Tuesday, May 26, 2020
God’s Pavement on Earth
God’s pavement looks wondrous wherever we are!
Psalms 14:2
The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Words of Grace For Today
Conformity to the world’s standards is required of anyone who wishes to prosper in the manners and methods of the world. Those standards change some from one millennium to the next, though their similarities are greater than their differences.
Human pride, greed, and coveting remain the same. The temptation to create or be one’s own God remains the same. The pursuits of this world work consistently on a zero sum game assumption. That is every generation assumes that there are going to be only so much whatever for everyone to enjoy, so the purpose of life becomes to ensure one gets more than others … by taking it from others.
God looks at us all (in each generation), to see if there are any of us who are wise. Is there anyone who understands the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom, gracious generosity is the key to profound happiness, and giving, sacrificing, and sharing bring greater blessings than taking, competition, and hoarding for oneself.
A man insisted he be able to take all his wealth with him to heaven. He converted it all into gold and platinum. He was positive he’d won the competition that life is, he had more than anyone he knew. They buried him with enough gold and platinum to feed his whole country and all the neighbouring ones for a decade.
When he arrived St. Peter told him to leave the gold and platinum behind so he could be shown his room. He insisted he be able to bring it along. St. Peter laughed and let him pull the four carts that held just a small portion of it. Angels pushed the other 100 carts.
They stepped out onto the sidewalks made of platinum, and walked across the street of gold. Others stopped to gawk at the man hauling all those paving stones passed piles of it where the streets and sidewalks were being repaired.
The man insisted on pushing on, but as soon as he was out of sight of the others to save face, he asked St. Peter if he could leave it at the construction site they were passing. St. Pete nodded, ‘That’s why we took this longer route. Don’t worry though, everyone already knows about your paving stones. It’s time to learn somethings about God’s Kingdom. Are you ready to finally learn the basics?’
What paving stone foolishness do we each pursue daily?
What wisdom does Christ offer us each day?
What’s our next step, today?
God’s watching.