dream big

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.
- William Hazlitt

have you ever felt the rub of things not right? i do. every day. divorce, disease, accidents, road rage. it's just not right. deep down i know it.

think about the law. not the "don't speed" law--the biblical law. the law given by God to moses for God's people. if it's easier, think about the ten commandments.

does the law make you smile? does it bring joy into your life? or does it seem to rip joy out of you, facing the way you are up against a bunch of "should bees" and "ought toos"?

please don't misunderstand the law, or the purpose of the law. hazlitt's quote really resonated in my soul because to me it spoke as to the purpose of the law. the law wouldn't be any good for animals. because animals have no idea what ought to be. it works for humans--at least to an extent--because we humans have some clue of the way things should be. we know how people should act. and we know how they shouldn't. and we know, deep down, that the world we live in isn't the way the world should be. we are, as john mayer says, "waiting on the world to change."

when God gave us the law, he gave us a glimpse of the way the world should be--a world without all the "bad" things. imagine a world where the word "murder" wasn't defined. or a world where marriages were marked with total purity. imagine a world where there was no jealousy, and everyone--everyone--loved God.

sometimes i find myself feeling guilty, and i blame it on the law. i think, "if those stupid commands weren't around, i wouldn't have to feel guilty." that's just wrong thinking. i was guilty before God gave me the law. i fell short long before the law. the law just gave me a measuring stick to see how far i fall short. so nothing really changed condition-wise.

now you may be asking, "what benefit is it to me if i know how guilty i am? ignorance is bliss!" well, not in this case. because understanding how guilty i am is the first step to making the world what it should be...by making my life what it should be. because my guilt makes me vividly aware of my need for God...and more specifically, my need for the work of Christ on the cross--making up for my deficits. and it is only after i understand my need that i can come to Christ. (what good is God's forgiveness for the person who doesn't think they need it? forgiveness in that case doesn't change the life.)

here's a word-picture: which would make me more grateful: if someone paid for my $7 lunch tomorrow, or if someone paid off my $40,000 student loans? you get it now. so the larger the debt, the more forgiveness means to the forgiven.

but we haven't even touched on the best part of the law yet. yes, the law shows me the way the world--and my life--should be--and thus leads me to Christ. but even better, it shows me the way the world--and my life--will be. it's a glimpse of heaven. it's a glimpse of God's Kingdom.

so if the law rubs you the wrong way, just remember, it's not an indictment of the law, it's an indictment of the condition of your heart. embrace that feeling, follow it to the cross, to Christ, and then dream big. dream of heaven.

pick your own

apple picking. my wife and i went apple picking yesterday up in the north georgia mountains. they say you can pick through mid-november, but it was apparent to us that all the easy-to-pick apples were already taken and all that was left was the ones way up in the trees dangling at the ends of fragile branches. they had bags of pre-picked apples we could buy, but if i wanted pre-picked apples i could have gone to kroger a mile from my house. so i climbed the trees. i felt like the guy on that show survivorman. the one who climbs trees and eats bugs to survive. i didn't eat any bugs, so maybe i was only half a survivorman, but still. i would climb and pick and then drop them down to katie and she'd bag them. we picked a peck.

today i'm eating the apples we harvested. these apples are sweeter than the ones from kroger, and not just in taste. we harvested them.

but as sweet as they are, i can only dream of how sweet they would be if we sowed them also. then we would truly be tasting the fruit of our labor.

some people sow, some harvest. that's the way it works. i wouldn't be enjoying this apple right now if someone hadn't come before me to do the hard work of sowing.

i know that some people who plant don't get to pick their own, and so we must be grateful, because we do, and not because we did anything to deserve it.