Let’s Make a Deal?
Do you remember the famous game show of the 1960’s and 70’s featuring co-creator and host Monty Hall’s always inquisitive statement of “Do you want what is behind door number one, two or three?”
Well just like that, you have a choice to make, you turn to the audience, your friends, looking for suggestions to help you make a correct choice, but ultimately that choice rests on your shoulders. Suppose you listen to a member of the audience and you choose door number two, when the curtains are pulled away, a goat is brought into view standing next to a feeding trough.
Monty questions you again and this time he asks “Are you happy with your choice or do you wish to choose what is behind one of the other curtains?” Well upon first examination, most of us would change our minds and go with another door, but it is not always easy, nor is it always possible to do that.
Here lies the cause of some of the worst follies we as a person can make. We desire to have good things happen for us at all times, that sometimes we lose sight of what we already have received. We have forgotten to wait patiently and without complaint for the LORD’s providence to blossom and then flourish in our lives, we can’t always have things work the way we expect them to.
Now that reminds me of a song; by the Rolling Stones, it is called, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and goes something like this:
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Getting what we need, that is something to talk about isn’t it? Let’s talk about what man’s basic needs are for a second. What do you know them to be? Let’s list them, one by one and see if they have been met.
1) Sunlight/Energy/One thing that makes life possible here on Earth
2) Food/Sustenance
3) Water/Hydration
4) Shelter/Protection
5) Clothing/Protection
6) Affection/Relationship
Do you remember the famous game show of the 1960’s and 70’s featuring co-creator and host Monty Hall’s always inquisitive statement of “Do you want what is behind door number one, two or three?”
Well just like that, you have a choice to make, you turn to the audience, your friends, looking for suggestions to help you make a correct choice, but ultimately that choice rests on your shoulders. Suppose you listen to a member of the audience and you choose door number two, when the curtains are pulled away, a goat is brought into view standing next to a feeding trough.
Monty questions you again and this time he asks “Are you happy with your choice or do you wish to choose what is behind one of the other curtains?” Well upon first examination, most of us would change our minds and go with another door, but it is not always easy, nor is it always possible to do that.
Here lies the cause of some of the worst follies we as a person can make. We desire to have good things happen for us at all times, that sometimes we lose sight of what we already have received. We have forgotten to wait patiently and without complaint for the LORD’s providence to blossom and then flourish in our lives, we can’t always have things work the way we expect them to.
Now that reminds me of a song; by the Rolling Stones, it is called, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and goes something like this:
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Getting what we need, that is something to talk about isn’t it? Let’s talk about what man’s basic needs are for a second. What do you know them to be? Let’s list them, one by one and see if they have been met.
1) Sunlight/Energy/One thing that makes life possible here on Earth
2) Food/Sustenance
3) Water/Hydration
4) Shelter/Protection
5) Clothing/Protection
6) Affection/Relationship
Robert Mayhew
I know there may be more or there could feel like there are more needs than have been covered, but seriously we must ask ourselves “Do we really need more than these?”
Why, must we always have more than we already possess? I’m just asking this almost as a question to God above and my self within, because in some ways, to desire more than we have is not all bad, if we desire in a right minded attitude. We should desire to have no more hunger and to end poverty, at least to some scale. We need to have a sense of purpose of self- worth, I believe when we pray, we should ask God to reveal to us how we can contribute to reach these goals, this is true enrichment in life.
Let me ask this “How does it feel to make another person smile?” Now, let me ask you this, “What did you have to give away from your needs to supply the needs of this other person?”
Was your answer “time”, was it “money”. Now a second question, was your answer of what you gave up, a subtraction from your needs or an addition to them? This is not a question to make you feel less than adequate about yourself, this is more a question to make you find out what part of your own needs are not being met.
We can’t be sustained forever on love alone, but without the companionship of others surely we die a slow and agonizing death. I feel my own life has changed drastically in the last few years and even though I lack certain abilities when it comes to the affection department, I am still hopeful that my God will continue to work on me and help turn around the prior years of indifference and ignorance of what real need is.
