem with these intimate examples is that we tend to unabide (our horrible fallen state) with our spouses or parents or friends or others in the body of Christ. And if it isn't we who have unabided, it is they who do. But God? Well, we may wander to and from his heart, but He is the One person who will never wander to and from our hearts. The solid Rock He is.
Ours then is to find the manner and method God has given us to STAY in His heart, to abide...not wander. Abiding!
Starkman
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selah
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1210
| Posted 1/22/2003 9:29 PM (GMT -6) | | 
love
selah
Then He showed me the river whose waters give life, sparkling like crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Rev. 22:1 | | Back to Top | | |
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fyodor
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2002
Total Posts : 179
| Posted 1/23/2003 3:21 AM (GMT -6) | | Starkman--
Those are some great words of truth that you have posted. I've been coming to this board for maybe a month or so. Some days when I come here I just spend time reading the threads simply to learn. Sometimes, I chime in just for dialogue purposes. Sometimes, I enjoy debating just for fun. What I've noticed about my own character is that the debating takes on a new profile on certain days. It's an incessant drive to be right and to prove that I'm right and you're wrong. I found myself leaving the board all fired up about something that may or may not have much daily living value.
I hope I can become acutely more aware of abiding in Christ when coming to this place and everywhere else. There is a certain amount of accountability that comes with this site. There is never a lack of people who are willing to speak their mind or what they believe to be truth, and most of those people evidently claim to be disciples of Christ. Two weeks ago I made a post that I have regretted ever since because it was such an unrefined attack on another post. It lacked the stopping, thinking, and assurance of the attachment to the heart of God that you mentioned. Without dwelling on that the penitant heart that I have about that post has changed the way in which I approach coming to this place...
I hope that my experience can come closer to the experience and obvious growth that you have found through time coming here. I really appreciate your remarks. Thanks
>>>"And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth." Kahlil Gibran from THE PROPHET | | Back to Top | | |
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trosie
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 550
| Posted 1/23/2003 4:23 AM (GMT -6) | | fyodorquote:
Some days when I come here I just spend time reading the threads simply to learn. Sometimes, I chime in just for dialogue purposes. Sometimes, I enjoy debating just for fun. What I've noticed about my own character is that the debating takes on a new profile on certain days. It's an incessant drive to be right and to prove that I'm right and you're wrong. I found myself leaving the board all fired up about something that may or may not have much daily living value.
That sums it up for me too!
What I have been SLOWLY learning is that when I push my issues,
opinions, and beliefs at ALL COSTS I tend to turn people off and in the end I don't get my point across. I am SLOWLY starting to learn that LOVING people and trying to understand where they are coming from ... is the way to live. I enjoy the learning and the having a fun place to interact on the Internet but I am trying to stay away from the threads that tend to push my buttons.
Starkman, thanks for your honest reflections. This was beautiful quote:
Well, we may wander to and from his heart, but He is the One person who will never wander to and from our hearts. The solid Rock He is.
Ours then is to find the manner and method God has given us to STAY in His heart, to abide...not wander. Abiding!
Oh, that we could stay in His heart. To abide...not wander. That is a beautiful thing to strive toward!
Thanks,
trosie
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Starkman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1747
| Posted 1/24/2003 3:13 AM (GMT -6) | | Praise the God of heaven and earth!
Starkman
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