Someone forwarded this theological dilemna to me, what do you think.
If you don’t know what a Calvinist is, don’t worry about it.
Here is the link to the original.
A Calvinist in the Queue
A funny way of presenting an old paradox, from Mike Bird’s Evangelical Theology:
A Calvinist arrives at St. Peter’s gates and sees that there are two queues going in. One is marked “predestined,” and the other is marked “free will.” Being the card-carrying Calvinist that he is, he strolls on over to the predestined queue. After several moments an angel asks him, “Why are you in this line?” He replies, “Because I chose it.” The angel looks surprised, “Well, if you ‘chose’ it, then you should be in the free will line.” So our Calvinist, now slightly miffed, obediently wanders over to the free will line. Again, after a few minutes, another angel asks him, “Why are you in this line?” He sullenly replies, “Someone made me come here.”
What if we actually took the time to stop and ‘connect’ with strangers?
Would we find ourselves caring more?
Is it possible that this photographer is touching something important, something deep.
That deep down we are all family, all created by God as His children.
Sin builds walls that separate, that isolate, than alienate.
We are disconnected, we don’t care like we were created to care.
As long as we keep our distance from people, we keep our hearts closed to them.
In God’s kingdom, in God’s family, there are no strangers, there are no walls, everyone cares.
For a brief moment, these people experience ‘humanity as it could be…’
I am reflecting on the end of times, when things seem to be going from bad to worse.
That will be a time when many will lose hope, and wonder where God is, and why He is taking so long.
A scene from the Lord of the Rings movie (The Two Towers) came to mind.
Watch this, and be encouraged; when everything looks bleak, look to the east!
Keep looking, keep hoping, at the right time, in the right way, the sun of hope will rise, the final trumpet will sound, and the Lord will appear!
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
Kent M. Keith, The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council
Yesterday I spoke on Matthew 6:1-4, how Jesus encourages us the discipline of secret service.
Check out this website (http://www.secretagentl.com) and consider becoming a secret agent, specializing in anonymous acts of kindness.
The assignment for the week is to perform a secret act of kindness every day for this week.
This is your mission, should you choose to accept it.
Feel free to share some of your secret activities in the comments below.
This week I am speaking on Matthew 6:1-4.
I am looking at what seems like a contradiction in the words of Jesus.
“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)
The key to understanding this is our motivation.
In Matthew 5, the motivation behind people seeing my good deeds is to glorify God.
In Matthew 6, the motivation is to be glorify myself.
Jesus encouragement in Matthew 5 is to let the whole world know how great God is.
Jesus warning in Matthew 6 is to not let the whole world know how great you are.
But here is the challenge: honestly, do I do what I do for God’s glory, or for my own honour?
Why do I like to talk about the good things happening at my church, but not about the not-so-good?
Why do we publish Partner Updates that highlight all of our community activities?
I am not suggesting that there are not good reasons, but what honestly is MY motivation?
Is it more about me being honoured, than God?