With the coming of Passover and Easter, I’m reminded of another pursuit “Freedom”
Freedom, now we could call this a want, but I believe we would be very unconvincing even to ourselves. No, I believe freedom is more of a need, in some form or another we all need certain amounts of liberty to enjoy what others sometimes take for granted.
With that in mind, Passover is an observance of freedom gained from the Egyptians by crossing the Red Sea and not being held in bondage by another people, but being allowed to become their own person, their own people.
Easter, that is a similar story, Easter represents a more personal freedom, one than can only be taken from you if you allow it to be. It was by the act of One, that now each of us has a chance to reclaim an inheritance that was lost from the time of original sin and what’s more, we can continue to share in the choice we made with others. They in turn can make the decision to choose what is right for them, they can choose to have life and have all their needs met and even some wants or they may choose to possess something unseen and unknown and may even give up that choice as quickly as they chose the preceding one, never fully understanding what their choices meant for them until, there are no more choices left.
If we are given time to decide our own paths, we must certainly seek counsel from the LORD above to help us choose wisely and if we have very little time, than we must choose from our conscience, which hopefully has allowed God’s indwelling to be a constant state of our own spirituality.
There comes for each of us that time, the time when our last choice becomes our final choice. This is why we must continue to take a census of ourselves on a regular basis. Do we feel we are actually benefactors of the choices we have made or , like I have done all too often in my past, made choices by impulsive thought, without giving much thought to what we already have.
These choices we make can be very exciting and they can also be scary. To follow the path that Christ has laid out before us, is a path that will have obstacles and hardships, sometimes we will want to stray from it, seeking those “greener pastures” that we will no doubt hear of from others. Yet we must continue to endure these tests, if we allow ourselves to be overcome by the vices that affect a large portion of society today, we may for a time find friendship and even pleasure, but as things begin to wane, as an apple tree slowly sheds it’s fruit, less and less people come to share in the harvest and as the remnant of the harvest lies decomposing on the ground, eventually even the gleanings have become inedible.
Such is the same for life when acted out only in a self-gratifying manner. God was not put here by man; God is not here to serve man. Man is here at the pleasure of God, to serve one another to the glory of God and along that journey if man makes wise and not foolish choices. Then he, man will share in the fruits of the harvest and that is not meaning to say in a material harvest,-although that is possible-but that means the correct choices are rewarded by sharing in the harvest of greatest need, which is “Love” and God’s providence will surely sustain our other needs.
Now with all that being said, what role do you play actively or inactively in your own happiness and the happiness of those around you? Will you rely on chance to determine and define who you are?
Acts 15:7-11 (King James Version)
7And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
9And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11But we believe that through the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
In closing, I ask you give yourselves another chance, a chance to allow God to dwell in your daily life, a chance to not hold ourselves to such unbearable and unrealistic standards as we are only man and not God and allow ourselves to commit errors and then seek His counsel and His forgiveness. For there is to be no other way to come to LORD, if we do not first seek Him in everything we do, even in games of chance there are probabilities, there are odds and everyone of us should seek to win. But when it comes to life, this is not a game; there are two paths, good and evil. Which one you choose in this life will also affect the one for eternity in the life hereafter and for those who are willing to endure the long and sometimes rather grueling race, He will reward us by saying “Well done, good and faithful servant, well done.”
Why, must we always have more than we already possess? I’m just asking this almost as a question to God above and my self within, because in some ways, to desire more than we have is not all bad, if we desire in a right minded attitude. We should desire to have no more hunger and to end poverty, at least to some scale. We need to have a sense of purpose of self- worth, I believe when we pray, we should ask God to reveal to us how we can contribute to reach these goals, this is true enrichment in life.
