Interesting Day, I'm Ravenous.

I have gone thus far into today without food -intentionally- so that I may grow in my spiritual journey into a better relationship with God. My intention is to do this every Wednesday so that through constant practice of this spiritual discipline, I may be frequently reminded of my need for Christ. I read and understand the idea that the practitioner of this discipline should not seek to tell others of the practice, for it will only feed into the vanity of that person and lead them to be one with themselves, and so continue towards their own destruction. My contention is that I am in need of others to pray for me as I work through this exercise, as I am still fallen and prone to temptation as much as any other. So in tell this to you, I expect that you would understand that this is an attempt to rally your spiritual support. If this is true, please do not encourage me on this subject directly, because then the chance for my vanity to be fed will truly be great; but rather, I urge that you silently keep me and all others that you pray for in you prayers.
The process of fasting has been quite interesting, and I am unsure of what my full response to this will be until I am past this. Today, I have felt a great encouragement by only truly feeling hunger pains to any large extent only once today. On the other hand, I have been feeling a draining of my energy, which could heavily relate to the lack of sleep I have been getting. I do not hunger now, but I do not feel like I have affordable energy, though I know in my heart that this is truly just my fallen nature trying to resist its own self-denial so that it may continue to love itself before God.

But that's just a single part of my life...

Recently, I have been hearing quite a number of people trying to discuss how Christians are to view the question of why bad things happen to good people. I think about this from time to time and seem to come up with the same or similar answers each time.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and during the six days of creating earth, God said that the creation was Good, and on the sixth day, God looks at all creation after he had created man and said it was Very Good. I do not think that God was saying that man is good, but that the whole of creation, then prefect and unaffected by the fall was so amazing that the Ultimately Pure and Perfect Creator declared it to be Very Good. This, however, was before the fall, which was caused by man and effects all of the Creation. It seems to be, then that man stripped the world and its individual creations from their status of being good; so then, how could we possibly be considered good? Further, in the New Testament, a man calls Jesus the Good Teacher, and Jesus replies by asking why he was called good, for no one is good except for the Lord. This was to show that Jesus is the Lord, and that he, unlike the world he humbled himself to be in, was good. So we see here that we cannot be good, for only Christ is good. The area of contention, then, is that now we have Christ in us, and so there is an aspect to us that is good, but as we are still under the fall, we will not be good until the consummation of God's promise.

The question should, then, be asking why good things happen to bad people. This is less easily explained but grants to us so much hope that one must do nothing other than weep for greatness that we would never be fit enough to receive by our own merit. The Lord grants good things to bad people so that the work of bringing people into a relationship with him may be fulfilled. The Hebrews understood, as a desert people, that when the Scripture says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike, that this a reference to a good thing happening to all, as the people who live in a desert need rain for provisions. Good things happen to bad people so that God's love may be fulfilled, for as bad people live without good things, they feel like they have more of a reason to reject God; but in the midst of their struggle, God's helping hand will prove the validity of the gospel and the Holy Spirit will bring those people into a proper relationship with Him. This is not a fair enough answer to a more provocative question, but hopefully it stimulates thoughts within you. As for me, I am glad to be a person who receives good things that I do not deserve.

Christ, however, who dwells within me, deserves all things that I can give him. For the many good things he has done for me, including my pains and struggles, the least I can do is give him my all and become as a living sacrifice unto him. So, as a result, I will continue to work with him in order to grow with him and become more pleasing; not by my own merits, but through the works he has accomplished in me.



Oh, and on a side note, I told my friend that I was going to go with her to the discussions being held today and failed to do so. Since my word should always be true, I want to take this time to apologize, without excuse, and ask forgiveness; which I am certain she will extend for she has always been a fair friend, but I ask anyhow because it is still needed to be heard. Sorry.