It took so long to learn this...

"UNTIL God ordains otherwise, a man ought to bear patiently whatever he cannot correct in himself and in others. Consider it better thus—perhaps to try your patience and to test you, for without such patience and trial your merits are of little account. Nevertheless, under such difficulties you should pray that God will consent to help you bear them calmly.

If, after being admonished once or twice, a person does not amend, do not argue with him but commit the whole matter to God that His will and honor may be furthered in all His servants, for God knows well how to turn evil to good. Try to bear patiently with the defects and infirmities of others, whatever they may be, because you also have many a fault which others must endure.

If you cannot make yourself what you would wish to be, how can you bend others to your will? We want them to be perfect, yet we do not correct our own faults. We wish them to be severely corrected, yet we will not correct ourselves.

Their great liberty displeases us, yet we would not be denied what we ask. We would have them bound by laws, yet we will allow ourselves to be restrained in nothing. Hence, it is clear how seldom we think of others as we do of ourselves.

If all were perfect, what should we have to suffer from others for God’s sake? But God has so ordained, that we may learn to bear with one another’s burdens, for there is no man without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough.

Hence we must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity—adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is".

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Satisfacere...

What does it mean to be completely satisfied in God? What is satisfaction? Satisfacere, that is the Latin word; satis is enough; facere means to make do, therefore I can basically say that satisfaction is enough to appease a need or a desire. Satisfaction means to be content essentially.

When I found that Greek word "makarios" my little world turned upside down; for years I heard the preachers and teachers say that "blessed" means "happy"; and that word is everywhere in the New Testament, blessed are the poor, blessed are the thirsty, blessed are the peace makers, blessed this and blessed that; blessed, happy, are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.....and so forth and so on; but I never heard any one say that blessed meant to be completely satisfied in God; and I like that definition better than being happy; I liked it so much that I started this blog two and a half years ago just to talk about it.

Blessed stopped meaning to be happy for me; it happened when I learned what it actually means; I found its definition by searching in my Greek-Hebrew Study bible and blessed, makarios, is something I like to pursue better than this fleeting happiness everybody talks about.

Happy is not enough because I am never really happy; I am not satisfied in Him yet; every day is a new opportunity to find this blessed satisfaction; every day I try. Maybe I should try a little bit harder. What?? Never mind, that was an inside joke, a Galatian joke.

So I go back to my question, what does it mean, what does satisfaction mean? I think I've got it; it means to be God centered, I think that to be satisfied can only be possible when this satisfaction is found in God and nothing else; for this to happen, God has to become the purpose behind everything I do and think; He has to become my treasure, as Jesus said.

I think that I think too much, I condemn myself too much, I focus on myself too much, I dwell in the past too much, I worry about the future too much, I I too much; that is my problem, the I, the me and the myself; that is so unsatisfying, it doesn't satisfy me too much I say, I again.

But it is true; I find no satisfaction in myself at all. There was a time when I thought I was quite happy with myself, that was the time I was young and stupid and naive; I thought I knew what life was about; until I met Jesus. I am not so young anymore, and stupid and naive are going away at a very slow pace, I hope not, I again...

I started writing this post early in the morning; then I went to brunch with my friend Karen, and when I got home I took a nap (remember it is all about me?) well, when I got back to this machine to continue writing about being completely satisfied, I thought I would check my email and I got this from Desiring God dot org:

Pastor John from 2008:

The essential, vital, indispensable, defining heart of worship is the experience of being satisfied with God. This satisfaction in God magnifies God in the heart. This explains why the apostle Paul makes so little distinction between worship as a congregational service and worship as a pattern of daily life. They have the same root – a passion for treasuring God as infinitely valuable. The impulse for singing a hymn and the impulse for visiting a prisoner is the same: a thirst for God – a desire to experience as much satisfaction in God as we can.

Excerpted from Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, Part 1.

Of course this is not a coincidence; I think it is just one way for God to tell me that I am on the right track when I think about being blessed. I find it fascinating and amazing that God can do that; He leads my thoughts through His word, and then reinforces what He wants me to learn through the thoughts of other people; and during this whole thing He reveals Himself to me more and more and shows me at the same time how dark my heart really is.

Oh God; thank you for your amazing grace. Cause me to be thirsty and hungry for you, and then satisfy my thirst and hunger with you.

