I heard someone say the other day that the universe mirrors, or reflects back on us, the energy that we send out to it. To out detriment, if we are attracting negativity such as negative people in our daily lives, we are probably behaving in a negative manner ourselves. This person went on to say that if we are always in the state of trying to get something then the universe says back to us, what can I get from you? This creates a cycle of searching without receiving and as the circle goes around it gets smaller and tighter until we are nothing more than self-centered individuals. However, if we send out the message of, “What can I give?” then the universe responds with giving back to us. This universal principle can be seen in Jesus’ message about the Holy Spirit in which he said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” The Holy Spirit is only here to give to us.
So for the past week I have tried to be very cognitive of this and conduct myself so that I am positioned to be in the spirit of giving, which is not always an easy thing. I can tell you that in one week, I have noticed a tremendous difference in all areas of my life, and they are all for the better. Oddly enough, it has taken this reflection of the week to notice because I am busy giving of myself and everything is going well; in other words, I don’t want to waste my “giving” time thinking about things to complain about.
God speed!
6 comments:
True. I am all for focusing on the the good. Giving and charity are crucial, like Jesus says in Mark 10:17:
As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 “You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Essentially no man may enter heaven who has not sold all of his possessions and given the money to charity. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Like my away message often smugly says, "Each week, millions and millions of upper middle class American citizens put on expensive dress clothes, and load themselves into SUV's and drive past homeless shelters, orphanages, prisons, missions, and halfway houses on their way to a very expensive and nice church, where somebody tells them how to be more like Jesus."
Maybe instead they should be volunteering and giving to charity. I think that many sefl-professed "Christians" live their lives like the following cartoon:
http://russellsteapot.com/images/comics/2007/Image043.jpg
...only choosing to follow the parts of Christ's teachings that fit conveniently with their own lives.
grr my link got cut off... here we go:
http://russellsteapot.com/comics/2007/welcome.html
I tried to send this comment once and don't see it, so I will try again. I apologize if it shows up twice and wastes space.
Have you ever thought about how people refer to the universe as though it were some incorporeal being that acts and reacts to whatever we do, as though it had a will and a mind and a soul? Doesn’t it? God created the universe. God created the universal laws. God is the universe. So yes, everything we send out into the universe comes back to us either as a blessing or a consequence, depending on the right or the wrong we have done.
A lot of the problems in the world today come from the selfishness and self-centeredness that we are so prone to. We have to make the “effort” to be selfLESS instead. In Matthew 10:39, we have a promise from Jesus that when we lose ourselves in service to others, we will then find ourselves. To quote from Spencer W. Kimball, “Not only do we ‘find’ ourselves in terms of acknowledging divine guidance in our lives, but the more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others—indeed, it is easier to ‘find’ ourselves because there is so much more of us to find!”
Giving service to others doesn’t mean just giving of our money, but also giving of our time and talents as well, and it must be with a willing heart or it has no meaning at all. Quoting Spencer W. Kimball again, “God has endowed us with talents and time, with latent abilities and with opportunities to use and develop them in his service.”
I commend you Bubbie for making that effort and setting an example of what we should all be doing, which is following in the footsteps of the Savior by loving others, serving others, and reaching out to others.
I would also like to expound on the scripture Joshua quoted from Mark 10:17-25 and about the idea of how we are not able to enter the kingdom of heaven unless we forsake all of our possessions and give the money to charity.
It would appear that the inquiring rich man had lived in strict conformity to the laws known to him, that he saw in Jesus a teacher who could direct him to the fullness of reward in the mansions on high, and that he erroneously supposed he would receive direction to conform to some ritualistic requirement of the law. He had not learned that the Lord requires the whole soul and that those who gain salvation must love and serve God with an eye single to his glory. Rather, good as he was, his heart was still set on the things of this world in preference to the riches of eternity.
There is no blanket instruction which applies to all men that they should sell their property and use the money for the poor. This was a specific instruction needed by a particular person who was covetous by nature. His personal inclinations and desires were such that he needed the spiritual testing that such a course would require.
In verse 24, Jesus was probably using common proverbial language to teach that it is difficult but not impossible for a rich man to saved. Some think that the “needle’s eye” was a small door alongside the great gates in the city walls and that in order for a camel to pass through such an opening, all its load of goods would have to be removed. It is clear that riches add to the difficulty of gaining salvation, but rich men who are otherwise worthy can be saved provided: (1) They forsake or are willing to forsake their riches in the cause of Christ; and (2) Their love of wealth does not cause them to trust in riches.
There are five things that are required of us to gain eternal life:
(1) Have faith in Christ, a true and living faith, a faith based on knowledge, a faith that accepts him as the Son of God and recognizes that God his Father is a personal being in whose image man was created.
(2) Repent and forsake the world.
(3) Submit to baptism under the hands of a legal administrator.
(4) Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by on having authority so to act. This gift is the right to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, a gift which if actually enjoyed enables a person to walk in paths of righteousness at all times.
(5) Endure in faith, devotion, and obedience to the whole gospel law as set forth by Jesus Christ to the end of life. Special acts of sacrifice and devotion may be involved in particular instances, depending upon the special circumstances which face various individuals, such as when the rich young ruler was commanded to forsake his worldly possessions.
When we are blessed with “more”, let’s remember that it is a gift from God and revere it as such. It only becomes an evil curse when we let it become more important to us than God.
Daisy
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In verse 24, Jesus was probably using common proverbial language to teach that it is difficult but not impossible for a rich man to saved. Some think that the “needle’s eye” was a small door alongside the great gates in the city walls and that in order for a camel to pass through such an opening, all its load of goods would have to be removed. It is clear that riches add to the difficulty of gaining salvation, but rich men who are otherwise worthy can be saved provided: (1) They forsake or are willing to forsake their riches in the cause of Christ; and (2) Their love of wealth does not cause them to trust in riches."
Did you see my cartoon that I posted? :-)
Excellent post Daisy! You and I seems to disagree on a few points but I say let's just agree that the message is "do good things and don't do them just to get into heaven."
What do you guys think about the Original Sin of Adam and Eve? The tree in the garden was called "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Therefore, Adam and Eve would not have any knowledge of good and evil until they ate from the tree. So how would they know the difference between right and wrong until they ate the fruit? In other words, they had to eat the fruit before they would know that it was wrong to eat the fruit. If someone doesn't have any knowledge of right and wrong, how can the person commit a sin? And how can you punish the person for doing wrong?
I would add that the most important part of Jesus statement is the last 6 words, “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Jesus offered more than what the man had accumulated by himself here on earth. Our greed can not let our minds get past the idea that we might lose something, we are grounded in our earthly beliefs which blinds us to the truth. By the way, our treasures in heaven are available to us anytime here on earth! Praise God!
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