Let me ask this “How does it feel to make another person smile?” Now, let me ask you this, “What did you have to give away from your needs to supply the needs of this other person?”
Was your answer “time”, was it “money”. Now a second question, was your answer of what you gave up, a subtraction from your needs or an addition to them? This is not a question to make you feel less than adequate about yourself, this is more a question to make you find out what part of your own needs are not being met.
We can’t be sustained forever on love alone, but without the companionship of others surely we die a slow and agonizing death. I feel my own life has changed drastically in the last few years and even though I lack certain abilities when it comes to the affection department, I am still hopeful that my God will continue to work on me and help turn around the prior years of indifference and ignorance of what real need is.
With the coming of Passover and Easter, I’m reminded of another pursuit “Freedom”
Freedom, now we could call this a want, but I believe we would be very unconvincing even to ourselves. No, I believe freedom is more of a need, in some form or another we all need certain amounts of liberty to enjoy what others sometimes take for granted.
With that in mind, Passover is an observance of freedom gained from the Egyptians by crossing the Red Sea and not being held in bondage by another people, but being allowed to become their own person, their own people.
Easter, that is a similar story, Easter represents a more personal freedom, one than can only be taken from you if you allow it to be. It was by the act of One, that now each of us has a chance to reclaim an inheritance that was lost from the time of original sin and what’s more, we can continue to share in the choice we made with others. They in turn can make the decision to choose what is right for them, they can choose to have life and have all their needs met and even some wants or they may choose to possess something unseen and unknown and may even give up that choice as quickly as they chose the preceding one, never fully understanding what their choices meant for them until, there are no more choices left.
If we are given time to decide our own paths, we must certainly seek counsel from the LORD above to help us choose wisely and if we have very little time, than we must choose from our conscience, which hopefully has allowed God’s indwelling to be a constant state of our own spirituality.
There comes for each of us that time, the time when our last choice becomes our final choice. This is why we must continue to take a census of ourselves on a regular basis. Do we feel we are actually benefactors of the choices we have made or , like I have done all too often in my past, made choices by impulsive thought, without giving much thought to what we already have.
These choices we make can be very exciting and they can also be scary. To follow the path that Christ has laid out before us, is a path that will have obstacles and hardships, sometimes we will want to stray from it, seeking those “greener pastures” that we will no doubt hear of from others. Yet we must continue to endure these tests, if we allow ourselves to be overcome by the vices that affect a large portion of society today, we may for a time find friendship and even pleasure, but as things begin to wane, as an apple tree slowly sheds it’s fruit, less and less people come to share in the harvest and as the remnant of the harvest lies decomposing on the ground, eventually even the gleanings have become inedible.
Such is the same for life when acted out only in a self-gratifying manner. God was not put here by man; God is not here to serve man. Man is here at the pleasure of God, to serve one another to the glory of God and along that journey if man makes wise and not foolish choices. Then he, man will share in the fruits of the harvest and that is not meaning to say in a material harvest,-although that is possible-but that means the correct choices are rewarded by sharing in the harvest of greatest need, which is “Love” and God’s providence will surely sustain our other needs.
Now with all that being said, what role do you play actively or inactively in your own happiness and the happiness of those around you? Will you rely on chance to determine and define who you are?
Acts 15:7-11 (King James Version)
7And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
9And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11But we believe that through the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
In closing, I ask you give yourselves another chance, a chance to allow God to dwell in your daily life, a chance to not hold ourselves to such unbearable and unrealistic standards as we are only man and not God and allow ourselves to commit errors and then seek His counsel and His forgiveness. For there is to be no other way to come to LORD, if we do not first seek Him in everything we do, even in games of chance there are probabilities, there are odds and everyone of us should seek to win. But when it comes to life, this is not a game; there are two paths, good and evil. Which one you choose in this life will also affect the one for eternity in the life hereafter and for those who are willing to endure the long and sometimes rather grueling race, He will reward us by saying “Well done, good and faithful servant, well done.”
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