Thank you Jesus.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I feel even smaller now...

Source: Hubblesite.org
If you could grab our complete solar system and stick it in the middle of that expanded frame; you could not tell it was there; I thought I was small but I feel even smaller now. How about you? Do you still think you are that great?

Without faith is impossible to please God.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

For His glory....

There are a few people who have had a handle on the understanding of the Glory of God; I am certainly not one of them, not yet; but in God's mercy and for the purpose of shining His glory on me, and you, He saw it fit to create men who understood what His glory is about, and then expose His glory by their thoughts.

So great is His love for me, and you; and so unrelenting His commitment to uphold the value of His glory and of His grace; that He has preserved these men's thoughts so I can delight in them, and in the process, to delight in the expansion of this understanding, and in understanding, expanding His glory again. There is only one purpose behind everything God does; His glory. His glory is bliss eternal.

This is one desire that I certainly know to be not of myself; the desire to know what the glory of God is; and as much as I fail in my experience and my very limited understanding, I still want to obey that command from Paul: 1Cor 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Sometimes I don't know how to do that, how to conform my life to the text.

Writing about Jonathan Edwards in "A God entranced vision of all things"; John Piper writes:

"Our duty and privilege, therefore, is to conform to this divine purpose

in creation and history and redemption—namely, to reflect the

value of God's glory—to think and feel and do whatever we must to

make much of God. Our reason for being, our calling, our joy is to render

visible the glory of God"

Then he quotes Edwards:

"It is most evident by the Works of God, that his understanding and

power are infinite.... Being thus infinite in understanding and power,

he must also be perfectly holy; for unholiness always argues some

defect, some blindness. Where there is no darkness or delusion, there

can be no unholiness. . . . God being infinite in power and knowledge,

he must be self-sufficient and all-sufficient; therefore it is impossible

that he should be under any temptation to do any thing amiss; for he

can have no end in doing it. . . . So God is essentially holy, and nothing

is more impossible than that God should do amiss....."

"All that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God's

works is included in that one phrase, the glory of God. . . . The refulgence

shines upon and into the creature, and is reflected back to the

luminary. The beams of glory come from God, and are something of

God and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole

is of God, and in God, and to God, and God is the beginning, middle

and end in this affair".

Jonathan Edwards, "The Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World," in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 8, Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989), 526, 531.

Have a nice day thinking.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

My iniquity is taken away....

I absolutely hate communicating through text messaging or emails; it is a wonderful technology and it is indeed good to enjoy technology but saying important stuff through emails, or even letters, is a totally impersonal way of saying anything with any emotion.

I could be crying on my side writing an email, or this blog, my soul could be melting; but the sentiment will never be reproduced on the other side of the line; even words that are not meant to be hurtful become little goads that could prick the recipient's heart; words that were meant to make someone smile, or even rejoice, could become little tiny flaming darts landing on one's ego; I hate it.

What happened to the old days of the rotary dial telephone? How about a cup of coffee and talking face to face? We have visual voice mail nowadays so that should make it okay, I guess. At least we have Skype.

I learned my lesson, once again, I guess I didn't learn it all the way so it had to happen again so I could get it into my brain: do not say anything important when it's personal through texting or emails; at least wait for the phone to answer, no matter if it rings several times per week, and no matter how great the urge is, think before you speak, or write. I got it.

The deceitfulness of the heart is really unknowable, I am the most fickle person I know in this planet, I thought I knew myself better but God is right, as always, His thoughts are not my thoughts; I am in fact the center of my universe, everything turns around me, myself and I; it is really disgusting, the more when my apologies become excuses for self justification.

My righteousness is as a filthy rag before Him; I don't need the accuser's help, I have my own brain to condemn me. I suddenly found myself replacing Joshua before the Angel of the Lord, Satan standing at my right hand to accuse me, I could not open up my mouth, my eyes set on my mud filled garments; even my tears were dirty, they seemed to me as big drops of tar.

Thank you Jesus. You always remind me that the story never ends with me; it has never been about me; there in the midst of my inadequacy and my iniquity; you put clean clothes on me, and set a clean turban on my head, and I hear your voice Dear Lord: "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments."

Those are words that I could ever misinterpret.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com